001Good evening everyone and welcome to uh Akan public schools legal contracts and board policy committee meeting. Um first of all we will have uh the minutes. Any questions on the minutes we have from last meeting? Any question on the minutes? No questions on the minutes. Do we have anybody to address the the committee? Anyone to address the committee? Okay. If we don't, then we'll move on with uh our meeting. Uh there's going to be a slight change in the agenda. We're going to have uh our first pause is going to be the um personnel communications. The second will be the nepotism and then we will go to the diplomas for special circumstances and then we will have the uh last one which will be our attendance for the Neola policy update. So I will turn
002it over to our our legal uh attorney. Thank you chair Alexander. Um we have uh as discussion topic 3.01 01 uh this evening. Kind of a preview on what the next committee meeting holds uh at least part of it in store for us. Uh we recently received another update from Niola um on some transportation policies. Uh so there are some CDL license requirements, drug and alcohol testing items that will be addressed in this batch of policies. uh bus driver certification updates and transportation uh policy updates as well. Uh Deb Folk and her team are currently processing through uh the updates from Niola and will be uh presenting this batch of policies uh at the next meeting as they are tied to House House Bill 96 uh with revisions. So I just wanted to give a
003quick preview uh that those are also coming on board. Okay, thank you. We'll move on to our first policy. Uh, cell phone or I'm sorry, personal communication devices. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, this is policy 5136, personal communication devices uh related to cell phone use of students. Uh, as you know, APS was ahead of the curve when they adopted a policy addressing the use of cell phones during the school day. Uh, this is coming from House Bill 96. And of course, our policy prohibits students from using cell phones at all times. Uh, and that was again ahead of the curve. So, APS did a wonderful job in having that that language as part of their policy, your current policy. Uh, there's been one more, House Bill 96. um uh option uh that is need
004to be considered by the committee and the board for discussion and we'll be there in a moment. But as you can tell uh the first sentence at the top of this policy that's been added is referencing electronic communication device as it's contained in the statute 3313.753. Um the phrase in parentheses IEP the abbreviation for individually educ individualized education program has also been added. Uh and then the last uh part of the sentence um regarding students using cell phones to monitor or address health concerns uh if the board receives a written statement from the students physician requiring such use. Uh and then anyone permitted to use a PCD for those limited reasons uh including IEPs or to monitor address a health option uh is expected to use the device as approved. Yes, sir. Member Harrison, I
005I just want to be clear these we're adding this. These are the proposed additions. Addition. Okay. Yes, sir. Uh and then uh at the bottom of of the page one if you have pages uh students may not use a PCD in any way. And then there used to be a requirement language might reasonably create in the mind of another person an impression. And they felt that that language was trying to turn us into kind of mind readers as to try and perceive what a person was thinking. Uh and they put more direct language. Uh you cannot use a PCD in any way that would constitute bullying or harassment or other violations of board policies or the student code of conduct. So they took that kind of guesswork out of what a person was thinking uh
006on evaluating that that piece. Um, one of the primary points again for the committee and the board to consider is at the bottom of this policy update is this option regarding use of phones during an active threat or emergency in accordance with the board adopted emergency management plan. This is House Bill 96 language. And again, it's here's where it lies. Um, all districts have to have some language in their emergency management plan addressing student cell phone use. Now, it's not requiring that they're allowed to use it or not to use it. The state is just saying you have to have some language in your emergency management plan. Again, it can say not permitted or permitted in certain circumstances. So that is an option uh for the board to consider. But by January 1st uh the
007state is requiring districts to have that addressed in their emergency management plan and we've brought our you know our experts uh in these different areas with emergency management plan. uh if you have any questions or you want obviously the committee wants to discuss we have uh Deb Folk here on the business and operations side. We have Andy Atkins uh who manages the district's emergency management plan. Uh and then we have Alan Jones, the director of uh safety and security here. Uh if you have any questions for them or if you want to hear their their perspective, they're available. And then of course Dr. Lash is here as well. Assistant Superintendent Lash. Okay. Do we have any questions? I do. All right. Go ahead. Pass. And then this is Thank you, brother Chair. U I I
