Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Education Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Burnsville committee advances several policy updates, schedules substantive first reads
Summary
The Policy Review Committee for the Burnsville Public School District on May 19 recommended multiple minor policy edits for the consent agenda and scheduled substantial revisions — including testing accommodations and student attendance policy changes — for first reading at the next Board meeting.
Director Mickelson called the Burnsville Public School District Policy Review Committee to order on May 19 and led the committee through proposed edits to a series of district policies, recommending several items for the consent agenda and marking others for first reading.
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Chris Belmont told the committee the district would place several minor updates on the consent agenda, noting the Minnesota School Board Association (MSBA) provided redline suggestions and that a court case had been added to legal references for Policy 604 (instructional curriculum). "If you actually see the red the the strike through on the note, that's from the Minnesota School Board Association," Belmont said, adding the strikeouts are informational and do not change policy intent. The committee agreed Policies 604, 616 (district system accountability), 620 (credit for learning), 520 (student surveys) and several items with no edits should move to consent.
The committee scheduled multiple items for first reading because of substantive language changes. Amy Petrowski, Director of Student Support Services, described important revisions to Policy 615 (testing accommodations, modifications and exemptions) to reflect Minnesota's shift to alternative assessments for students with significant cognitive disabilities. Petrowski said the updated policy clarifies when an IEP team may determine a student should take an alternative MCA assessment rather than the general MCA and explains the decision process for families and teams. "This helps really align that language with some of those decisions," Petrowski said, describing new criteria and procedural flow for IEP teams.
Petrowski also presented Policy 427, which refines the definition of indirect services special education teachers may provide to paraprofessionals and general educators in support of IEPs; the committee asked that change be seen by the full Board as a first read so the new language is on record. She summarized modest edits to Policy 530 on immunization requirements, saying the principal change clarifies that immunization records will be part of normal record transfers and require a release of information even when a student moves between districts.
Dr. Belmont highlighted proposed changes to Policy 503 (student attendance), reviewing year two of a three‑year, state‑funded pilot that the district helped lead. He reported that the pilot showed "seeing a 2.4% decrease in students that are chronically absent," and said the recommended policy edits add statutory references (including the Pupil Fair Dismissal Act), remove an explicit requirement for a physician or mental‑health note from the policy (because other processes can address excusals), and replace a strict "vacation" label with "approved family activity" for short, allowable absences. Belmont also described efforts to better capture partial‑day absences and early dismissal in district reporting.
Stacy Silvine, Executive Director of Administrative Services, asked that district notes that created exceptions be removed and authority return to statute and board approval; "eliminating certain language there that provided exceptions and then putting it back to the statute and pushing it back to board approval for any exceptions," Silvine said. The committee agreed that striking the note and providing resources is appropriate and that the item will be a first read.
No formal votes were recorded; committee members had no objections to placing the listed minor edits on the consent agenda and supported forwarding more substantive changes for a first reading at the next regular Board of Education meeting. Sarah read the compiled list of items recommended for consent and first reading before Director Mickelson adjourned the meeting at 05:31.
The next step is for the Board of Education to consider the consent items and review the first‑reading policies at its next regular meeting. The committee did not approve any ordinance or regulation beyond recommending items for consent and first reading.
