OSBA review: board considers major policy manual updates, cautions on content restrictions and metal detectors

Kenna Haycox, deputy director for Board Management Services at the Ohio School Boards Association, presented a comprehensive set of proposed policy revisions the board is reviewing as a new district manual. Haycox said she used the district's current master manual as the base, redlined changes where state law or practice required updates, and flagged items for local customization.

Haycox highlighted a few "global changes" the board will see in the next draft, including modernization of personnel terms (certified/classified), replacing gendered pronouns with 'they/them' where appropriate, and updating the district address. She also said the district's nondiscrimination policy (including student and staff gender‑identity language) is under separate review with legal counsel given recent state legislative changes.

On public participation policy (BDD H/KD), Haycox cautioned that content restrictions can invite legal challenge and urged the board to confirm personnel‑matter language with counsel. She explained a recommended clarification between instructional materials and library materials and the addition of a library‑complaint form so members of the public know where to file a challenge about a library title.

Board members focused sustained discussion on security policy language regarding metal detectors. Haycox noted the district historically authorized portable metal detectors and said an explicit reference to stationary devices in the regulation would be a policy change. "We could modify that to just add that as a portable or stationary metal detectors," she said, offering either to remove the stationary reference or to draft regulations spelling out protocols if the board wants the option.

Haycox described other section highlights: minor fiscal updates to align with auditors, a new policy on naming facilities, technical updates to Title IX coordination language, and a records‑retention schedule referenced on the district website rather than embedded at length in the manual. She also noted a procedural change discussed in policy committee that the board may adopt: moving the first appeal for principal suspensions to the superintendent (expulsion appeals remain subject to board review).

Haycox said OSBA will provide resolution language and the final manual for board consideration; the board will have another opportunity to propose edits before a formal adoption vote. Trustees asked administration to draft regulation language where the board wants to retain optional authority (for example, stationary metal detectors) and to coordinate with legal counsel on any content‑restriction language before the next review.