008I have a um it's a broad concern when we read a policy and I know it's not our language, but when we're talking about um an emergency management plan as an exception to allowing students to use their phones, um they shouldn't have the phones. Um, so, so that presents a problem. And if if I'm a parent and I want my child to have a phone, um, it almost opens a door, an exception to my child needs a phone because of XYZ. So I my broad concern is how hard would this be to manage um the emergency plan aspects of this cuz all the kids are something happens in the school all the kids are going to want their phones to call home. So what what does that look like? Who would like to answer that
009question? Because we we have to develop a plan first. Correct. That's what's saying or do we already have the plan? Yeah. Okay. So, yeah, the district, every district does have an emergency management plan. Yes. And any this addition regarding use or no use of cell phones would be added u to the plan. Okay. Who would like to answer that question? Until after the crisis is over. Okay. operationally. Remember, we brought in yonder bags for middle schools and high schools. So, when a student comes in during the day, they go through the metal detectors and the bag scanners, their Chromebook and their yonder bag with their cell phone go through one set as they go down. So, because they can't go through the bag scanners and stuff and everybody looks to make sure that the bag
010is actually sealed. So once you leave, our primary concern with an emergency management plan, to your point, Reverend Harrison, is there are two forms of emergencies. One is a fire. We need to evacuate. We have exactly 3 minutes to get a student population and staff out of a building if the fire alarm is pulled. We do not want anybody to, to your point, opening the bags or whatever as they exit. they just need to leave. The other threat that does come in is the internal threat such as an active shooter or something internal. Again, we need them to follow the emergency management plan for staying secure in their classrooms and not worry about it. What we have felt that is we would not use these under these circumstances until after the event is o over
011and it's found at the reunification place was what our suggestion would be as to how we would operate it so that then we could honestly handle that correctly. Now the honor bag does require a magnet to actually open it and they're only located in about four places each side. We will be honest with you. There is a way that if somebody was strong enough, you could take it apart. It rarely happens. And if I showed up on a day and didn't have my yonder bag, those cell phones are then taken to the office and held to the end of the day because they're not supposed to be in use. So we have carefully thought about this and felt that we would not have them being used at all until after the event is over over
012and the instruction would be to contact the parent or guardian. The other thing that we also have to operate is under is the actual site when those events happen. It is an evacuation out or a containment in. We also want to make sure the site is secure. And once either the fire department or the police department come to the site to address either of those issues with us, once they hit those properties, they become the incident command controller. We follow their instructions. So we want them to have full availability to give us our instructions correctly and followed correctly by our students and staff while they are in command of the incident. So those are some of the processes that we have gone through in going over this language as it came out of House Bill
01396. it and at the elementary level as although we don't have yonder bags students should not have those cell phones at readily available they should be locked in their cubby their locker or whatever so again those are the instructions how we put the emergency management plan together these emergency management plans that are on file with the state are also reviewed and agreed to by the fire department and the police department prior to us sending them in. And we understand in working with Miss Atkins that the state has started to put additional change sheet into the emergency management plan that is already on file because ours have already been certified and we would have to go through that process to make sure that we had it filed correctly. It doesn't have any more than a yes
014or a no, but we can add additional process comments to the end of each one. And you do one for every building including any administrative building but especially where students are located because that's how the emergency man plans are filed. Thank you. I I I guess I just wanted to know how this Okay. So the the recommendation from the district would be no communications during emergency and that is correct. Okay. But I wanted to give you the process because not everybody understands the difference of how our different school levels work. Yeah. No, I appreciate that. I just kind of wanted to zero in on that. Thank you, Miss Audrey. And then we have a superintendent. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I think my question was answered because I just wanted to clarify for sure that
