Board debates Policy 7330 on searches, weapons detection and law-enforcement contact
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
Trustees reviewed draft Policy 7330 covering reasonable-suspicion searches, weapons-detection screening, parental notification, and law-enforcement interviews; administration clarified notification practices, data logging for detection 'hits,' and that law enforcement is summoned only when appropriate.
Board members conducted a clause-by-clause review of draft Policy 7330, which addresses searches and seizures, weapons-detection bollards and bag scanners, student questioning by school officials, and when law enforcement may be summoned to a school.
Trustee questions focused on definitions and procedures: how the district defines "reasonable suspicion," who counts as an "authorized school official," whether parents will be notified when a student is subject to a secondary screening following a weapons-detection "hit," and how the district records and retains detection-system data. Deputy Superintendent Fleming and security staff said "reasonable" is intentionally broad to allow building administrators and security to act on information such as social-media tips or student reports; they confirmed parental notification is best practice when a search occurs and that schools log detection-system hits for a limited retention period (administrator estimated roughly 30 days for the log, to be verified).
Director Voekel clarified distinctions between routine interviews and formal questioning by police: police may interview witnesses or investigate incidents that occurred on school property, but questioning that treats the student as a suspect generally requires parental involvement except when an immediate health or safety risk exists; removals by law enforcement require parental permission or a warrant. Board members asked whether the district would reintroduce school resource officers for events; administrators said contracted security covers routine events and the district may notify local police for large-crowd events but does not rely on police for routine school security.
After discussion the board approved the policy as presented at second reading (vote recorded in later agenda action). Administration committed to clarifying retention windows for detection logs and formalizing parent-notification language in the policy documents.