Policy committee approves multiple policy referrals to school board, tables social-media policy for attorney review

The Faribault Public School District Policy Committee on March 4 voted to refer several revised and new policies to the full school board and tabled a proposed social-media policy for attorney review.

The committee approved sending revisions or newly numbered policies for student attendance (Policy 503), school resource officers (Policy 507.5), graduation requirements (Policy 6‑13), testing accommodations and exemptions (Policy 6‑15), and a new information‑security policy (Policy 598) to the school board. The committee then voted to table proposed Policy 599 (use of social media) until the May 6, 2025 meeting and asked district attorneys to review it for First Amendment concerns.

Committee members said most of the referred policies involved clerical or cross‑reference changes. On Policy 507.5, the committee noted a correction in the legal reference — replacing an obsolete citation with Minnesota Statute 123b (previously cited as 120b) — and recorded no substantive content changes before referral. When the committee considered Policy 598, information security, district staff described the policy as a step to formalize roles and practices for protecting district data.

"So I think the most important thing is to make sure that, regardless of who is in my position or who is in any of the positions that we see within our school district, that we maintain a clear security posture as well as identifying access controls," said Mike Burding, a technology staff member who summarized the information‑security policy for the committee. He said the policy would help preserve incident‑response and disaster‑recovery practices across administrative changes and support insurability.

Burding told the committee the district posts an annual list of vendors with access to student and staff data on the technology page of the district website and said the district uses contracts and data‑privacy agreements with vendors. He said parents receive annual notification of applications and vendors that handle district data and that state law provides opt‑out options for some kinds of data sharing, though operational needs — such as food service or transportation — may limit opt‑out in certain cases.

Questions about the social‑media policy prompted deeper debate. One committee member urged caution on provisions the member said could chill staff or student speech and asked for legal review. "I think we really need to walk circumspectly here. And I would really like an attorney to look at this because we could violating somebody's First Amendment rights ... and that is a it's a stable. And that's why they call it black letter violation," the member said.

After a motion and second, the committee voted to table Policy 599 until the May 6 meeting and requested the district attorneys review the entire draft with attention to First Amendment implications and any other legal risks.

The policy committee also noted scheduling: with several policies now up to date, the committee expects fewer meetings this spring and said May 6 may be the next substantive meeting, with the regular three‑year rotation of policies continuing.

Votes at a glance

- Motion to send Policy 503, Student Attendance, to the school board — motion moved by Nate; seconded; voice vote in favor; motion passed.

- Motion to send Policy 507.5, School Resource Officers, to the school board — motion moved by Wendy; seconded; voice vote in favor; motion passed. Committee noted legal reference corrected to Minnesota Statute 123b.

- Motion to send Policy 6‑13, Graduation Requirements, to the school board — motion moved by Nate; seconded; voice vote in favor; motion passed.

- Motion to send Policy 6‑15, Testing Accommodations, Modifications and Exemptions, to the school board — motion moved and seconded; voice vote in favor; motion passed.

- Motion to send new Policy 598, Information Security, to the school board — motion moved; seconded; voice vote in favor; motion passed.

- Motion to send new Policy 599, Use of Social Media, to the school board — initially moved and seconded; after debate, committee moved and seconded to table Policy 599 to May 6, 2025, pending review by district attorneys for First Amendment and other legal concerns; voice vote in favor of tabling; motion passed.

The committee meeting opened at 3:45 p.m. and concluded after members agreed on the tabling and next steps. The committee recorded that most edits discussed during the session were clerical (cross‑references and punctuation) rather than substantive policy changes.