Polk BOE reviewing student policy changes

Changes under consideration: Bullying, weapons, and suicide prevention policies

Changes to school board policies governing student behavior, including bullying, weapons, and suicide prevention policies were presented to the board of education at its Sept 8 meeting for review and approval.

The changes, according to assistant superintendent Greg Teems, are all the result of various revisions and additions to the language of existing policies as dictated by the state legislature.

Except for one, the policies on the table for board approval were already on the books, Teems said.

The only new policy is one on suicide prevention, which is also a new state requirement.

Teems added that none of the changes are the result of any recommendations from the local district administration.

“It’s basically just language clarification,” Teems said, “and the addition of a couple of new things. We’ve added a suicide prevention policy as defined by legislation, and the state also made a change in the driver’s permit regulations.”

Teems said the state removed the attendance requirement from the school program that helps students get driver’s permits. Formerly the school had to file a notice of noncompliance and revoke the student’s license if the student missed more than 10 days in school year. “That requirement has been removed,” Teems said, and no new attendance restriction was added.

The bullying policy was expanded to include cyber-bullying, Teems said. The new policy will include consequences even when the offending electronic communication is generated off campus and / or on non-school equipment.

The weapons policy was expanded to include more specific descriptions of the prohibited weapons.

“They just changed it to define what exactly a ‘weapon’ is,” Teems said. “It will describe the weapons in specific categories. Instead of ‘firearm,’ it will say handgun, or rifle, etc., in each category.”

It also gives local administrators more flexibility in situations where students are found with a “dangerous object,” other than a firearm, such as a knife with a blade over 2 inches.

Formerly, those situations required that the student be expelled for one year and referred to local police. Now administrators can consider the circumstances and may impose consequences other than expulsion.