001Good evening everyone and welcome to uh the legal contracts and policy board policy committee meeting this September the 15th of 2025. Um I am going to open the meeting. Is there any questions uh in reference to the meeting minutes? Any questions of meeting minutes? No questions for the meeting minutes. Any public participation? Anyone wanting to speak to the committee? Anyone wanting to speak to the committee? No one wanting to speak to the committee. So therefore, we'll go right into um our meeting. Uh we'll turn it over to uh our attorney uh to move forward. [Music] Good evening, President Vice President Alexander. Thank you for your time, members of the committee. U we're here to address uh some current policies, but I'll give you a little bit of background of what we're looking at tonight. Uh
002as you probably are aware, House Bill 96 was passed by the state legislature. Uh and then as a result of the passing of the bienial budget bill, there are additional policies and language updates that are included uh moving forward in that process that the state legislature uh passes on to the school districts. Uh then in the uh month of August, in the second half of August, uh the company that we work with, the district, Neiola, uh reviews and parses through the legislative language and then provides uh necessary update language on particular policies for school districts across the state. So tonight, uh we have identified four policies uh in the recent Neola update that will take effect at the end of September. September 30th uh after the governor had signed this bill into law. So the
003first four policies again are policies that are uh becoming effective September 30th. They involve policies that currently exist uh for the district and are revisions. So we're not uh putting forward new policies in these first four that we'll discuss tonight. Uh we will also have leads from the district on particular policies to provide qu answers to your questions if you have any and provide information as to what policy is under consideration because the fact that these policies become law September 30th. We're also asking that we will take a first read. Our objective is to take a first read through the policies this evening and because of the impact of the September 30th date to request that these be moved to the board meeting next Monday, September 22nd uh for consideration. Thank you. Um can we
004go ahead to the first policy? Yes, sir. Mr. Vice President, uh the first policy uh will be 3.02. O2 and that will be policy 6830 the audit policy and update and that will be addressed by treasurer Bowers. Good evening. Policy 6830 is ter is called the audit policy. Uh current law requires a treasurer to produce an accounting of all the money every year which we do annually in as an audit. Um well what House Bill 96 changes is that when the treasurer changes office. So if somebody resigns or comes in, we could have the state auditors come in and do an accounting for the bank balances the the book balances. Um we can no longer delegate that to the auditor's office. So after September 30th, this task has to be performed by either the board
005or a committee of the board. Um that's the only significant change I see to the policy. Are there any questions? Any questions for Mr. Bower in reference to the policy? [Music] No questions. Okay, let's move on to the next policy. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Next policy will be policy 8462, student abuse and neglect. It's an existing policy and again this is an update from the house bill language from House Bill 96 and we would invite Miss Ivon Culver uh to speak or answer any questions on this update. Good evening, Madame President and members of of the board. Um, this policy once again has just been re updated to reflect the changes in uh, House Bill 96 with the um, compulsory training for um, for uh, abuse, sexual abuse awareness for students in K through
006six at a developmental level. And then in grades 7 through 12 at once again at a developmental level to include um instruction on uh inappropriate relationships. Um we are already in compliance. There are things there that uh speak to who needs to be trained. Um and so we are already um as we said in in compliance with the changes. The policy will just now reflect that. Any questions? I have a question. Mr. Pastor Harrison. U Thank you. Uh Mr. Chair, uh as the policy read developmental developmentally appropriate instruction, what can you explain developmentally appropriate? So we are we are looking at the grade level. So I'm not going to talk to a a kindergarter about appropriate touch in the same way I would talk to a fifth grader, even though it's elementary. Um so you
007know the the counselors have lessons that they do on good bad good touch bad touch but it's more um applicable with language and with delivery the higher up you go. Yeah. Okay. So so let me try to ask it. Let let me try to clear it. The the counselors have a I guess I'm asking the person who is providing this they they kind of this is their area. They know. Correct. This is right. This is right. Okay. Correct. And then we we also work with um with a area agencies if we feel that it's like if it's a brand new counselor, we'll work with the area agency to make sure they're trained appropriately. Okay. Any other questions on this policy? No more questions. Okay. Thank you, Miss Culver. All right, next. Thank you, Mr. Vice
008President. Our next policy will be policy 5223, and that is release time off for religious instruction. Again, this is an existing policy that has some updates uh pursuant to House Bill 96. And our individual to uh help address questions uh will be Dr. Wanda Lash. Thank you. Good evening, uh, President Jackson, Mr. Vice President Alexander, and members of the board. So, this policy release time for religious instruction during the school day. You may recall uh when we first saw the um the House bill analysis for 8 if if I remember way back when, maybe a couple months ago. And so this was about um excuse time for from school to attend and identifying a time of the school day. And so with these revisions here um really I'm going to scroll down here uh in
009this middle section with the the green. The biggest change here is um identifying that for elementary and middle school students that it would be one period per week and for high school students the equivalent time would be one unit of high school credit per week. And we did select an option here that the board deems all graded courses to be core curriculum because uh per this policy students cannot be removed from core classes uh in order uh to have their release time for religious instruction. And so that's the the biggest change here is identifying the one period and one um unit of high school credit per week. Okay. Thank you. Any questions, Pastor Harrison? And thank you, brother Chair. Um I'm looking on page three. Um and it it was in there, but um I
