Kensington board adopts longer public-input policy, other revisions; accepts school nurse—s retirement
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Summary
The Kensington School District board adopted a set of policy revisions including a longer-form public-input policy, approved fiscal and operational policy changes and accepted the retirement of school nurse Heather Antal with regret. The principal reported assessment results showing post-COVID recovery and ongoing use of I-Ready diagnostics.
The Kensington School District board on Tuesday approved a package of policy revisions and accepted the retirement of the district—s school nurse.
Policy committee members presented several proposed changes. After comparing a concise "Brentwood model" and a longer-form option, the board voted to adopt the longer public-input policy (policy BEDH in the packet) to clarify that residents and stakeholders such as staff, parents and caregivers should be prioritized within a 30-minute public-comment window. The board also approved revisions and administrative updates to a set of fiscal and operational policies (DFGA, DJF, DKC, IKFG, IMBA), adopted purchasing/bidding threshold changes recommended by auditors, and withdrew policy IKFA as noted in the packet.
Molly and committee members said one new required policy item flagged by the audit firm was a crowdfunding policy to govern any district-run crowdfunding efforts (for example, a district GoFundMe); staff said they have no current plans to use crowdfunding but that a policy must be on file.
The board also accepted, with regret, a retirement letter from school nurse Heather Antal, who will retire at the end of the school year after roughly 10 years of service. Board members praised her work, particularly during COVID years.
In other business, Principal Rule delivered a report on curriculum and assessment work: a ReadyMath learning walk, Veterans Day programming, Coffee with Kindergartners community events and detailed assessment reporting. Staff explained statewide SAS testing timing (May) and participation rules (95% threshold) and described district use of the I-Ready diagnostic (three times per year for reading, five times per year for math) to track midyear and end-of-year growth; the principal said Kensington generally performs above the state average but small cohort sizes can cause year-to-year volatility.
The board scheduled a joint January meeting to present measurable benchmarks for the strategic plan and said a public-facing online dashboard will be available after initial benchmarks are published in June 2026.