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Middlebury board approves 2026–27 student handbook with state-aligned attendance and stricter phone rules
Summary
The Middlebury Community Schools Board of Trustees on May 19 approved the 2026–27 student handbook, updating attendance language to reflect state 'model attendee' guidance (about 94% attendance) and adopting model wireless-device restrictions with specified exceptions. The motion passed 5–0.
The Middlebury Community Schools Board of Trustees voted 5–0 on May 19 to approve the district's proposed 2026–27 student handbook, adopting updated attendance language aligned to state guidance and model language for a new electronic-device policy.
Dr. Seth Mollmeier, the district's director of secondary and student services, told the board the handbook committee met for months and that attorneys had reviewed the draft. "The state is asking us to shoot for 94% or above for each student," Mollmeier said, framing the attendance phrasing change as a clarification so families and buildings use consistent terminology; he noted that roughly 94% attendance equates to about 10 school days absent in a year.
On electronic devices, Mollmeier said the district used boilerplate language shared by the Indiana School Board Association to reflect a newer, more stringent wireless-device law. He described the rule as broadly limiting student access to devices during the school day and said phones are to be secured in student lockers. He also noted explicit exceptions reflected in the handbook and state code, including "504 plans, IEPs, ILPs in some cases," and medical-monitoring devices such as blood-sugar devices that register to students' phones.
The board's motion to adopt the handbook was made by Caleb Mast and seconded by Greg; the handbook passed on a unanimous voice vote, 5to0. The approved packet had included clerical edits and a few other small provisions, Mollmeier said, but he emphasized that the principal substantive edits were the attendance-language standardization and the electronic-device language.
The changes mean school communications and building-level procedures will reflect the state's terminology for attendance and the district will implement the more restrictive device policy subject to the listed exceptions. The handbook approval was presented and discussed during the board's May 19 meeting; the board did not amend the proposed language at the meeting.
