Greeley Evans Board updates nondiscrimination and student-search policies, approves handheld metal-wand searches

The Greeley Evans School District 6 Board of Education on a 7-0 vote approved a set of policy revisions that return portions of the district's Title IX-related language to earlier federal regulations and update student-search rules to authorize trained building administrators to use handheld metal-detection wands when reasonable suspicion exists.

Board President Matthews opened the item after legal counsel described the changes as a rollback of portions of the district's recent policy language. "These policy revisions are essentially bringing us back to align with those 2020 regulations," Nate Fall, the district's in-house legal counsel, told the board, referring to the earlier Title IX regulatory framework.

The revisions covered language in the AC (nondiscrimination) section and a harassment policy listed as GBAA, and they included an amendment to student policies under the J series (JIH). The board considered public comment on the JIH changes before the vote. Patricia Nelson, a parent and community member, urged the board to delay the JIH change and to require searches be conducted only by law enforcement officers assigned to schools. "This not only introduces a new search method into the school policy, this also changes the policy so students have no way to refuse the search," Nelson said during the public comment period.

District leaders and board members said the handheld wands are intended as a limited, noninvasive tool to help locate…