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Board approves handbooks and textbooks; members urge review of SBAR discipline codes
Summary
Trustees approved the 2026–27 elementary and high school student handbooks and adopted an updated elementary history textbook edition; a board member urged standardizing SBAR discipline levels across elementary and secondary schools to avoid inconsistent consequences.
The Patrick County School Board on April 16 approved updated student handbooks for 2026–27 and authorized the purchase of an updated elementary history textbook edition, while also directing staff to review disciplinary consistency across schools.
Miss Castle summarized the handbook changes grouped for elementary and high school: updated calendar dates, restored required notifications (including an accelerated/advanced mathematics opt-out notification and notices about tobacco and nicotine products), clarified para-professional qualifications, and reinstated survey/parent-notification language the division previously issued by letter. "Some of these had previously been handled with letters, but to make sure that they are given to parents we put them back in the handbook," she said.
During discussion, a board member with law-enforcement experience said the SBAR discipline chart treats comparable offenses differently by level; for example, an elementary student who brings drug paraphernalia is charted at a lower starting level than a middle or high school student under the current SBAR framework. The member urged the board to standardize responses and asked staff to review the chart over the next year. "I would like us through the next year to look at the SBARs and possibly look at changing to make it more standardized for our students," the member said.
Staff replied that principals and the athletic director are already coordinating adjustments to ensure consistent application when students move into high school athletics and that progressive discipline is intended to build on frequency and severity.
On textbooks, staff reported that the state has not published a current approved history textbook list; the division’s previously adopted digital license from Five Ponds Press had expired, and the committee recommended purchasing the publisher’s updated edition to align more closely with current K–7 Standards of Learning. The motion to adopt the updated elementary history textbooks carried.
The board approved both the elementary and high school handbooks and the elementary history textbook adoption; trustees asked staff to return with any recommended SBAR standardization or procedural changes.
