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Committee adopts advertising and booster/PTO rules, removes outdated policies and tables social‑media policy; reviews graduation requirements
Summary
The committee approved a new advertising policy and a combined booster/PTO policy with annual financial disclosures; it removed an older textbook‑selection policy and tabled a proposed employee social‑media policy for further review. The committee also reviewed proposed changes to graduation requirements to align with recent state guidance.
The Bristol Warren Regional School Committee voted on several policy items and reviewed proposed graduation requirements at its April 21 meeting.
Advertising and booster/PTO rules
The committee approved a revised advertising policy that allows limited school‑sponsored advertising and establishes criteria and protections for fundraising and sponsorships. District officials said the policy clarifies that for‑profit flyers and solicitations are not distributed through school channels and that any distributed materials must clearly state they are not school‑sponsored when appropriate.
The committee also approved a new combined policy for booster and parent‑teacher organizations that requires those organizations to operate on a voluntary membership basis and to submit annual financial disclosures to the district. The administration said the financial reports mirror information booster and PTO groups already file for tax purposes; the requirement aims to ensure transparency for funds raised on behalf of students.
Policy removals and procedural notes
The committee removed two older policies and replaced them with the consolidated booster/PTO policy where appropriate. Committee members said they had circulated drafts to organization leaders; one PTO president later told a committee member she had not seen the draft and staff agreed to re‑share the materials.
Social‑media policy tabled
The committee tabled a proposed employee social‑networking policy (GBE BD) for further discussion after several public commenters and a staff union representative raised questions about the policy's scope, legal references and overlap with existing student‑teacher interaction policies. The district will collect feedback and bring the revised policy back to the policy subcommittee.
Graduation requirements
The committee reviewed a first read of revised graduation requirements to align with state guidance. The proposed policy would require students to complete a minimum of 30 hours of performance‑based, service or work‑based learning, with Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathway participants required to complete 80 hours; alternative options include a performance‑based assessment such as AP Capstone. The district plans to provide school‑sponsored opportunities for freshmen and sophomores to meet the 30‑hour minimum so the requirement is not a barrier to graduation.
Other votes
The committee approved removal of policy IIAA (textbook selection and adoption) on the grounds that textbook selection is addressed through the district's curriculum procedures and does not require school committee approval.
Several policy votes passed by voice vote; the social‑networking policy was tabled to a future meeting for additional review and staff will re‑circulate drafts to PTO and booster leaders.
