Board reviews OSBA model on religious release time, schedules second reading to meet April filing deadline

At a special meeting of the Sycamore Community City Board of Education, district staff presented a first reading of a model policy from the Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA) on religious release time and said the district must submit its policy by April 9 and plan a second reading at the board's April 8 meeting.

District staff said the OSBA model policy includes three protections the board's policy committee had requested: (1) students cannot be pulled from core instructional time (the district plans to define core time as a 30-minute lunch period); (2) any outside organization must provide transportation for all participating students, including students with special needs, and parents must sign a liability acknowledgement; and (3) all adults working with the program must show a BCI background check before participating.

"We don't want to hinder this from occurring. But we also want to make sure that we are not losing instructional time for our students as well," the presenting staff member said during the discussion.

Board member Mr. Lovell asked whether students could be pulled from study hall; staff replied the district can define what it considers core instructional time and could limit release to the 30-minute lunch window.

Staff said building principals will manage day-to-day administration and that the district's legal counsel will provide training to principals on legislative changes and implementation. The presenter said the board could approve the policy at the second reading on April 8 to meet the April 9 deadline and later refer any community-requested amendments back to the policy committee for reconsideration.

No formal vote was taken on the policy at the meeting; the matter was recorded as a first reading with a planned second reading on April 8.