Weston policy committee reviews discipline updates, AED inventory and notice rules; asks follow-ups

The Weston School District policy committee on January 12 reviewed a slate of policy updates and gave staff direction to confirm details before the items go to the full board. The committee discussed a revision to the district’s student-discipline policy prompted by statutory changes, confirmed procedures for automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) and training, and agreed to update board-notice language to rely on online postings rather than a local newspaper.

The most immediate item was a student-discipline policy revision presented by Speaker 5, who said the changes are based on recent statutory updates and therefore leave "not a lot of discretion" for the district. Speaker 5 highlighted a new definition of bullying, updated statutory durations for disciplinary actions, and a minor wording correction that will change "parents" to "parents/guardians" before the document goes to the board for a first read. Committee members asked staff to clarify why the draft uses the phrase "publicized policy," with one member saying that language "makes it seem like there are publicized policies and there are policies that are not publicized." Speaker 5 said she would consult administrators and legal counsel and return with guidance prior to the board first read.

On safety, the committee discussed AED policies and training. Members noted the district requires training for nurses, athletics personnel and administrators and that AEDs must be serviced and monitored. Speaker 1 relayed an older internal email listing AED locations: roughly six at the high school (including one kept outside near the booster barn), about four at the middle school, two at the intermediate school, two at Hurlbut and one at central office. The presenter and other members agreed those counts should be confirmed from current servicing records; the committee directed staff to compile an updated AED inventory and documentation of training and maintenance.

Committee members also reviewed media- and notice-related policies. With no local newspaper currently operating, members asked to remove or update language that requires notice to a newspaper and to explicitly reference the town website and the district’s online calendar and social-media postings as the primary means of public notice.

Other items reviewed included a short regulation on public performances by students, a discussion about staff participation in community activities and a note that a separate policy on political activities of school employees (policy 1311.1) will be examined and updated later. Speaker 4 said the district recently received a randomized OSHA program review that checked AEDs, training, bloodborne-pathogen policy and several facilities; the visit generated a list of fixes the district must address.

Procedural items: the committee moved to approve prior meeting minutes with corrections after some confusion over whether a second was recorded; the transcript does not include a formal roll-call or vote tally for that motion. Speaker 3 moved to adjourn, which the committee carried out, and members confirmed the next policy committee meeting is scheduled for February 3 at 09:00 on Zoom.

Next steps include staff confirming the "publicized" wording in the discipline policy with administrators and legal, producing an up-to-date AED inventory and training/servicing documentation, and preparing the discipline policy (with the parents/guardians wording change) for a board first read. Several minor policy/regulation cleanups will be forwarded as noncontroversial updates.