Board opens public hearing on code of conduct, previews new bell-to-bell phone policy and other updates

The Wappingers Central School District Board of Education opened a public hearing on the district’s draft code of conduct and attendance policy during its June 2 meeting, and closed the hearing later in the same session after no members of the public spoke.

Assistant Superintendent for Administration and Information Systems Darren Olking told the board the review is the district’s annual, statutorily required process and that the draft will be on the website for a 30-day public comment period. “This is, of course, our annual process where we review our upcoming school year's draft code of conduct as well as any changes made to the attendance policy, which is required by education law,” Olking said.

Olking said the district is adjusting the draft to reflect new New York State legislation that requires schools to create a separate, “bell-to-bell” cellphone policy. “What that legislation actually is doing is requiring us to create a new cell phone policy separate from the code of conduct,” he said. The code-of-conduct draft will reference the separate phone policy and that the two documents will inform one another as the final language is developed.

The draft also includes a suggested dress-code clarification to prohibit students from wearing blankets during the school day “unless at the discretion of building administration,” Olking said. He described the change as a response to instances in which blankets were worn as full-body coverings and were judged to be distracting. The draft specifies blankets remain permissible for appropriate after-school activities.

Olking said the district will add online behavior explicitly to several existing infraction categories. He told the board the draft updates will add the words “online” to existing entries such as threatening a student or threatening an employee, and will add a new infraction covering refusal to comply with in-school suspension or in-school removal: “refusal of ISS/ISR.”

On attendance, Olking said the draft aims to reflect current building-level practices and removes references to older interventions the principals reported are no longer used. He summarized that the policy will continue to describe intervention strategies to address chronic absenteeism and noted a sentence clarifying that continued attendance problems “may result in disciplinary actions at the discretion of building principal.”

The board opened the public hearing on the code of conduct and attendance policy by motion (moved by Trustee Johnson; second by Trustee Lelumia). The meeting record shows the motion passed unanimously. After the presentation and with no public comments, the board closed the public hearing and resumed the regular meeting on a motion by Keith Dodes, seconded by Peggy Kellen; that vote also was unanimous.

The district will accept public comment during the 30-day posting period; Olking said updated language on the cellphone policy and the revised infraction list will appear on the district website as the separate phone policy is finalized.