Board previews February agenda: college partnerships, student clubs, policies, calendar and instructional items

Staff previewed multiple items for the board’s Feb. 11 meeting, spanning college partnerships, student organizations, policy changes, the annual school calendar and instructional materials.

Brett presented a recommendation to approve resolution 929 to renew a memorandum of agreement between Vancouver Public Schools and Clark College so ITEC students can continue accessing college-level classes on the ITEC site. Brett said the Clark College arrangement mirrors a similar agreement the board approved recently with Washington State University for ITEC students.

Staff also recommended approval of revised associated-student-body bylaws for Columbia River High School and Fort Vancouver High School. Columbia River requested a Family, Career and Community Leaders of America club (FCCLA); Fort Vancouver requested clubs for Green Team and a Black Student Union.

Taylor previewed a first read of policy 6210 (purchasing authorization and control). The recommendation would raise the board-review threshold for new expenditures to $150,000 per year and require board review of renewed contracts only when the renewal increases cost by more than 10% from the prior year. Staff said the proposal followed a regional comparison; staff earlier considered $250,000 as a threshold and settled on $150,000 in part to align with comparable-size districts.

Taylor also previewed two policies for second reading and approval in February: policy 3420, which would require schools to maintain a supply of epinephrine nasal spray for anaphylaxis prevention and response, and policy 3424, which updates the district’s opioid-overdose reversal policy to allow any person — including students and staff — to carry opioid-reversal medication on campus under the standing order.

On the school calendar, staff described built-in snow days (one in March and one in April), end-of-year buffer days that avoid Juneteenth, a rolling kindergarten start and expansions to offer a 6th-grade kickoff and a proposed 9th-grade rollout contingent on a state waiver. Staff said the waiver would also cover a professional-learning day tied to anticipated revisions of state learning standards. Staff noted changes to conference and early-release days and said the district would coordinate with the Vancouver Education Association (VEA) on how those days are used.

Instructional items previewed included CTE course proposals, an instructional materials committee report that flagged one middle-school text for violent content, and two out-of-state travel requests (festival and basketball tournament) that staff said would typically be funded by boosters.

All items were presented as previews; no formal votes were taken at the Committee of the Whole. Staff said they will bring final draft language, resolutions and contract documents to the Feb. 11 board meeting for consideration.