School committee approves revised health-education opt-out policy; administration to notify families
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Summary
The committee approved revisions to the district’s health-education opt-out policy, adding statutory waiver references and clarifying that students who opt out will complete an independent assignment on a different topic; the administration will distribute the notice to families this school year.
The North Kingstown School Committee approved a revision to its health-education opt-out policy (IHAM) on Oct. 7, adding clearer language about statutory waivers and specifying how students who opt out will be assigned alternate work.
Under the revised language approved by the committee, students who are opted out of specified health instruction units will “be expected to fulfill an independent assignment from the teacher on a different topic.” Committee members discussed making that language explicit to assure parents that alternate work will not duplicate the material from which the student is being excused.
Superintendent Duba said the revision also lists the three statutory bases for exemptions and aligns the policy with state regulation language. Committee members asked the administration to publish the policy notice this school year even though the school year has already started; the superintendent agreed to distribute the notice and to include information on how parents can request and review the independent assignment.
The committee voted to approve the policy as amended. Members discussed the administrative burden on teachers for preparing alternate assignments and asked that the administration provide guidance to staff on how to implement the provision consistently.
The committee also voted to delete a related policy (IHAMR) that the administration said would be redundant if IHAM is updated.
