Board reviews wide-ranging policy updates in first reading tied to state law and case law

During the March 16 meeting district legal and administrative staff led the board through a comprehensive first reading of the Press 120 policy packet. The packet aligns district policy with recent state statutes and case law and includes technical and substantive updates across curriculum, student records, attendance, and safety policies.

Key changes administrators highlighted included: • Curriculum/course policies: new required units and media-literacy expectations for high-school publications and changes to automatic-acceleration designations (social studies removed as an automatic acceleration course). • Health and safety: addition of hands-on CPR and AED training for high-school students and updates to suicide prevention and mental-health requirements; administrators said schools are already providing graded instruction in some areas. • Attendance and truancy: the policy expands excused-absence categories, restricts school personnel from referring chronically truant minors to law enforcement as a disciplinary mechanism, and clarifies municipal enforcement limits. • Agency and law-enforcement interactions: updated language to reaffirm that students are entitled to public education regardless of immigration status and to set clear protocols for requests from outside agencies. • Curriculum complaints and instructional-materials objections: updated references to relevant case law and clarified the process for parents seeking alternate materials and grade accommodations for objected items.

Administrators noted these are first-reading technical changes required by the legislature and courts and offered to schedule deeper briefings on any item. Board members asked clarifying questions about equipment for CPR/AED training and considerations for gender-specific classes; administration said they expected compliance and would return with details. The packet will return for final action at a later meeting.