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Superintendent outlines how new state and federal education rules affect district operations
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Summary
At a school board meeting, the superintendent summarized recent changes to Title IX guidance and several Ohio bills, saying the district will continue to follow the 2020 Title IX rules while monitoring court action and will develop policies under new state laws on cell phones, student data and teacher evaluations.
The superintendent reported to the school board that recent federal and state actions will change district policies but that the district will hold to existing guidance while court and legislative processes play out. Superintendent Mister Bellville told the board the district would continue training staff under the 2020 Title IX guidance while legal challenges proceed and that several new Ohio bills will require local policy work in coming months.
Bellville said the U.S. Department of Education issued new Title IX guidelines in 2024, but multiple states challenged portions of the rule-making in court. “The Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 … that the injunctions were to be upheld and they pushed the issue back to the lower courts,” Bellville said, describing three possible scenarios for districts: operating under the 2020 rules, the 2024 rules, or a mixture depending on which parts are enjoined.
Those distinctions matter because the guidelines include protections and procedures on issues ranging from accommodations for pregnant and lactating students to policies for transgender students, Bellville said. He added that the district’s legal team advised training staff on 2020 guidance for now rather than retraining repeatedly if the legal picture shifts.
Bellville also briefed the board on several recent Ohio bills. He said House Bill 250 requires districts to develop policies to reduce cell phone use in classrooms; the district will review high school practices and bring a policy before the board by July 1, 2025. “We do have until July 1, 2025 to bring a policy before the board for consideration,” he said.
On data privacy, Bellville described Senate Bill 29, which will take effect about 90 days after July 24 and requires schools to notify parents whenever staff monitor school-owned devices given to students. The superintendent explained there are seven exceptions in the law, including immediate safety threats, but noted an unresolved question about the law’s interaction with federal E-rate requirements. “Do we need to send notification to our parents on a daily basis since we have to do that as a requirement of the funds we receive for the E-rate program? That is obviously overkill … but if that’s what we have to do, then that’s what we’ll do,” Bellville said.
Finally, Bellville described Senate Bill 168, which allows school boards to adopt locally created teacher-evaluation frameworks rather than using the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (OTES). He said doing so in this district would require a memorandum of understanding with the teachers’ association because OTES is in the negotiated agreement.
Board members did not take policy action during the update; Bellville said the district will continue to track litigation, work with legal counsel, and revisit training and policy decisions as the state and courts provide further guidance.
Looking ahead, Bellville said the board and staff should expect additional presentations and policy proposals as legislators and courts resolve outstanding matters.
