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School committee adopts minor revisions to Rights & Responsibilities handbook
Summary
The Cambridge School Committee closed the public hearing and adopted annual revisions to the Rights & Responsibilities handbook after the superintendent clarified that added language on "appropriate documentation" for absences is intended as a clarification, not a new medical-document requirement. The adoption passed by a 7-0 roll call.
The Cambridge School Committee voted to close a public hearing and adopt the proposed, largely annual, revisions to its Rights & Responsibilities handbook. Interim Superintendent Murphy told the committee the package was "the 2nd reading" of mostly superficial amendments and emphasized that the changes do not create new restrictions on when absences are excused. "This is not a requirement that students have medical documentation per se," Murphy said, adding that a parent's note or phone call "could suffice" as "appropriate documentation" in many cases.
Committee members had no extended discussion on the item after the superintendent’s explanation. Member Harding moved to close the public hearing; the secretary then conducted a roll-call vote and the mayor announced the document was accepted by an affirmative vote of seven members. The committee recorded no public commenters on the handbook during the hearing; several public-comment speakers addressed related attendance and superintendent-search concerns later in the meeting.
