Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Education Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board approves policy updates including homeschool declaration and MOCAP clarifications
Summary
The board approved a package of revised policies covering homeschooling (family-paced education), virtual course participation (MOCAP/Launch), attendance coding and teacher compensation policy alignment with state requirements.
The Camdenton R-III School Board approved a set of updated policies and procedures that the policy review committee presented, including changes tied to state statutes and guidance.
The nut graf: Changes include updated language on family-paced education (FPE) and an annual written declaration requirement for homeschooling, clarifications on MOCAP/Launch virtual course enrollment and the status of full-time virtual students for extracurricular eligibility, and alignment of professional staff compensation policy with state minimum-salary requirements and local flexibility for hard-to-staff positions.
Policy committee members reviewed multiple policy sections. Key points highlighted in the presentation included:
• Homeschooling/FPE: The district will require an annual written declaration of homeschooling by Sept. 1 each year to document family-paced education enrollment and to help the district track attendance and truancy responsibilities.
• MOCAP/Launch: The district currently uses Launch (Springfield) for Missouri Course Access and Virtual Instruction Program (MOCAP). The committee emphasized that districts must show good cause to deny a student entry into MOCAP and clarified that students who enroll full time in an external host (for example, Launch) become students of that host for full-time enrollment purposes; the committee recommended aligning extracurricular eligibility with host-school status rather than retaining a separate local rule.
• Attendance and truancy coding: The committee walked board members through thresholds and communications tied to attendance percentages (for example, letters and interventions as attendance drops toward 80%). Members discussed clarifying how absences count for different purposes (DESE attendance reporting versus A+ grant attendance rules) and the need for parent education about those differences.
• Professional staff compensation: Revisions reflect compliance with state minimum-teacher-salary law (referred to in the presentation as Bill 727) and allow local flexibility to increase pay in hard-to-staff areas. The committee recommended moving detailed pay-placement regulations from policy into the teacher handbook to preserve flexibility.
The board moved to approve the updates as presented; a second was recorded and the motion passed on a voice vote.
Ending: The district will publish the revised policies and follow up with communications and handbook updates to implement the approved changes.
