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Board advances first readings of policy changes tied to state bills on student safety, board conduct and personnel access
Summary
The Everett board moved several policy revisions to second reading after a first reading at the Sept. 30 meeting. Revisions, which staff said respond to recent state legislation, touch on oath of office language, online policy manual standards, board ethics and employee access to personnel files.
At its Sept. 30 meeting the Everett Public Schools board held first readings of multiple policy revisions and moved them to second reading without objection. Staff said the revisions respond to recent state legislation and updated statutory expectations.
The policies presented were: proposed revisions to Policy 1114 (oath of office), Policy 1310 (online policy manual), Policy 1611 (ethical conduct for school board directors), Policy 3143 (district notification regarding student offenses and threats) and Policy 5230 (personnel files). Staff said the first four arose from the passage of House Bill 1296 (cited in the presentation as "House Bill 12 96") and that the personnel-file changes derive from substitute House Bill 1308.
During the presentation, staff summarized the changes: newly elected or appointed board members would explicitly "take an oath or affirmation to support and uphold the Constitutions of The United States and the State of Washington and the laws of the State of Washington," and school policies would "prioritize student safety, nondiscrimination, access to basic education, and privacy to the fullest extent possible, except as required by State or Federal law," according to staff remarks.
Board members asked clarifying questions. When asked how the district balances student-safety communication and student privacy, staff replied: "So first and foremost, we have to follow law... privacy is number 1 about students," and said the district would follow applicable student-records and law-enforcement notification statutes while implementing the revised language.
Student representatives provided advisory votes of "yes" on the items and board members indicated no objection to moving the policies to a second reading. The policies were not adopted at the meeting; staff said legal counsel and senior staff had previously reviewed the proposed revisions and that the items would return for a second reading on the board's next agenda.