015there's only a certain amount of magnets available in each building. So, I mean, I know folks are thinking about worst case scenario. What if these are the last moments? And I hate to say that, but I know folks are thinking that way, but there's only a certain number of magnets available in each building. So, just logistically speaking, I'm sure that would be a challenge. So, um but my question was around um the section that says the board receives a written statement from the students position requiring such use. I just want to clarify those. That's not something that you are proposing would come to the board. That just our policy, but those requests would come through the building leadership. Correct. Board is in the district. I'm sorry, Madam President. You had a question or I'm sorry,
016superintendent. Jeez. I'm sorry. Thank you. Thank you, chair. Um, I just wanted to add that the district does have the ability to do an all call for the school. So, we can notify parents to let them know what's going on. In most cases, what we do not want is if a school is on lockdown for a rush of parents to put themselves in harm's way. So, it's best that the district in this case would make the communication um for the school instead of the students each calling their own parents. Okay. Go ahead, Pastor Harrison. This is Audrey. This is a followup to uh member Autriy's question. The designated places in the building that has the magnets, are there any mobile magnets? And I I I guess I would say that, you know, if you have
017an evacuation location, um I will let um security uh director come up and address where the magnets are because most of them are actually attached to the walls. So to answer that question, not in every um one of our buildings are they attached to the walls. They are also because they have been for the most part um overused. I I'll say uh we we have some that are that are mobile that that um at the end of the day and and you could visit any one of our schools, you will see uh there are instructors um that are holding teachers or whoever that are holding a magnet in their hand and the child just comes up, pops their u bag on there and opens it and gets their phone out at the end of of
018each day at at most of our secondary schools. So they're not all attached. Some are and because of overuse uh the magnets have become destroyed and so we've had to remove them but they're not all fixed. Mr. Audrey, I just thought it was a good time in light of superintendent's comments that we make sure all parents, guardians have an accurate phone number on file. That is so important. I just wanted to make that statement. Okay. Yeah. And I'm just going to comment on this here. As I was thinking about this here, I'm thinking about emergency situations where things are happening and if we give our phones to the kids and it's not really an emergency, you got people who will be coming to the school can probably get in the way of whether it be
019medical, whether it be police and that causes more problems. So, I think it's a good idea to keep those phones away from those kids because if not, it may cause more problems for uh those who are coming to help us. Okay, any other questions or comments about this policy? Okay, no more uh we'll move on to the next policy um which will be our diplomas. I'm sorry, which will be nepotism. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh so this would be uh nepotism policy. Uh my understanding um this policy has been uh before the board previously uh for review and discussion and even up to the point of a third reading uh has been my uh understanding. Um but it has been brought back to the committee uh for discussion on uh some of the categories definition
020of family member uh that have been uh added and then uh with our new executive director of HR Mr. Canfield who's here tonight uh to also um share his suggestions and thoughts if you know if needed uh for this particular policy. Good evening, Chair Alexander, members of the committee. Uh as David said, I'm here to walk you through the nepotism policy as we see it here. Um, you know, as you know, it's it's always very important for any organization uh to have an anti-neepotism policy, specifically public entities. You know, these policies prevent situations in which um you know, personal decisions uh outweigh things like qualifications and performance, but they also maintain morale. Uh maintaining morale with our employees um is very important. you know have having low morale and resentment um you know may come
021about from people who see the system as unfair. So these are one of these general policies that really kind of helps us kind of round it all out. So as David stated in the beginning my understanding is these additions of these categories of definition of family member uh mirror the current uh Ohio revised code language and that's why they are in there as is. Um keeping that consistent with Ohio revised code is very important. Um going on to the next paragraph that this is just some better wording to really kind of highlight um a more impartial and transparent hiring process uh within human resources. Um we also have the second paragraph there talking more about the transparency but really about the disclosure that's required on the employee application. Um I did check that employee application.
