Kingsport board approves 12 policy revisions and adopts two new policies on first reading, including student representative and phone ban

The Kingsport City Schools Board of Education voted July 8 to approve 12 revised policies and to adopt two new policies on first reading after dispensing with the second-reading requirement.

The policy updates and two new policies were presented by Dr. Andy True, who told the board the district subscribes to the Tennessee School Boards Association (TSBA) policy service and that TSBA’s legal staff provided draft language reflecting changes made by the state legislature. The board approved the 12 revised policies on first reading and then voted to adopt two new policies — Policy 1.1021 (student board member) and Policy 6.312 (use of wireless communication devices) — on first reading.

Policy 1.1021 implements a state requirement that boards operating at least one high school authorize a nonvoting student representative. The policy as presented delegates selection criteria and procedures to the superintendent. Dr. True described the role this way: “This policy would… put in place, a student representative, a non voting student representative on the board as required by state law.” The student’s term would run through the school year and the statute refers to attendance at public meetings.

Policy 6.312 would require electronic and wireless communication devices to be stored for the entire school day from start to finish, with statutory exceptions. The draft and discussion list exceptions including emergency use; teacher-authorized uses to manage student health documented in an individualized health-care plan; use required by a student’s 504 plan or individualized education program (IEP); and assistive-technology use for students with disabilities. The law allows confiscation; district administrators are developing detailed administrative procedures and a tiered discipline approach for repeated violations. A board member asked that those administrative procedures be shared with the board so members can explain them to parents and constituents.

Board members and administrators highlighted other statutory-driven policy changes in the package that the district is adopting or updating: a change to records-access language removing fax as an accepted submission method; removal of a prior requirement to set educator-diversity goals (cited to a public chapter); changes to emergency-drill frequency (one full evacuation drill every 30 school days, with no more than two in the first 30 days); a threat-assessment requirement to notify parents or guardians within 48 hours when a credible threat of violence is reported to a state or local law-enforcement agency; clarification that certain employees must complete state-required training before conducting searches (and that the state training has not yet been provided); a requirement that student-transfer records be provided within five business days; a clarification on how six weeks of paid family leave may be taken (no less than one-week increments unless consecutively taken or otherwise allowed by the superintendent); and an elementary-school wellness rule requiring a minimum of 40 minutes per school day of unstructured physical activity, with middle and high schools to provide a minimum of 90 minutes of physical activity per school week.

Special-education staff raised implementation questions for Policy 6.312, asking how to accommodate devices that are part of an IEP or that deliver critical medical alerts (diabetes monitors, hearing-aid paired devices). Dr. True and administrators said special-education staff, including Megan Jones, the district’s special-education director, and other administrators were working to ensure 504 and IEP needs are accounted for in administrative procedures.

The board took the policy votes in three steps: 1) approve the 12 revised policies on first reading (motion carried unanimously); 2) dispense with the second-reading requirement to allow immediate adoption of the two new policies on first reading (motion carried); and 3) approve and adopt Policies 1.1021 and 6.312 on first reading (motion carried unanimously). The transcript records the board’s decisions but does not include full verbatim text of the final policy language in the meeting minutes.

Administrators said the policy updates come from recent state legislation and TSBA guidance, and that further communications to parents and staff will be required before the start of the school year. The board scheduled a work session July 22; the next regular meeting is Aug. 12.