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Upper Darby board waives second reading, adopts updated Title IX policies
Summary
The Upper Darby School District Board of School Directors voted to waive a second reading and adopt updates to four Title IX–related policies and two attachments, citing changes to U.S. Department of Education regulations and ongoing litigation affecting two schools.
The Upper Darby School District Board of School Directors on Aug. 27 waived the board’s usual second-reading requirement and voted to adopt revisions to policies 103, 103.1 and 104 and to adopt a new policy, 103.2, to reflect changes to federal Title IX regulations.
Board members said the policies were updated after the U.S. Department of Education published changes to Title IX regulations in April 2024. Director Veil Desnoyers, who presented the policy report, told the board the updates are ‘‘extensive’’ and that policy 103.2 is new. Desnoyers said the changes were necessary for district policies to align with the Department of Education’s regulatory updates for the coming school year.
The board discussed a carve-out for two schools. Desnoyers explained that the new Title IX regulations take effect Aug. 1, 2024, but that litigation over the regulations means the new rules currently do not apply to Upper Darby High School and Drexel Hill Middle School; for incidents at those two schools or for incidents that occurred prior to Aug. 1, 2024, the district will rely on the earlier 2020 Title IX regulatory framework as reflected in the attachments on the meeting agenda. Desnoyers read a resolution requesting the waiver of the second-reading requirement of policy 3 so the revised and new policies could be adopted at the same meeting. After a second, the board voted in favor and the motion carried.
Documents showing the policy revisions and the two attachments were posted to the district’s BoardDocs site at least 24 hours before the meeting, President Fields noted. No public comments on the policy items were submitted by email or phone, board members said, and no members of the public used the open-microphone public comment procedure for these items.
The board’s action updates district policy language to reflect the Department of Education’s April 2024 Title IX regulatory changes for incidents occurring on or after Aug. 1, 2024, except where the board stated the new regulations do not apply because of ongoing litigation affecting two district schools. The board adopted the amendments by majority voice vote; the transcript records the motion, a second, and that the motion carried, but does not record a roll-call tally of individual yes/no votes.
The board did not discuss implementation details such as staff training timetables or complaint-processing timelines during the policy vote. Those operational items were not specified in the policy report presented at the meeting.
The district posted its agenda at least 24 hours in advance and the meeting proceeded as a special voting meeting. The board adjourned after completing the agenda.
