School board approves conduct code changes
The Saugerties Board of Education has adopted changes to the school district’s code of conduct, despite questions about whether notice was correctly provided about a required public hearing.
At a meeting Tuesday, district officials said the updates were intended to conform with state law.
“The first change just added our principals in addition to our social workers as Dignity Act coordinators for each of the elementary schools and for the junior and senior high school,” Deputy Superintendent Lawrence Mautone said. “The second change (has) to do with alternative instruction, and that is for students who are suspended from school. Essentially that was just cleaning up ... because they had two paragraphs that contradicted (and changed it) to go to one sentence, essentially saying that students between the ages of 6 and 16 get alternate instruction if they’re suspended from school.”
Other revisions include treating students with “presumed” disabilities during disciplinary hearings the same as those who have been identified with a disability.
Concern over the amount of notice provided to the public about the hearing arose after trustees learned that the revised code of conduct document was posted to the district web site only two days before the session. Trustees were also troubled about the absence of a legal notice announcing the hearing, but were not certain that was a requirement and how far in advance a published announcement was needed.
“The code of conduct is one of the (district’s) most important documents,” Trustee Elena Maskell said. “It’s going to go out to every teacher, every employee, every person in this district at the beginning of the year . ... So if there are changes to it, we should be paying attention to them and should be aware of them in addition to following proper protocols to roll them out.”
Maskell, who serves as clerk for the Red Hook school district, said that the Saugerties district should not attempt to have a review of changes and adopt the code “all in one night.”
State Education Department officials were not immediately available Thursday to clarify notice requirements for a public hearing, but the department’s website says that “neither state law or regulation specifically define the meaning of a ‘public hearing.’ However, the language of Section 2801(2) indicates that adoption of the Code of Conduct shall occur ‘only after at least one public hearing that provides for the participation of school personnel, persons in parental relation, students and any other interested parties.’”
In requirements for a public hearing on school budgets, the state Education Department notes that public hearings must include a legal notice.
Robert Freeman, executive director of the State Committee on Open Government, said the public hearing notification is not part of the state Open Meetings Law provision. In written opinions, he has said notification requirements may differ “depending on the nature of the hearing.”