Policy committee advances district cell-phone policy and several administrative updates
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Summary
Quakertown Community SD's policy committee agreed March 2 to send Policy 717 (district-issued cell phones) to the March 26 board meeting for first reading and reviewed related administrative regulations covering curriculum-materials requests, travel reimbursements, federal-programs procedures and a Title I attachment.
The Quakertown Community School District policy committee on March 2 voted to advance Policy 717 — which formalizes who may receive district-issued cell phones and the related employee reimbursement options — to the full board for first reading on March 26.
Dr. Hoffman told the committee the district had referenced Policy 717 in an earlier update to Policy 815.2 but found that 717 had been retired. "The first policy is Policy 717," she said, adding the language presented comes from a PSBA form used by employees who are issued district phones. She said the policy identifies typical recipients — Act 93 staff, maintenance and facilities personnel, the athletic director, and the network engineer — and mirrors existing practice rather than creating new entitlements.
A committee member said the update "is a necessary policy update" because it reflects what the district already does, including reimbursing employees under limited circumstances. Committee members also questioned the "use case 3" option, in which employees pay the district for phone use; Dr. Hoffman said employees currently use all three payment options and that an administrative form and payroll deduction process govern annual re-election and monthly payments.
The committee also reviewed several administrative regulations (ARs) and attachments for transparency. Dr. Hoffman presented an updated curriculum materials request form that adds digital-platform licensing so homeschool families can request either physical textbooks or digital access. When asked whether homeschooled students count toward licensing caps, she said they do not factor into current enrollment numbers and, in rare cases, the district arranges additional licenses with vendors.
On travel reimbursements, Dr. Hoffman said the committee is moving away from embedding annually changing reimbursement rates in ARs; instead, AR 3.03 will point to a business-office-maintained reimbursement list, and she said she would follow up on where that list is publicly published. She also summarized PSBA-driven federal-programs updates that assign responsibility for federal-program compliance to a federal programs coordinator while routing payments and reimbursements through the business manager, and she presented the PSBA Title I parent- and family-engagement attachment required for Title I recipients.
The committee concluded by agreeing to place the Policy 717 item on the March 26 board agenda for first reading. The committee did not adopt new policy language at the meeting; Dr. Hoffman said implementation practices reflected in the ARs were already in use and that further edits can be introduced later if needed.
Next steps: Policy 717 will appear on the Quakertown Community SD board agenda for first reading on March 26; several ARs were presented for transparency and may be refined administratively.
