The Nash County Public Schools policy committee on Thursday reviewed both technical edits and about a dozen substantive policy changes and voted to recommend the updated policies to the full board.

Mister Weber, presenting the NCSPA policy update, said the packet combined minor edits (legal references and cross-references) with substantive revisions covering student and employee grievance procedures, confidential-information protections, dual-enrollment references and Internet-safety standards.

On grievance procedures, Weber said the student policy (17-10-40-10) and the employee policy (17-57-220) were revised to make explicit that hearings will be closed unless open-meetings law requires them to be open. He proposed clarifying language that would require a grievant who intends to be represented by legal counsel to notify the appropriate school official at least three days in advance so the district could secure counsel.

Weber also described changes to a confidentiality policy (21257315) to align with a new state law that restricts public agencies from collecting, disclosing or releasing identifying information about members, volunteers and donors to 501(c)(3) organizations, with statutory exceptions noted in the policy language.

Other substantive edits described included adding a new college-and-career-ready pathway reference to the district dual-enrollment policy, and revisions to technology and Internet-safety policies to comply with a recent statutory requirement (referenced in committee as part of HB805) that boards adopt policies limiting access to age-inappropriate material, protecting email safety, prohibiting hacking and restricting student social-media access except for teacher-directed, educational uses.

After the presentation, a committee member moved that agenda items 3 through 19 be recommended to the full board for approval next week. The motion was seconded and carried by voice vote.