JEFFERSON PARISH, La. — The Jefferson Parish School Board on July 21 approved an update to its student-discipline policy as part of the meeting’s consent agenda, bringing local rules into alignment with recent state legislative changes identified by board staff.

Board member Mister Sheppard asked whether the policy package under agenda item 2.9 incorporated legislative revisions discussed earlier in committee. "I wanted to make sure any of those were also included in this so that that, that dealt with, not just the drug policies, but any other policies where we talked about, discipline," Sheppard said during the meeting.

"The answer is yes," Dr. Carter said, explaining the legislative change. "The legislative updates rolled it back to 2 complete semesters," she said, describing a reduction in the minimum period of exclusion for offenses involving firearms, knives or illegal substances from four semesters to two. Dr. Carter also said the district included a recommendation that students found in possession of drugs may be expelled on a first occurrence; she said the legislation moves a penalty to the second occurrence and the district added the first-occurrence language to its recommendation.

The board approved the consent agenda without amendment. The motion to adopt the consent agenda was moved by Mister Moise and seconded by Miss Baraban Fortunato; roll-call votes were recorded in the meeting transcript and the presiding officer announced the motion carried.

Why it matters: The change shortens the district’s minimum suspension period for specified offenses and updates drug-possession discipline language to include an explicit recommendation for expulsion on the first occurrence, a departure from the district’s prior practice as described in the meeting.

The record presented the policy change as an administrative update to reflect recent law and the legislative committee’s earlier discussion; no separate, standalone debate or amendment of the policy language was recorded during the special session. The transcript does not specify implementation details such as appeal rights, how the district will notify families of the change, or whether the district will adopt uniform procedures across schools.

The board’s action was recorded as part of a broader consent agenda that included multiple contracts and renewals; meeting minutes will show the final adopted policy text and any subsequent implementation directives, which were not detailed during the brief special session.

The consent agenda vote concluded the item and no additional motions or directives concerning enforcement, appeals or cross-agency coordination were recorded during the meeting.