Megan Dawson, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning, presented three critical policy updates the Tumwater School District plans to forward to the board for adoption: a transition-to-kindergarten policy (2230), a consolidated notification policy for student offenses and threats (3143), and an updated nondiscrimination policy (3210). Dawson said the package aligns district policy with state law and model language from the Washington State School Directors' Association (WASDA).
On transition to kindergarten (TK), Dawson said the policy "has been revised to align with RCW and our WACs to ensure that equitable access to early learning and preparing students for success in kindergarten." She told the board the district ran two TK classrooms last year and is running one this year because state funding for the program was based on the district's prior-year FTE. She told the board that when a district launches TK partway through a year it can create a funding shortfall: "The state only allocated us based off of our student FTE last year," Dawson said.
The student-offense and threat-notification policy (3143) consolidates several older, conflicting policies and implements requirements from House Bill 1191, Dawson said, including clarifying that "sensitive juvenile offense information is exempt from public disclosure" and introducing a right of appeal for families in specified circumstances. "WASDA wrote the policy in collaboration with educators, law enforcement, legal advocates, and auditors," she said, and the new model policy is intended to give principals clearer guidance on when and how to share information with staff while protecting students' privacy.
Dawson also presented a revised nondiscrimination policy (3210) that expands the list of protected categories to include ethnicity, homelessness, immigration or citizenship status, and "neurodivergence." She said some updates reflect changes that took effect under House Bill 1296 and that the bill included an emergency clause so parts of the statutory changes are already in effect. "Those are in effect immediately because there was an emergency clause for some reason on that bill," Dawson said.
During discussion about the nondiscrimination language, staff clarified that "neurodivergence" in statute is defined broadly to include neurological differences such as autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and that a discrimination investigation would typically rely on documentation and the legal definitions in state law.
Board members asked procedural questions about implementation: staff reported they will rescind several outdated policies that the new language replaces and will update internal procedures to match the new WASDA model policy for notifications. Dawson recommended that the board consider final approval the following month after the board reviews the redlined and proposed texts.
No vote was taken; staff recommended adoption at a future meeting once the board has had time to review the posted drafts.