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Board adopts special-education model resolution and updates policies including release time for religious instruction
Summary
The board approved a resolution adopting state special-education model policies with four local exceptions, approved multiple revised board policies as required by new state law, and read for the second time a set of vocabulary changes tied to recent legislation; administrators also approved related administrative guidelines.
The Brecksville-Broadview Heights City Schools Board of Education approved a resolution Wednesday adopting the state’s special‑education model policies while specifying four elements the district will not adopt wholesale because they exceed legal requirements.
Superintendent Jeff (last name not specified) told the board the district reviewed the state model and chose modifications to avoid creating local policy obligations that go beyond statute. “We just approved policy number 202460, which is a requirement due to legislation that we must... adopt model policies for the delivery of special education,” he said, adding the district will notify the state as required.
Why it matters: State legislation required districts to adopt or formally respond to model special‑education policies. The board’s resolution documents that the district has adopted the models but identified four areas where district policy will differ; the differences, Jeff said, reflect items that exceed current legal obligations.
Other policy actions: The board approved revised policies tied to new state statutes, including rules about release time for religious instruction during the school day. The adopted language permits outside religious instruction under narrow constraints: districts must allow it under state rules but the board’s policy limits such release events to nine school days per year, 50 minutes per session, and attendance only from non‑core times such as lunch or study hall; outside groups must provide background checks. Jeff said the district has not had requests to run such programs and that most religious instruction in the community already occurs before or after school.
Administrative guidelines: The board also approved related administrative guidelines that implement the adopted policies; those guidelines require only a single reading and are intended to guide building administrators in operational details.
Votes: All policy and administrative guideline items on the agenda passed on recorded roll calls (5–0).
