Beaufort County academic committee reviews updates to physical education and instructional-materials rules

At a July 17 academic committee meeting, Beaufort County School District staff reviewed proposed changes to two administrative regulations — IS 11 (physical education) and IS 35 (instructional materials) — intended to align district policy with recent state guidance.

Staff said they added a nondiscrimination clause across administrative regulations and clarified state-aligned requirements for physical education, "including the 90 minutes requirement from the state and the 500 to 1 teacher-to-student ratio," and they noted that marching band may be counted as a physical-education course where appropriate. "We are adding that to all of our administrative regulations to ensure that we're providing equal opportunities to all the students at the Berkeley School District," presenter Michael Stratis said during the review.

The IS 35 revisions revise the definition of "instructional materials" to match state regulation 43170, remove a redundant district list of materials, and add procedures for parental inspection and review. Staff described a two-pronged approach required by the state (academic rigor and developmental appropriateness) and explained that the district removed an explicit materials list because the new definition subsumes those items. The district also described a formal reconsideration process: parents are asked first to resolve concerns at the school level and, if unresolved, may request a district review committee. That committee will be composed of an odd number of members with at least one certified educator, one school administrator, two parents (not the complainant), one community member, one district-level director or coordinator, and one member of the school improvement council; staff said the committee will issue a report within 30 business days.

Committee members asked how grade-2 fitness reporting will be implemented (the state now requires grade 2 in addition to grades 5 and 8) and how alternate activities such as marching band or ROTC would satisfy PE requirements, and staff said executive summaries and supporting documents are available for members to review. No formal vote to adopt the ARs was recorded during the committee meeting; staff were asked to provide one-line executive summaries for the full board meeting.

The committee set a follow-up timeline and asked staff to provide clear executive summaries for board members ahead of the full board meeting.