Board considers changes to enrollment and parental-access rules; staff to keep enrolled parent as administrative tiebreaker

District staff presented a proposed policy to clarify how the district handles parental access and decision-making when parents are not in agreement about a student's enrollment, pickup lists or education decisions.

The draft — discussed as a new or amended policy in the 5,700 series (staff used an internal label during the workshop) — would encourage including both biological parents on contact lists when possible and create a stepwise process for resolving disputes. Staff described a safety valve process in which a parent who is not on a school's contact list may request to be added; the school would notify the enrolling parent and check for any court orders or restrictions before making a change.

District staff repeatedly noted the operational constraint that school-level staff should not be asked to interpret court orders at the front desk. Student-services personnel and legal counsel will coordinate reviews of documentation when needed; staff said student services will work with legal counsel before making sensitive determinations.

If parents remain deadlocked after the district's review process and there is no controlling court order, staff said the district will rely on the enrolled parent as the administrative tiebreaker because the district must have a consistent rule to follow. "Ultimately, if all else fails, the enrolled parent is who we're gonna look to," a staff member said.

Staff said the change is intended to preserve consistency with current practice while giving a clearer procedure for when disputes arise; the board did not adopt any language at the workshop and asked staff to return a revised draft for future consideration.