Whitney Point board adopts updated code of conduct, reviews time-out and cell-phone policy updates

The Whitney Point Central School District board adopted an updated Code of Conduct and reviewed a package of policy changes intended to bring district rules into line with current regulations.

The board discussed a new time-out and restraint policy that replaces outdated language (the prior policy referenced corporal punishment from 1991) and examined an updated cell-phone policy to remove obsolete device references such as "MP3 players" and "tape recorders." The administration also proposed consolidating three older personnel-development policies into a single professional-growth and staff-development policy.

During discussion, members asked for clarified wording in places that may affect emergency reporting and the role of "designees" (the draft lists specific officials such as the building principal and their designee). The superintendent (speaker 10) offered to send electronic drafts for board markup and asked members to submit comments between meetings.

On the code of conduct, the board took a motion to adopt the policy (policy 7310.1) on second reading. The board approved the motion after accepting a few grammatical and clarification edits. Chair (speaker 2) called for a vote and members responded "Aye." The motion carried.

No formal changes to staffing or budget were enacted with the policy vote; the board adopted the code with the requested edits and staff will circulate the final draft as revised.

The board also directed staff to circulate drafts of the other policies electronically ahead of the next meeting and to have the district attorney review legal language where necessary.