022does require a yes or no answer in the name and position of the person that they are related to. Um we also generally will put in there on the back of a requirement that if we find out um subsequently that you misrepresented or did not disclose that appropriate information then it could lead itself to discipline up to and include including termination. Uh, moving on, I think we have the normal language that was in the the policy prior to um discussing those those district employees with their prohibitions. Um, also talks about the application to um all of our employees there. Um, and finally at the end we had the cl or the term about transfers due to marriage. um we simply added in the um another requirement from for anybody to report that to human resources
023in such an event. And then below in the legal references you can see the Ohio Revised Code and the advisory opinions upon which this is based. Any questions? Yeah. Go ahead. Thank you, uh, Mr. Chair. Um, on, um, on the back one, uh, conflicts of interest, avoidant nepotism, conflicts of interest. Um, I'm looking at number three, transfers due to marriage. Yes. Uh, and as I read that, um, it it maybe is found in another policy because it seems to close a gap for one thing, but it also in my mind some of the things that we hear like supervision. uh you know I may not be um a supervisor of a family member but their direct report may work for me and so and I don't want to cloud this particular policy but it kind
024of you know with the nepatism you get married now you're family by marriage and you have to report that. Yeah. And now we're saying that maybe someone has to transfer or not. Are are we are we addressing supervision in marriage? I we talked about this before and it was just kind of like I wasn't here when you when you did talk about it, but I assume and what I think sometimes it might get into and maybe what you're alluding to is non-fatization. Yes. Okay. So, um a policy well-deserved in its own right. Um you know non-f fraternization is something that that you know we're very concerned with. Um it generally I mean as organizations not just APS but generally um you know this specifically goes to the nepatism you know having you know revised code
025focus on it. You know fraternization is a is a policy you can decide to adopt um if you want to. Um but any situation that we feel is not going to benefit um APS, we're going to look into that transfer. Um and any situation where there's I don't know how to describe if there's just any you know lack of engagement and people not really focusing on the work that they need to do. Um we're going to do our best to kind of restructure that under the you know with the contract and all, but um outside of that we're going to try to fix the situation. But but but we didn't make this an absolute that we absolutely have to transfer someone. This is an absolute. The way this language is written, um employees who become
026related through marriage, their owner relatives will be transferred to another department will be transferred to another department of school when possible to avoid super supervision conflicts. So in that situation, if there's something where it doesn't allow us to by virtue of the operations, yes, I assume that's why it's not an absolute. So I apologize for that initial. No, I was making sure. I think that was the question that came up before. We didn't want it to be an absolute but kind of have some discretion to operate within. Yes. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Okay. I do have one question and com or question uh in the definitions where it says domestic partner. Can we kind of elaborate a little bit more on that? So again, this is the language that's mirrored directly from the Ohio Revised uh
027code statute. Um I do not know the context behind domestic partner outside of its listing. I can offer the perspective and the background on that term. Okay. Um you notice as uh Mr. Canfield had mentioned there are advisory opinions also included in the reference section. And so the Ohio Ethics Commission uh looks at 2921.42 42 which states family member uh the Ohio Ethics Commission and all those categories that are listed from spouses all the way down through domestic partner come from the Ohio Ethics Commission's formal advisory opinions and recently in 2025 uh early in 2025 this year the Ohio Ethics Commission issued another formal advisory opinion uh including domestic partner in its category under what a family member is. And so that is genderneutral. It is says a person. Um so it does not member
028Alexander does not specify male or female but a person cohabitating in a common law marriage uh situation uh would meet that uh standard of domestic partner per the commission. Okay. Thank you for that. I just want to make sure we'll be clear uh on that so we know what domestic uh partner would be. Yeah. Go ahead. So I I just kind of want to get it on the record. Um c can you specifically address dating? Dating. Dating there. Again, these categories are just pulled. Dating was not referenced in the advisory opinions. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Want to let you answer, Miss Monarch. Dr. Monarch, but I had to talk to you about something before, but go ahead. Um, yes. So to follow up on this domestic partner, um so if someone is um renting a
029room like a roommate and paying them rent um but in a shared living space but not in a common law marriage, but just paying them to live in their home, a renter, a a renter but cohabitating like not a separate residence, but the residence that you are living, you share a bathroom, you share a kitchen and you are earning money from them living with you. Yeah. The policy does not reference that scenario hypothetical that you just referenced at this point. It was it was specific about the common law marriage reference thank you Mr. Chair. So for those of us who don't know including myself common law marriage is that a certain number of years or is it just cohabitating as a couple? Actually um Ohio stopped recognizing officially common law marriage. I believe it was
