Instructional Committee reviews policy updates including nondiscrimination, Title IX rollback effects, student discipline and library reconsideration process
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
Committee reviewed a set of policy updates: nondiscrimination edits to add assault and human-trafficking victims per Public Act 25-139; Title IX-related changes tied to a federal court rollback; student-discipline revisions to reflect Public Act 25-93 and IDEA service requirements; and a consolidated library-materials reconsideration process required by Public Act 25-168.
The Instructional Committee spent the latter portion of its Jan. 21 meeting reviewing a package of policy revisions and taking questions from board members.
The committee's policy lead explained the three-step review process (policy committee first read, instructional committee second read, full-board final read) and said nondiscrimination policy updates reflect legislation passed in 2025 (Public Act 25-139) that adds "assault victim" and "human trafficking victim" to protected classes and updates contact information for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
Members also discussed adjustments that flow from a federal district court decision that set aside 2024 Title IX regulations and prompted the Office for Civil Rights to reinstate the 2020 rules; the model policies reflect those changes, including possible use of third-party contractors for investigations and edits to definitions aligned with the National Incident-Based Reporting System.
The student-discipline policy (5-131) was revised to integrate school-climate strategies, update definitions of bullying and challenging behavior, require consultation with the district homeless liaison before suspension/expulsion in some circumstances (Public Act 25-93), and ensure IDEA-aligned service continuity for special-education students suspended for 10 or more school days.
Finally, the committee reviewed a consolidated library collection development and reconsideration policy required by Public Act 25-168. Board members asked detailed procedural questions: how "useful" is defined for removal of materials (librarians monitor checkout, curriculum relevance and condition), whether challengers must be affiliated with the district (legislative language requires a vested interest such as a student, parent or staff member), standards for excluding materials from displays, who appoints a board representative to reconsideration committees (the superintendent), and whether the provided reconsideration form is overly long (a board member said it might be; the policy lead said the model forms reflect legislative specificity).
No final votes were taken; the policy packages will proceed according to the district's established review timeline and appear on the full-board consent agenda when appropriate.