Iowa City CSD reviews broad revisions to 600-series policies, including AI privacy and class-size alignment

Deputy Superintendent Ramey told the Iowa City Community School District board on Feb. 26 that the district is proposing a set of revisions to its 600-series policies to reflect recent state law changes and to align written rules with operational practice.

Ramey said the district removed a bullet in policy 602.3 (curriculum evaluation) because "the state changed the law last year" regarding the use of the word equity, and the district must stay compliant even if it would not have chosen the change voluntarily. He described revisions to 603.1 to correct grade levels after recent building-configuration changes.

The board also discussed policy 603.4, intended to better articulate protected characteristics in the district's multicultural and gender-fair education policy. A board member requested a small punctuation edit (deleting a comma) during the review; Ramey characterized the presentation as a first reading of the proposed language.

On health education, Ramey said updates to 603.5 were added in response to state legislation, naming Senate File 175 as the source of required language: "this comes directly from Senate File last year," he said, and the district was incorporating statutory requirements rather than proposing them voluntarily.

Several technology-related policies were discussed. For 605.6 (internet-appropriate use), Ramey said the drafts remove redundant passages for clarity and that some regulations are being eliminated because forthcoming 700-series revisions will better align with the district's approach. On 605.7 the district proposed changing the section title from "use of information resources" to "copyrighted information" and to replace the word "outsiders" with "individuals" in one paragraph; board members asked that other occurrences be changed consistently.

Ramey laid out privacy language for AI and other third-party systems in 605.8 r1, noting when prior written consent is required: "we will require prior written consent when they do have that designation," he said, explaining that a third party designated as a "school official" under FERPA can qualify for a school-official exemption and therefore would not need prior written parent permission. He recommended changing confusing wording (for example, replacing "where" with "unless") so the policy reads that written consent is required "unless the third-party vendor with access to [data] qualifies under the school official exemption."

On class size, Ramey said the proposed update to 606.1 is not intended to change class-size limits but to reflect how the district has operated: the district has been using three RAM/Grama levels in practice even though policy previously listed five levels. Board discussion noted current RAM 1 splits of 24, 26 and 30 students and that shifting to three levels would cause only subtle adjustments to prior practice.

The board approved the prior meeting's minutes by voice vote and scheduled a future policy-and-governance meeting to review the 700 series, proposing a 5:30 p.m. start time. A motion to adjourn passed by voice vote.

Next steps: Ramey said the proposed 600-series changes would come forward as first readings; the board will resume policy review at the scheduled policy-and-governance meeting where the 700 series will be considered.