0301991. Don't quote me to the exact date in 1991. I'm happy to go research that. Um, but it's it's been [clears throat] since the early 90s that Ohio stopped recognizing officially common law marriages. Um, and that was after a a period of years and cohabitation. So, um, if there's any, you know, thing beyond that, I'm happy to go back and check, you know, on a question that you might have beyond that. But that's my, uh, framework for common law marriage is it used to be recognized and is no longer recognized. Okay. So if it's So we're using that though as a part of the definition for domestic partner, but technically in Ohio we don't have it anymore. Yeah, we do not recognize it anymore. Uh but the ethics commission chose to include that reference in
031its language of a domestic partner. I could call the ethics commission. They could [laughter] certainly circle back and and dig into that, but that's what they chose in their advisory opinion. Any other questions on this policy? If not, thank you. Appreciate it. Appreciate your time. And we will move on to our diploma and special circumstances uh policy. So this is policy 980 currently titled high school diplomas to World War II Korean conflict and Vietnam conflict veterans. Um this policy has been to the committee uh is my understanding at least once or twice in the past for for discussion and consideration. Um and Dr. Lash uh has now uh been able to take some of the past discussions and and concepts and incorporate it into an updated draft uh for your consideration. And she's here as
032well this evening. Assistant Superintendent Lash is here to answer any questions or aid in discussion. Go ahead, Dr. Lash. I'm [laughter] sorry. Okay, that's okay. Good evening. uh Chair Alexander and um members of the committee. Um and so this policy uh was uh titled high school diplomas to World War II Korean conflict and Viet uh Vietnam conflict veterans. And so we are proposing to rename it diplomas for special circumstances. And so as you look at the policy, you'll see the language that um is original and and see some of the language kind of cleaned up to um use uh words that might make a little more sense for for this time and some things that are um crossed out. And forgive me because I'm trying to scroll. Okay, there we go. And so the first
033part uh really speaks to um diplomas for veterans. So that remains unchanged again except for cleaning up of some language. The part that was added is the section here that um as uh attorney Sepusk mentioned this committee has discussed and that's this uh section here um postumous and honorary diplomas. And so the language that was proposed um before is here just essentially to honor um students who pass away while they are enrolled with us or um experience a significant uh hardship and unable to to graduate. um that if their uh family or um the individual themselves if if they're still uh here with us uh could make a request um and as long as it meets these CR uh these following um the criteria there that they would be considered for aostumous or honorary diploma.
034Any questions for Dr. Lash on this policy? Mrs. Artur. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, under item number one, uh, under the posthumis honorary diploma, um, I'm personally aware of students who didn't quite reach grade nine. So, I'm wondering I I think that might be something we should uh remove and just, you know, have it stand as a student that was in good standing in our district. Okay. So, me uh just to clarify, um member Audrey, uh so remove the the grade that regardless of what grade you're in, if you're in good standing in our district and pass away. Okay. Yes. Thank you. Go ahead, ma'am. Is there any significance for it being due the last business day of March? The request, show me where that is. Member item number three. That same um I'm going
035to confer with the internal members here. Does anyone remember that? Can and can speak to that why we identified the order. Oh, okay. Thank you. I'm going to ask um Miss P. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Yes. Go ahead. Yes. Yes. All right. Thank you. We actually are in the process of sending all the names to the printer of the actual diplomas at the end of March so that they have time to print them. So, if we could have it by then because they start to arrive with their book, their booklets, jackets, etc. at the end of April into May and June. So that's why the time frame was listed. Thank you. Any other questions for Dr. Lash? No more questions. Okay, let's move on to our our next policy. That will be attendance. Thank you,
036Chair Alexander. Uh, this is policy 52000. I'm sorry. May I just ask a question? I'm sorry. Yes, go ahead. I'm sorry. I wasn't sure if I read is it is this retroactive or can it be retroactive if a parent because this is going into place but if a parent whose child has already passed who did not receive the diploma can we consider that person I wasn't sure if it was in there to say it could be retroactive I'll let you guys answer I know my thought okay I'll I just wanted to make sure maybe we address it in the policy If if you think we can do it, yeah, I think if someone has and they've been met the qualifications they and they passed already and they want to get that diploma, then they probably
