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Board approves routine policy updates, hears code-of-conduct and capital-project reports
Summary
The Albany City School District board adopted minor edits to anti-discrimination and sexual-harassment policies, discussed proposed changes to the code of conduct (including electronic-device guidance and AI-related academic-dishonesty language), and received a capital-project update on HVAC and playground planning.
The Albany City School District board approved updates to two action policies and took up several discussion items affecting student conduct, transportation and facilities.
Policy committee members moved to adopt policy 0100 (anti-discrimination and equal opportunity) and policy 0110 (sexual harassment) after revising language to clarify that district agents — including contractors and volunteers — are covered. The motions passed unanimously.
Committee discussion focused on draft changes to the transportation policy (updated elementary transportation radius tied to the district's safety zone) and the student code of conduct. The code's introduction was rewritten in plain language to improve accessibility; the committee kept language that schools will not suspend students for failing to comply with an electronic-device ban and discussed how families can communicate with students during the day. The committee also updated the academic-dishonesty definition to include plagiarism facilitated by artificial intelligence.
Facilities staff reported on capital projects: a $5 million HVAC project at New Scotland and Monastery (80 percent complete with state review steps underway), a scheduled delivery for a Monastery unit in late September, ongoing work on high-school roof/duct intake hoods to reduce water intrusion, and the completion of multimedia/theater center upgrades at the high school. Board members raised a site-specific issue at Ash: the playground behind the school sits on city property, requires a memorandum of agreement for daytime school use, and presents drainage/unknown-subsurface challenges that will affect final design; the district budgeted approximately $800,000 for the playground contingent on city coordination.
Board members thanked staff for the plain-language code revisions and asked for translations to ensure accessibility for non-native English speakers; staff agreed to inquire about translated versions for the top district languages.
Next steps: staff will publish updated policies and circulate implementation materials; code-of-conduct enforcement and communications details will be refined with school leaders; capital-project designs will proceed through design and state-review steps with construction anticipated to begin in the 2027–28 school year.
