Policy committee forwards multiple policy revisions to Union County Public Schools board for March review

At a meeting of the Union County Public Schools policy committee, members voted to forward several policy revisions to the full school board for review at the board's March meeting.

The committee approved sending three policies for second review: the policy on prohibition of gangs and gang activities, the student wellness policy and student health services. The committee also reviewed four additional personnel and visitor policies and one set of administrative guidelines for first review and asked that those items be placed on the March board agenda.

Staff told the committee the proposed edits are part of the routine annual review of the district's policy manual and are intended mostly for clarification and to conform with State Board of Education policy. "This policy was reviewed as part of the regular review of the policy manual, and the revisions are being recommended for clarification and to conform with some requirements," a staff member said. The staff member said there has been no stakeholder input since committee and board reviews earlier in the year.

The committee described the three items moved to second review during the meeting in these terms: the prohibition on gangs and gang activities; the student wellness policy, which staff said was updated to conform with changes in State Board of Education policy and had been reviewed by the Student Health Advisory Committee (SHAC) in late fall; and student health services, also updated to align with State Board requirements. "This policy ... was reviewed by the SHAC," the staff member said of the student health services item.

On employee grievance procedure, staff described a substantive change recommended for first review: instead of bringing grieving parties together for a face-to-face meeting, the district would have separate, individual meetings with human resources and the parties involved to attempt mediation. "We have the meeting between kind of individually between HR and the individual parties to try and more of a mediation as opposed to a face to face," the staff member said. The committee did not debate the change at length and accepted staff's recommendation to forward the revision for first review.

The administrative guideline tied to the visitor policy was updated to reflect a change in district staffing; the guideline previously referenced a "director of safety" but was revised to reflect the district's current structure and the role of the assistant superintendent. Staff noted the guideline is rarely used and asked that the revised guideline be placed on the March board agenda.

Votes at a glance: the committee approved a motion recorded in the transcript as "I move that we send policy 5 3 c, policy 5 4 11, and policy 4 22 to go to the second review for the board" (mover: committee member; second: not specified). The committee subsequently moved and seconded a motion to place the first-review policies and administrative guideline on the March board agenda; both motions were passed by voice vote.

The committee did not report any new stakeholder input on the items since earlier reviews and no formal amendments were recorded. The committee's next step is to present the forwarded policies to the full Union County Public Schools board at its March meeting for further consideration and any official adoption.