037should. I think they have all the rights that everyone else has. So, it's just my thought. Sure. And I'm I'm looking at attorney because maybe then um we can look at what that language looks like internally. Sure. We can absolutely look at including language uh as well. Uh I believe it's currently written. I don't think it it would you know create a restriction uh on a on a retroactive or looking back superintendent, but we could certainly uh look at language if you want to add in there to strengthen that. Okay. Yeah, I think that would be a good idea because if you have some people who uh this is going into effect now but has already occurred, we should respect that also and give them the opportunity to to get that diploma. Okay. So, we'll
038get that language in here and make sure we correct that if we need to. Pastor Harris, I I I certainly agree that everyone should uh have that opportunity. Uh but I do think we have to have a um um we have to have some type of time frame because I I would imagine we will be processing diplomas from the 70s 80s 90s um and and I don't think that should be in a policy but I think that that some kind of um my my my colleague loved to use administrative guides [laughter] But but I think we do have to I think we would be pro processing diplomas from years years back. So that I think that's just some consideration and and maybe that could be a time frame of maybe going back so far I
039guess so we don't uh have so many but maybe you guys can research that for us and say hey maybe we'll come back and we'll start from this point forward you know I I don't know what that time frame would be you know so we we could we could do that okay great any other questions for this policy All right, we'll move on to attendance. Okay, so attendance 5200 here. Um the state law uh for attendance shifts from focusing on excused absences to really supporting early intervention um for students at risk of uh becoming chronically absent. And so you'll see some cleanup of language in this policy to um really speak to that. But the the new change here I'm going to point out. So again that that sentence you see there in green the
040first sentence kind of talks about any type of absence regardless of of the reason. But the new change here, [snorts] uh, when you look at what the board considers to be reasonable excuses for time missed at school, you'll see letter G, uh, was added here, and this is to, um, give an excuse for driver's education, uh, up to two hours on no more than 4 days for a total of of 8 hours. So, you'll see that added. Um, and then as we get later into the policy, you'll see some additional language around uh driver's education. And so I'm going to scroll to um I'm going to scroll down and scroll back up um just so it makes sense. And so this next section um that you see here for excessive absences. Uh so this is
041crossed out um again because with the new law uh definitions uh this definition was removed um and you'll see chronic absence added uh in the policy. But [snorts] once this section was removed, it left a standalone kind of of paragraph. So I'm going to scroll back up um to I think this is the second page. Um, but right here in kind of in the middle where you see it start with as referenced above. Just want to make sure everybody's with me right there. That sentence as referenced above. Um, so this speaks to um the fact that a student may have um an excused absence for medical reasons up to 10 with a parent phone call uh without a doctor's note. And so that was that that paragraph that kind of um was left there by
042itself once that uh excessive absence language was crossed out. Uh right here, Pastor Harrison, you see this um highlight there? I'm sorry I keep to clicking too many times. This is page two. My apologies. And so about midway at the page, do you see it? Okay. So, um, again, it talks about that a student may have up to 10 medically excused absences without a doctor's note, but with a parent phone call. And so, that was that paragraph that was left by itself. It just made sense to move it up here in the section that talks about um reasonable excuses for for an absence. So, just wanted to point that out in case you saw it there. And then I'm going to scroll to So, after that excessive absence section that was crossed out, uh you'll
043see that additional language that I mentioned earlier around uh attendance at driver's education course. So, you'll see that there. And then let me give you a page number. So on page five, you'll see the um addition of of language there for parent notification of excessive absences. So um you may remember House Bill 410 that talked about excessive absences and um habitual truency. And so there was parent notification even uh with that. So you'll see this this paragraph here that just speaks to um when a student is absent from it from school and in this policy in excess of 30 or more hours then um the district will notify the family within 7 days. So that language was added there. And then as you scroll uh down and look at the section for habitually truent again
044that that remains the same uh 30 um consecutive hours or 42 hours in a month or 72 in a year unexcused but you'll see this language um added around the district's attendance officer filing a complaint in juvenile court and it talks about satisfactory progress. So you'll see um as we get into other language that's crossed out uh language that talked about filing a complaint in court um at the after the 61st day. So once a student um had a an an absence intervention plan um they were given time to work the plan and then a a complaint could be filed. So, this language um talks about satisfactory progress. And then you'll see I'm going to scroll down. You'll see language crossed out here um around absence intervention teams. Um and this language is crossed out
