Board reviews proposed student-services and safety policy revisions, including school year rules and life-saving medications
October 13, 2025 | York 02, School Districts, South Carolina
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Miss Sauls reviewed several model policy revisions the district is considering and emphasized the presentation was for discussion only.
She said changes to the school-year policy align the district with the Educator Assistance Act’s allocation of the district’s 10 required non-student days: "no more than 2 of those 10 days will be staff workdays in preparation for the opening of school," she said, and four of the days "must be used for professional development and alignment with instruction standards." Sauls noted the four professional-development days can now count toward teacher recertification in the revised statutory framework.
Other policy topics Sauls presented include a model policy establishing a structure for district-run charter schools; an updated attendance-and-excused-absence policy with guidance on makeup work; and a model rule allowing excused absences for students who must participate in career-and-technical-education organizations off school grounds (for example, DECA, HOSA, FFA), which the board has historically treated as school business.
The district also proposed language changes in its harassment and retaliation rules that replace the term "cell phone" with "personal electronic devices" in the relevant rule and substitute "mediation" for the term previously used as "resolution" in forms and procedures. Sauls said the harassment rule’s form language would be aligned with the staff harassment policy and noted some terms were removed from the rule text during the review process.
Sauls said a life‑saving medications rule would be updated to reference the South Carolina Department of Public Health (replacing a prior reference to DHEC) and to add specific auto-injectors to the list of approved medications. She mentioned Adrenaclick by name and referenced another item in the transcript as "nephi"; the transcript spelling was unclear. Sauls said students would provide the medication and it would be stored and administered under the nurse’s supervision and that the rule would define storage, administration and training expectations.
The policies presented were for discussion only and no votes were taken. Board members asked clarifying questions about how the new language would be implemented and Sauls pointed to a redline and FAQ resources the district will make available.
No public questions were recorded during the work-session portion of the meeting.
She said changes to the school-year policy align the district with the Educator Assistance Act’s allocation of the district’s 10 required non-student days: "no more than 2 of those 10 days will be staff workdays in preparation for the opening of school," she said, and four of the days "must be used for professional development and alignment with instruction standards." Sauls noted the four professional-development days can now count toward teacher recertification in the revised statutory framework.
Other policy topics Sauls presented include a model policy establishing a structure for district-run charter schools; an updated attendance-and-excused-absence policy with guidance on makeup work; and a model rule allowing excused absences for students who must participate in career-and-technical-education organizations off school grounds (for example, DECA, HOSA, FFA), which the board has historically treated as school business.
The district also proposed language changes in its harassment and retaliation rules that replace the term "cell phone" with "personal electronic devices" in the relevant rule and substitute "mediation" for the term previously used as "resolution" in forms and procedures. Sauls said the harassment rule’s form language would be aligned with the staff harassment policy and noted some terms were removed from the rule text during the review process.
Sauls said a life‑saving medications rule would be updated to reference the South Carolina Department of Public Health (replacing a prior reference to DHEC) and to add specific auto-injectors to the list of approved medications. She mentioned Adrenaclick by name and referenced another item in the transcript as "nephi"; the transcript spelling was unclear. Sauls said students would provide the medication and it would be stored and administered under the nurse’s supervision and that the rule would define storage, administration and training expectations.
The policies presented were for discussion only and no votes were taken. Board members asked clarifying questions about how the new language would be implemented and Sauls pointed to a redline and FAQ resources the district will make available.
No public questions were recorded during the work-session portion of the meeting.
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