Onslow County Schools policy committee forwards multiple policy revisions, including new cell-phone rules, to full board

The Onslow County Schools Policy Committee voted Aug. 26 to forward a package of revised board policies to the full school board for consideration at its Sept. 2 meeting, including a revised wireless communication devices policy and several changes tied to state statutes and reporting requirements.

The revisions cover multiple policy codes in the district packet and would be placed on the board’s consent agenda, committee members said. Committee presenter Mr. Anderson told members the packet contains markups based on state-level legal and policy updates shared at statewide law-and-policy symposia.

"Policies are living documents and they change in accordance to what the board desires to see in them," Anderson said, noting updates come from recent changes in state law and guidance. He told the committee some changes are time-sensitive because the district must submit policy language to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (DPI).

The committee discussed several specific changes included in the packet. Revisions to parental-involvement and school-trip policies add language mirroring state statute that prohibits students from sharing sleeping quarters with someone of the other biological sex during school-sponsored…