Policy Review Committee posts package of federal-compliance, curriculum and conflict-of-interest policy changes for public review

The Policy Review Committee voted July 21 to authorize administration to post a package of policy revisions for public review in July, with subsequent board action scheduled for August.

The package covers federal fiscal compliance (Policy 6.26), travel and participants in federal awards (Policy 6.26.1), conflict of interest (Policy 8.27) and several curriculum-related policies (Policies 105, 106, 107, 108 and 111). Committee members present included George Andrews, committee member; Jason Goldstrand, committee member; Keith Carcutt, committee member; and Debbie Hewitt, committee member. An unidentified staff member read the proposed changes during the meeting.

The revisions update federal compliance language to reflect federal regulations and add or clarify several requirements tied to federal awards. "The district's financial management system is subject to periodic internal and external audits for the any fiscal year in which the district spends $1,000,000 or more in federal awards," the staff member read. The draft also lengthens record retention for grant-related records and property from five years to seven years and adds provisions on cybersecurity and electronic record integrity.

On travel and participants in federal awards (Policy 6.26.1), the draft adds a definition for "participant" (including community members, students and conference attendees) and inserts "airfare" into reimbursable transportation items. The staff member said employees and participants "shall acquire prior written approval to incur travel costs for official business related to federal awards." The committee did not debate these specifics during the meeting.

The conflict-of-interest update (Policy 8.27) expands the definition of a conflict of interest for federal purposes to include financial interests or tangible personal benefits for employees, officers, agents, board members or their immediate family or partners and clarifies notification procedures.

Several curriculum-related policies were edited to align terminology with current practice: the package replaces older phrases such as "plan instruction" and "guides" with "curriculum," defines "piloting" as a limited implementation to gather data for scaling decisions and defines "pioneering" as limited adoption of already approved resources to support teacher implementation. The draft also adds that piloting or pioneering may be reported to either the EPR committee or the full board, at the district's discretion.

Policy 111 would add or clarify that assistant principals may be delegated responsibility for plan books and that plan books must remain in a designated location overnight so they are available to substitute teachers. The staff member said lesson plans "shall be decided at the building level as directed through administrative regulation." The committee discussed that digital plan-book availability would meet the requirement that plans be accessible.

The committee directed administration to post the drafts for public review during July and to return them for board action in August. The motion to "authorize and direct the administration to post the following policy... for public review during the month of July and subsequent board action in August" passed on a voice vote; individual roll-call votes were not recorded in the committee minutes. The committee announced its next meeting for Aug. 18, 2025, at 4:30 p.m.

The posted drafts will be available for public comment during July before the school board considers final action in August.