The Tumwater School District Board on Tuesday reviewed a bundle of policy updates recommended by the Washington State School Directors Association and district staff, including revisions to the transition to kindergarten policy, a consolidated policy on notification of student offenses and threats of violence, an updated nondiscrimination policy, and model changes affecting facility use.

Assistant Superintendent Megan Dawson said the proposed transition-to-kindergarten policy (policy 2230) was revised to align with the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) and applicable WACs and to reflect state grant requirements for equitable access. "This policy has been revised to align with RCW and our WACs to ensure equitable access to early learning and preparing students for success in kindergarten," Dawson said, noting the district ran two transitional-kindergarten (TK) classrooms last year and will run one this year because state funding allocation was based on last year's part-year FTE.

Dawson and others told the board the district planned to continue TK and hopes to expand it when funding and state allocations allow. She said the state allocated funding based on the district's partial-year enrollment last year, which limited funding for two full-year classrooms this school year. "The state only allocated us based off of our student FTE last year," Dawson said, adding that the district will continue to pursue expansion when possible.

The board also reviewed policy 3143, a consolidated policy on the notification and dissemination of information about student offenses and threats of violence. Dawson said this change implements portions of House Bill 1191 and merges previously inconsistent procedures into a single framework that clarifies when sensitive juvenile-offense information is exempt from public disclosure and when principals may share controlled-substance violation information with staff.

On nondiscrimination (policy 3210) staff presented marked-up language adding protected classes such as ethnicity, homelessness, immigration or citizenship status and "neurodivergence," and said portions of the update reflect House Bill 1296, which took effect immediately under an emergency clause. "We would follow state law whether or not our policy has been updated," Dawson said, urging the board to approve the revision next month.

District staff also presented a WASDA-model revision to the facility-use policy (policy 4260/041960) to clarify that groups may not be denied facility access on the basis of the newly enumerated protected characteristics. During discussion staff described "neurodivergence" as "neurological differences including but not limited to autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder." The board asked staff to update related procedures so they match the revised policies.

Dawson said some of the changes consolidate multiple older district policies into single modern templates and that the district will bring rescissions of outdated policies forward for formal action after the new policy adoptions. The board indicated the policies are a high priority and staff said the district is working through department-by-department reviews to update other outdated policies over the coming year.

No policy adoptions were finalized at the meeting; staff recommended formal approval next month for several items after updating associated procedures and bringing rescissions forward.