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Newburg R‑II board approves broad handbook updates tightening attendance and device rules
Summary
The Newburg R‑II board on a unanimous vote approved changes to the student handbook that tighten attendance thresholds for a four‑day week, add make‑up options for absences, and strengthen rules on personal devices and social‑media misuse; administration will finalize language and publicize the changes.
The Newburg R‑II Board of Education on a unanimous vote approved a package of student‑handbook revisions aimed at tightening attendance rules and clarifying discipline for personal devices and social‑media misuse.
Mr. Dunn, the administrator who presented the draft, said the updates split elementary and secondary handbooks and propose reducing allowable absences in a semester from seven toward five to reflect the district’s move to a four‑day week. “I wrote an updated attendance policy in there that explains all that,” he said, explaining the draft’s attendance‑committee review process and options for make‑up time (for example, Friday or Monday school) so students can preserve credit.
The changes also supply new language on classroom and extracurricular expectations. The draft narrows consequences for repeat tardies by making counts cumulative across classes, creates a clearer ladder of consequences for defiance and fighting, and adds a named category for “disrespect for authority.” On electronic devices, the draft clarifies that possession and misuse are distinct (possession rules are separate from misconduct) and makes recording another person at school a disciplinary offense that can trigger suspension in serious cases.
Board members asked administration to refine grade‑level differences so discipline scales appropriately for elementary, middle and high school students and to add explicit medical or documented‑need exceptions. Trustees also discussed implementation: posting the changes before registration and presenting key bullet points to families and students during the first days of school. One trustee urged clearly advertising the attendance‑policy change so families do not assume the old threshold remains in force.
The board voted 6‑0 to adopt the proposed handbook revisions as presented and directed staff to finalize text, prepare the family notification and return with the finalized policy language if further edits are needed. The board noted that the handbook is a living document and may be adjusted as implementation issues arise.