045here, but you'll actually see it uh appear in a different section that indicates uh Pastor Harrison, I'm going to look at you for this one. that indicates that um administrative guidelines will be established um [laughter] to really talk about the absence intervention team membership. So, you know, just to give you a little bit, House Bill 410 uh defined um membership of the absence intervention team and um you know, a number of days for this to happen, that to happen, and so now there's uh language that uh charges the superintendent for creating that administrative guideline around uh that membership. Okay, so I'm going to keep scrolling. Um this next section of language that was added talks about a tiered system of um interventions and supports. Um and so again just language added to be able uh
046to implement supports which we actually uh have in place uh already. but really to be more supportive um of helping students and families um really address what the barriers are to to their uh attendance. So, you'll see language there. Um again, intervention strategies, you'll see the definition of chronically absent. Um you'll see some cleanup of language here. So, no longer will we notify the uh Bureau of Motor Vehicles um for for of a student's absences. You'll see language here uh around reporting requirements um crossed out. There's that language there for the absence intervention team that I mentioned that um the district will establish at least one absence intervention team in each school building and then you'll see the purpose of the I AIT there and then again that language that we will develop administrative guidelines
047to address uh membership of that team. uh under educational program, you see the the language there uh that I mentioned before that was crossed out about um the uh hours and that may be yes the um the the gist of the the changes there. Go ahead, Pastor Harris. um under the educational program. Um I have three questions if I can ask them all together. Um for just for a base knowledge when we talk about um consecutive hours of absence. Um how many hours does a week represent? Um it varies um by the the grade band, but if you think about um a typical day being about six hours, so about 30 hours. So, okay. So, um the where we we're at in the front here. Um reasonable excuses for miss or out of school time.
048Um, and this is in accordance with our the policy we passed last month, the parents bill of rights that it takes into consideration that out of school religious time, the the release time for So it Yes. Um Yes, it covers it. Okay. It covers it. Yes. Um so my last one is this educational program where it says um the last sentence any parent who does not complete the program is to be reported to law enforce law enforcement authorities for parental education neglect. Um is the district responsible to report that? We well we do report um by way of our formal complaints to um the juvenile court would be are that's typically our reporting. Um in some situations depending on other factors that may be at play we may also make a report to children services.
049Okay. That's it. Okay. Any more questions in reference to the attendance policy? And you guys will clean this up so we can get a clear look at it, right? [laughter] Because it's kind of tough to look at right now. Okay. All right. All right. Have no other questions. Thank you, Dr. Lass. And do we want to uh move to one or I have a new policy we might want to look at to put into the hopper? We only have like 15 minutes. We'll just go ahead is a new new for new business. We have a new policy and we want to make sure that see if the district has this or not are already doing something like this here and I'll let Reverend Harrison go ahead and pastor Harrison go ahead and and uh uh
050bring this forward. Okay. Thank you u Mr. Chair. So uh I want to introduce under new businesses equipment tracking and inventory control policy. Um I ran it off in a draft state. Um and it is not gerine to APS. It's a um looking at different district policies. Um and um I I'm clear with the draft on here because um we need a policy. We need something in writing and we need some kind of policy, some kind of procedure of what we're doing. Um, not presenting this as a um here to do, but a collaborative work um with the hope that we can come together and vote be able to vote on something um to the board by April of 2026. So, as I introduce this draft, um I introduce it to give the administration a
051time to u confer with the board members and find out if this is a um if this is good, some all, none, but with the idea that by April we will have something in writing on the books um that we can train and follow um to prevent um any loss of inventory or make sure that we can efficiently track the equipment and purchases. Okay. And I think p what pastor Harrison is is doing is want to make sure that we have a tracking system. I know uh and I don't know what's going on basically now with APS, but APS did have a tracking system of all equipment items that came in to the district and they had uh um stamps on them and stamped that they were Akan public schools property and I don't know
052what happened. Uh but uh I do agree that we need something uh like this here to track everything that we have so that we can account for all the property for Akran public schools and that'll that'll also protect us in the long run and protect staff as well. You know, but I I believe in policy uh being a policy that's there to protect staff as long as they follow. But if they step outside those guidelines, then that's where they get in trouble. So, um, I think this is something we should look at and and I don't know, maybe we have something already we can talk about and or it's can be a maybe it's a combination, but maybe we should look at this. Okay. Is there anything on Do we have anything? Yeah, that's what
