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Board hears first reading of student-handbook updates covering grading, vaping and AI protocols
Summary
Trustees reviewed first-read updates to elementary, middle and high school handbooks that include changes to lunch delivery, grading systems, vape detectors, dress-code language and an artificial-intelligence protocol.
Elmwood Park CUSD 401 administrators presented first-reading revisions to student handbooks for the elementary, middle and high schools at the July 1 meeting.
Elementary updates: Elementary administrators said changes were primarily clerical (updated cover, calendar and page numbers). They revised lunch and breakfast language to discourage parents from bringing lunches after the school day begins, added administrative-discretion language for dress code, linked to the preschool handbook rather than reproducing it, and changed the district’s standard-based-grading language to indicate the K–5 scope (previously referenced K–8 in the handbook).
Middle-school updates: Elm Middle School administrators reported a substantive change: standards-based grading (SBG) will be sunseted at the end of the school year and handbook language replaced with traditional grading language. The middle-school update also adds language about vape detectors, strengthens dress-code language (a specific reference to tube tops was discussed), and incorporates an artificial-intelligence protocol consistent with district policy.
High-school updates: High-school administrators reported changes to grading language that mirror the middle school’s return to traditional grading, updated attendance and tardy procedures (including language for weekly and chronic tardiness), an updated bell schedule moving to eight periods with a "tiger time," and AI-related academic-dishonesty language. The high-school handbook also adds vape-detector protocols (including parent notification procedures), allows students to carry either a physical or virtual ID through a district app, and removes the student directory from the handbook.
Trustees discussed consistency across grade levels, especially on dress-code language and enforcement. One trustee asked that the handbook committee revisit dress-code alignment between middle and high school. Administrators indicated the handbooks will return for further consideration after the committee meets; this meeting was the first reading, not a vote.
The district referenced an internal AI protocol and cited the Illinois Principals Association as a reference point for dress-code language.
