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Vancouver SD schedules first readings to realign harassment, nondiscrimination and public-records policies
Summary
District staff presented four policies for first reading on March 18: Policy 3205 (student harassment), Policy 3210 (student nondiscrimination), Policy 4040 (public records fees), and Policy 5011 (staff harassment).
District staff told the Committee of the Whole on March 18 that four policies will come to the board for first reading at the April 8 regular meeting: Policy 3205 (harassment of students prohibited), Policy 3210 (nondiscrimination for students), Policy 4040 (public access to district records), and Policy 5011 (harassment of district staff prohibited).
Taylor, a district staff member who presented the policies, said the changes to Policy 3205 would essentially return the district to the version of the policy that was in place prior to the current school year to align with the federal Title IX regulations. "We are, essentially going back to the version of the policy that had been in place prior to this school year to align with what is now, federal law in Title IX," Taylor said. Taylor said Policy 3210 is being updated to align with recommendations from statewide associations and with updated handbook language for nondiscrimination and harassment.
Taylor also described a proposed minor update to Policy 4040 to align the district's public records fee-waiver threshold with current procedure. Under the proposed language, the district would not charge requesters if the cost to fulfill a public-records request is $5 or less. A board member asked, "Is that just, like, the printing costs?" Taylor replied, "We don't charge for our time. Charges include if we have to make photocopies, if you have to, if you electronically transmit records, then there is a fee for that. So, essentially, PDFs and emails that are sent also have fees." Taylor added that requesters always have the option to inspect records at the district office for no fee and that most routine requests fall below the waiver threshold.
Policy 5011, addressing harassment of district staff, was described as mirroring the student harassment update to align with Title IX where applicable. These are first readings; no formal board votes were taken on March 18.
