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Polk School Code of Conduct edits would add drill‑safety discipline and reflect new felony classification for vapes
Summary
Proposed edits to Polk County's student code of conduct add explicit punishments for disrupting safety drills, clarify progressive‑discipline discretion for principals, and remove language that assumed vape possession was sometimes non‑felony; staff said statutory changes make some vape possession a felony and they adjusted language to preserve educational first responses.
District staff presented proposed edits to the student code of conduct and the process for public review. The proposed changes include: expanded language to require students not to disrupt or circumvent instruction during safety drills and clarify punishments; tightened and clarified progressive‑discipline language to emphasize principal discretion; updates to technology and ID badge language (to explicitly cover buses); updated drug/vape possession language that reflects recent statutory changes; and an expanded glossary to make terms clearer to parents.
Board members asked about process and oversight. Mr. Wigs said a code-of-conduct committee met and staff will publish a 30‑day public notice and accept comments prior to a final board vote. Miss Miller confirmed a community committee exists and had met earlier in March.
A prominent change discussed at length was removal of a sentence that previously read, in effect, “if the offense constitutes a felony, the principal shall assign the student to alternative education.” Staff and legal advisors explained that the law around vape products has changed: some vape cartridges contain cannabis distillate or tar that qualifies as a controlled substance and is treated as a felony under state law. That change would make a single vape possession potentially an arrestable felony in some circumstances and would create automatic referral consequences that undercut the district’s educational intent to provide an initial intervention and education on first offenses.
Mr. Butler explained the revision: where the district’s prior practice permitted an educational remediation option (such as the Phoenix program) on a first offense, the new statutory treatment of certain vape cartridges as felonies would make the conduct arrestable and could automatically produce removal on first offense. To preserve educational options where statute permits, staff removed the prescriptive sentence and clarified discipline pathways so the district could continue to use intervention programs when appropriate and follow law enforcement protocols where required.
Miss Wyatt asked for a concise redline summary of changes for the full board packet; staff said that summary will be attached and that a 30‑day public comment period will be posted before the board considers final adoption.
