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Board adopts 2025–26 student handbook; administrators to return with AI guidance
Summary
Harper Creek approved the districtwide 2025–26 student handbook, reflecting schedule and grading changes, updated cell-phone rules, and the addition of concussion materials; administrators will draft AI-use guidelines and bring them back for board review.
The Harper Creek Board of Education unanimously approved the 2025–26 student handbook at its Aug. 11 meeting, adopting changes administrators said reflect the district’s shift from a block schedule to a traditional schedule, an updated grading scale and clarified cell-phone expectations.
The handbook revisions passed 7–0 after brief discussion. The motion approved the handbook “as discussed and reviewed.”
Administrators said the handbook consolidates separate building handbooks into a single electronic handbook that is easier to update. Superintendent Jim Ridgeway said the new electronic format will allow the district to make timely corrections or additions during the school year: "The really nice part about this student handbook is it's easy to update and change because it's electronic," he said.
Specific changes called out in the board packet and by administrators included: credit and graduation requirements staged over four years to align with the schedule change; a shift in the grading-scale detail (minor adjustments to grade point values); stricter cell-phone controls (high-school and middle-school students may carry phones but not use them during class; elementary phones require principal permission and are expected to remain secured); and a districtwide requirement that parents sign and return concussion-awareness forms (the district will use CDC/MHSA materials and retain records as required).
Board members raised AI use as an outstanding area for detailed guidance. Ridgeway and other administrators said the handbook includes academic-integrity language (plagiarism, cheating, falsification of schoolwork) but not a full AI policy. District leaders said they will draft recommended guidelines and present them to the board after a planned Sept. joint meeting that includes an AI presentation by an external speaker (Anna Macron, scheduled for a joint board discussion). Ridgeway said the district will consult legal counsel on any formal prohibitions or permitted uses.
Ending: Administration will publish the handbook electronically, circulate it to families, and return to the board with recommended AI-use guidelines and any minor edits arising from ongoing legal review.