053I was asking. Do we do we have anything right now? We don't know. uh if we don't know when we can get back to us and let us know that hey uh we do have it or that we found something or that we don't have it and then we'll we'll use uh this as part of a a guide or uh something that we can put together to make sure that we can track all the equipment for a public schools. So, do anyone know that we if we have this or I don't know. It's been a long while. Uh, I've been on the other side of knowing about some of this. Good evening. And yes, you actually also have some of this already in place. Our MUNS uh program has asset tracking already in it. Um
054and that is your ERP program in which you also create your requisitions, your purchase orders that help track the inventory that comes in and out. You currently have a property management uh department in which works with the purchasing agents and they go out and do those asset trackings um by doing a required already in effect state reporting system by going out and doing those audits. uh you have a federal part of the system that already exists that when the federal items are tracked and they come in and look every year there are separate questions regarding items that are bought with federal grant uh funds. So that probably is already in place. Could it be tightened up? Absolutely. um in reviewing quickly the draft that uh Pastor Harrison has provided. This would be something that could
055be worked on with our purchasing agent along with our property management as well as our title funded units. Um there are different levels. Uh I saw the suggestion of $500. Currently, we track all equipment that is $1,000. So those are just some of the things I saw in the being in the quick draft, but we have it already in place. And our technology is tracked very effectively by our technology department to the point along with your books and items like that, they're actually not only assigned to the schools, they're assigned to an individual user. So think of you having a an electronic device. We have the serial number, the asset, and everything to the individual person. So we have Haze which is another tracking program we have. So as I said it we probably have
056it in the background and could work on this to make it more efficient in the policy as you've drafted it. Okay. Any any questions? I have a couple comments. Go ahead. Sorry. Just quickly I just wanted to uh mention we do have a policy currently and Deborah you' mentioned that $1,000 limit. Um it's 7450 property inventory. Uh so again for cross referencing and and using it as part of the discussion I just wanted to me mention that to you. Thank you. I think the superintendent I just wanted to mention that um I believe one thing we would we may also want to seek out is how do we make the process um less paper and more electronic online. We still have our IF1 forms and I think that uh provides that opportunity for things to
057slip. So I think as we go through updating the policy, it's just the process in and of itself. Okay. And we do have a POS uh process also for all of our title items that we purchase with federal funds that we do track and label them as well. So, so I I just want to kind of look at this as a as a draft for one, but but I want to also talk about when we talk about the vehicles, you know, we still need a policy to give direction. So, if we talk about Munis, we can track equipment, but we haven't been. If we talk about the property management, they they should be doing stuff. But again, in in my mind, because we are dealing with public money, because we are a public institution, we
058should be able to go to a computer and hit the and know what equipment we have, where it's at, what condition is in. And if we got rid of equipment, we should know how we dispose of the equipment. There should never be a mystery. And so certainly want to work on um we can always tighten things up. I I mean I think that's everything. We can always tighten things up, but we we certainly need to tighten this up, equipment, um dollar items. And so the the mun is a program and and that's good and and but the policy in it of itself, we need a standalone policy. I introduced to the board, I submit to the board, we need a standalone policy to know exactly how we do what we do and where is this
059equipment. There should never be a question that we can't identify um what's ours and what's ours, what's not. So that's the intent and I just hope we can come together and um have something ready to have on the books um by the 1st of April. Okay. and and I um my comments will be going to be the same as uh Pastor Harrison's that I'd like to see that we know everything that we have everything within Akran public schools uh district and we should be able to hit a button and everything should print out and we should have where where where it's at disposed of when was it exposed where did it get exposed to was it part of the auction um all these different things so we can keep track and that way it protects
060the district and again that protects staff as Well, and so we should have a policy that stands alone, but it would it should also include th that piece of not knowing where every item that we have and that would include vehicles as well. Every prop piece of property that Acan Public Schools has should be tracked so we can we would know at the push of a button where it's at, you know, and that the policy would be something geared towards showing that we we we we have a policy. This is what we following. We have all these different different pieces but it can come together on in one place. Okay. Anything else? Any other questions or comments? Well, if we don't have any other questions or comment, I'm going to take this time to say
061we are going to adjourn this meeting. It was a good meeting. Uh good discussion and uh we do have some other policies that are in the hopper that will be coming out uh at our some of them in our next meeting and some even after that. So uh with that everyone have a good evening and uh enjoy the rest of your evening. Thank you. Thank you all for who are viewing.