Canyon ISD reviews wide-ranging policy updates tied to recent state laws, including restrictions on transitioning support and new parent rights
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Summary
At a Dec. 8 board workshop, district staff walked trustees through nine policy changes driven largely by Senate Bill 12 and related bills, including new definitions for employee leave, expanded grounds for nonrenewal tied to DEI-related duties, a prohibition on staff assisting with social transitioning, requirements to post syllabi, and updated grievance timelines.
District staff spent the board workshop portion of the Dec. 8 meeting reviewing nine local policies updated to reflect recent state legislation.
Caleb McBurner, the district policy presenter, told the board the DEC policy now includes a definition of "daily rate of pay" so the district can compute pay when leave is unpaid and noted that House Bill 2 gives classroom teachers the option not to use accumulated personal leave concurrently with unpaid FMLA leave. "A teacher shall notify the appropriate administrator if they choose not to use paid leave concurrently with FMLA leave," McBurner said, describing the change as a clarification tied to recent statutory language.
The board also reviewed additions to DFBB (reasons for nonrenewal). McBurner said the policy adds reasons that have become common across multiple policies since the legislature changed the law: employees may be nonrenewed for "engaging in or assigning to another individual instruction, guidance, activities, or programming prohibited by law" and for "engaging in or assigning to another individual diversity, equity, and inclusion duties which are prohibited by law."
On employee standards of conduct (DH), staff identified a new provision from Senate Bill 12 related to social transitioning: "An employee shall be prohibited from assisting a district student with social transitioning as the term is defined in law," McBurner said, adding that the prohibition "includes providing any information to a district student about transitioning or guidelines intended to assist a district student with transitioning." He said counselors should refer students to parents rather than provide transitioning guidance.
Trustees discussed whether calling out DEI-related duties separately is redundant when policy already prohibits activity "prohibited by law," with trustees noting that administrators often prefer specific, black-and-white language when listing grounds for nonrenewal.
Staff also described requirements to post teachers' instructional plans or syllabi online each semester and to provide them to district administration and parents (EEP local), procedures for parent review or petition of instructional materials (EFA local, with reference to Texas Administrative Code guidance), expanded scope for special-education video monitoring tied to House Bill 2, adjusted grievance timelines in DGBA local, and updates to academic-dishonesty rules to allow use of an AI-detection tool as part of the teacher's evidence-gathering process but not as the sole determiner.
McBurner said the nine policies reviewed are part of a 28-policy update cycle tied to the 89th Legislature; the board received the items for first reading and staff will return with explanatory documents and administrative regulations before final votes in early spring.
The board did not take a final vote on these policies at the Dec. 8 meeting; staff told trustees they will provide clarifying documents and regulatory language in advance of a future action date.
