HIGHLANDS board reviews updates to 42 district policies including discipline notices, AED checks and an AI policy

The HIGHLANDS School Board met in a public workshop to review proposed updates to 42 district policies intended to bring board policy into alignment with recent changes in Florida law and with external guidance from NEOLA and the Florida High School Athletic Association.

Board Attorney Shannon Nash led the review and ran through policy changes by number, saying the updates mostly reflect statutory changes and clarifications. The session included brief technical corrections, two newly proposed policies and discussion on how the district will implement several procedural changes.

Why it matters: the package affects routine operations across the district — student discipline procedures, athletic requirements, procurement, grants accounting and emerging topics such as artificial intelligence. Several changes alter how the district communicates with parents and how staff maintain safety equipment, directly affecting students, families and school employees.

Key changes and discussion

- Scope and counts: Nash said there are 42 policies under review. The revisions range from minor citation and capitalization edits to substantive changes tied to statute or external rules.

- Student-discipline notification: Several policies (including 5610, 5623 and 5611 as reviewed) were revised to change how the district may deliver notice to a student’s parent or guardian in suspension- or expulsion-related matters. Tim Leesburg, director of safety and security, said the law changed last year and the district will update consent language on the code-of-conduct form so parents may agree to alternative delivery methods. "So now if the parent agrees to it, we can send it by other means. We can hand deliver it to the parent. We can send it home with the student with whatever they agree upon so that we can try to avoid some of those situations," Leesburg said.

- Corporal punishment language removed: The proposed revision to policy 5630 would change the title and language to refer to "use of reasonable force and restraint" and remove the term "corporal punishment," making the policy consistent with the district’s recently adopted code of student conduct.

- Athletic policies and name-image-likeness (NIL): The board reviewed new and revised athletic policies, including policy 1430.07 and policy 3120.03, to reflect changes in the Florida High School Athletic Association bylaws and to add provisions such as CPR certification for coaches and part-time extracurricular personnel. Nash said the NIL changes stem from FHSAA bylaw updates allowing name, image and likeness activities for student-athletes.

- AEDs and CPR: Melissa Blackman, director of student services, described the district’s automated external defibrillators (AEDs) upkeep. "The units that we have have a 7 year expiration date on it. The units also have internal automatic where they give, warnings if there's something wrong with the battery or the pad or something like that... we do also monthly physically check each AED to make sure that none of those, warning signs are not they're operating on," Blackman said. Board members asked about routine checks and battery/pad replacement cycles; Blackman said the district conducts monthly physical checks and replaces pads and batteries on schedule.

- Procurement and contracting thresholds: Policy 6322 (construction contracting and bidding) was updated to reflect the correct threshold; Nash noted a correction from a previously listed $50,000 to $75,000 to match current law. Other procurement and federal-grant procurement policies were revised to reflect federal reporting and compliance practices.

- Federal grants and cash management: Policies addressing internal controls, cash management of grants (6111, 6112) and cost principles (6114) were updated to reflect federal requirements and district practice; staff from finance were present for technical questions.

- Wellness minutes for meals: The wellness policy was updated to specify minimum meal times: at least 18 minutes for breakfast and at least 20 minutes for lunch, clarifying a blank space that had appeared in the posted draft.

- Artificial intelligence policy: The board reviewed a newly proposed policy (7540.08) on artificial intelligence; Nash said NEOLA provided language and that curriculum, principals and MIS staff had reviewed it.

- Public records and charter schools: The public-records policy (8310) was revised to identify school-guardian information as exempt under public-records law. The charter-schools policy (9800) was substantially pared back per NEOLA’s recommendation to reference current Florida law rather than repeat changing statutory language in district policy.

Process and next steps

Nash opened the session as a rule-development workshop; there were no formal votes or final adoptions during the meeting. Nash and staff will incorporate feedback and bring recommended final language back for later action. The board opened the floor for public comment but recorded no speakers.

Board Chair (name not specified) and members thanked Nash and staff for the work. Nash confirmed staff participation across departments (finance, student services, safety and security, curriculum and MIS) during the review. No formal motions or votes were recorded at the workshop.

Ending

Board staff will refine the draft language based on the workshop discussion and return proposed final policies for future consideration. The workshop closed with thanks to staff for coordinating the policy updates.