The Livingston Parish School Board Curriculum Policy Committee voted unanimously to approve a set of policy revisions that include a new legal requirement to install cameras in certain special education classrooms, changes to discipline and corporal‑punishment language, clarified seclusion and restraint procedures, districtwide hands‑free signage for carpool zones and additions to equal‑opportunity language.

Assistant Superintendent Tracy McRae told the committee the state law has shifted the camera program from a parent‑requested option to a legal requirement for classrooms that serve students with significant disabilities or in classrooms where special‑education students are present 50 percent or more of the day. "The law changed ... now it requires ... to have it," McRae said, summarizing the statutory change.

Why it matters: district staff said the measure affects 76 classrooms currently identified in the district and requires procedural safeguards over who may view footage and how recordings are shared. McRae and staff described a multi‑step process for access: a parent alleging an incident must provide the alleged date and time so staff can retrieve the relevant footage; footage shared with parents or law enforcement will have other students' faces blurred to protect personally identifiable information; and parents are prohibited from recording video of the footage themselves.

A staff member described the internal review role: when a parent makes an allegation, the staff reviewer will check the footage and, if necessary, involve law enforcement and the parent in accordance with the law. McRae emphasized the law details viewing procedures and protections for staff and requires training tied to the cameras' use.

Timeline and scale: McRae said the district currently identifies 76 classrooms that meet the statutory threshold and aims to complete camera installations by Feb. 1, the date specified by the new law. For carpool safety, the committee approved signage to mark carpool zones as hands‑free; principals will receive sign examples and signage will be posted districtwide by Jan. 1, with letters to parents explaining enforcement and potential loss of carpool privileges for violations.

Other policy changes approved in the same package included revisions to policy IDDF (education of students with exceptionalities) to clarify notification of individual rights and seclusion/restraint definitions; updates to policy JD to replace references to "teachers" with "school employees" in discipline sections; an addition of the word "physical" to the section of policy JDA prohibiting taping a student's mouth; and additions to JAA and GAAA to include "military status" and protective or cultural hairstyles in equal‑opportunity language.

Vote and next steps: Cecil Harris moved to approve the policy package and Jeff Cox seconded; the committee approved the changes by voice vote with no members opposed. The meeting then adjourned after a unanimous voice vote on the motion to adjourn.

What the committee did not decide: the committee discussed enforcement practicalities for the hands‑free rule (staff said enforcement will be practicable where staff are present during student unloading), but no additional enforcement protocol or staffing changes were adopted in this meeting. The committee also did not provide a numerical vote tally in the minutes beyond the voice vote outcome.