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Board approves unified student handbook with new attendance rules and bell‑to‑bell cell‑phone restrictions
Summary
The Knox Community School Corp. board approved a consolidated student handbook that tightens parent‑verified absence limits, implements a bell‑to‑bell cell‑phone ban required by Indiana Senate Bill 78 and adds guidance for classroom use of AI tools.
The board approved a consolidated student handbook on July 13 that tightens attendance rules, formalizes a new statewide cell‑phone restriction and adds guidance on classroom use of artificial intelligence.
The chair put the handbook up for approval after administrators walked trustees through changes intended to align policies across all district schools. A staff speaker explained the district replaced three separate handbooks with a single, streamlined document intended to eliminate inconsistent expectations between buildings.
The handbook changes adjust the district’s approach to parent‑verified absences: where parents previously could verify four absences per semester, the handbook now provides five parent‑verified absences per school year. Under the district’s Project to 10 escalation protocol, staff said unexcused absences trigger a sequence of interventions at thresholds of 3 (notification), 5 (administrative call), 7 (in‑person meeting) and 10 (possible referral to DCS and juvenile probation). The staff speaker emphasized that a doctor’s note still classifies an absence as excused and that medical exemptions are handled through school nursing staff.
Trustees were told the attendance changes respond to the state’s new accountability model, which awards points for high student attendance, and to recent declines in families filing free/reduced lunch forms, which affects meal funding.
The handbook also incorporates requirements from Indiana Senate Bill 78, which the staff summarized as a ‘‘bell‑to‑bell’’ prohibition on personal wireless devices during the school day. Under the new guidance students must keep phones powered off and stored (for example, in a locker or backpack) during instructional time and passing periods. Officials described a tiered discipline approach: first offenses require turning the device in to the office with parent pickup; repeat offenses lead to after‑school or lunch detention and required parent pickup; later infractions may result in alternative learning environment placement and an administrator meeting. Medical exemptions — for example, for students who must monitor blood glucose — will be coordinated by the district nurse and communicated to teachers.
The handbook also adds an AI policy adapted from the Neola model. The policy, as described by staff, encourages educators to teach responsible, instructional uses of AI as a tool to support learning rather than a substitute for student work and critical thinking.
The board moved, seconded and approved the handbook by voice vote. Trustees and staff said the district will provide parent outreach and back‑to‑school materials to explain the new attendance rules and phone procedures, including practice days the high school ran before the new school year.