010don't know. It's it stands out now. non-educational or non-program related materials, however, are not permitted to return to school. Um, so if they're responsible for transporting if they go off site, they're responsible for transporting and and coming back, do we have something in place that are can they bring the material back if they receive is this saying they can't bring material back or is do you want to speak to that? Sure. Member Harrison, thank you for your question. Yes. Uh the lead sentence in that paragraph you're referring to allows if they receive material educational and program materials during their religious instruction, they can bring that back. Okay. Okay. Any other questions for Dr. Molar? Thank you. Uh, member Alexander, I have a few questions um related to the state law and I don't know if
011they've made their way or if they need to make their way into this policy, but I am curious um about some of them. So I do see that the parental consent is here and that the sponsoring entity maintains um attendance records and that they assume liability for the student and that the student assumes responsibility for any missed work. Um, is the off-campus requirement on um in this policy somewhere and the no public funds in this somewhere? Wanda, repeat that one more time. Dr. Monar is the off-campus requirement and no public funds. So, not I'm just writing it down so I if we need to go back to it. Um, not that I can recall and do you mind saying more? So, when you ask about the off-campus requirement like what are you So, the students
012must be taken off of APS property. This cannot occur at one of our buildings or in one of our buildings. So that's the off-campus requirement. So an explicit statement that calls out that it's off-campus that yes, it's listed as one of the key components of the law. Um and then also that no public funds can be used which is why it can't be in our building. Sure. So when you look at the first page member mon transportation of students uh after ABC and D uh to be from released instruction is the sole responsibility of the sponsoring entity the parent guardian and or student does that speak to what your what your it it is the it is a solution to but if they don't go anywhere there's no transportation this Release time. Yes. For religious
013instruction. So this is allows students to be released and leave Akan public schools for religious instruction. Okay. Dr. Madam President. Yeah. It just it also it says no board funds will be expended for or no additional personnel shur first page. Thank you, President Jackson. Yes, Reverend Harrison. So, so I I I I think u I don't want to speak for her, but but I think it was the language was looking specifically to spell out no public money will be used for religious instructions. And so we can imply certain things in in the policy, but um as I said before, when we're dealing with a policy, if we're going to take the time to do the policy, let let's make sure that we get the not the inference in the policy, but get the language in
014the policy. And so I think what we're speaking about here is it to spell out that no public dollars and I think we all hear this all the time about the public dollars and the religious in our schools. So to just kind of spell it out in the policy is that is that problematic? Is it is it not? I'm gonna go ahead Dr. Muller. Go ahead. I'll let you. So, because it does say no board funds, but are there public fund are there other public funds besides board funds? I I don't know. I don't I I don't know if everyone knows, but if we just said no public funds instead of no board funds, that would really clear that up. We can't go beyond what we are. We're a board of education that we have
015our funds that we're entrusted with in the school district. So, by seeing, you know, no board funds, that speaks for the district uh in in the public funds. And and I guess where I'm going with this, and maybe how I should have started with this, is it's it's release time, but if for instance, a student is released to a library or released to another area of the building, we have and I am thinking of a lot of things right now. um they are not necessarily out of the building. We do have some buildings where we have multiple entities in the same building and so some of those entities are using public funds that are not our funds. I don't I don't know if that is relevant. Yeah, I think you're kind of touching on a
016a related maybe parallel item. Um because again this policy is uh conducted by private sponsoring entity policy. It addresses that's what uh this policy addresses release time for religious instruction during the school day. If you look at the first full paragraph off district property. That's what this policy is addressing. I'm going to ask a question too just to be safe a little bit. I I I want to make sure when we talking about this here, like I know there's a a piece that said church and state, okay, that you got to keep them separate. So it sounds like to me, and you guys tell me if I'm wrong, tell me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like, you know, the church and state piece. So they can't not have religious instruction on public grounds uh
017in public schools, but they can go outside of that uh the building and have that. So, we can't use any funds for transportation. We can't use any funds for the teaching of the classes. Uh those type of things. So, we can't use the funds for for that religious instruction because that's part of the state piece. You guys tell me if I'm wrong or not. I want to make sure that's correct because I know for a long time, you know, the state has said you got to have a division between church and state. So, you guys maybe let me know if I'm correct or if I'm wrong. Yeah. I know the policy again has been vetted uh and reviewed by uh the outside councils for Neiola for administrators as well and this is the language per
018this requirement of house bill 96 uh that is to be put into this offsite religious instruction policy. Sorry about that. Yes, this is the language that was again been vetted by the uh outside superintendent, administrators, outside council for Neiola uh that addresses offsite as you mentioned. So this is requested language they state we need to have in here correct to protect church and state Dr. Mono I think you have a question. Thanks. Yes. And can I have one more thing and thank you for going through this because we didn't as a committee read through this whole thing. is up here all at once. So I saw the crossed off part and not the moved part. Um so then my last comment here is at the very end that um of page one, the bottom of
019page one where it says the board deems my recommendation for language here is yes, it's green. You just went past it. is that uh the board deems core curriculum as including but not limited to courses aligned with state approved learning standards, grading courses and other learning experiences identified as core curriculum under board policy. So it it has most of that but it it rearranges a little bit and then also um recognizes board policy. Okay. Can you make sure I get that Dr. Mona? Okay. Thank you. Any other questions at this point? Okay. Thank you, Dr. Lash. Appreciate it. And uh next. Okay, Dr. Lash, don't go too far. Um our next is policy 5410 and that is promotion, academic acceleration, placement, and retention. Again, this is an existing policy and there are language updates pursuant
020to House Bill 96 for consideration. Thank you, Miss Moah. All right, so this policy promotion, academic acceleration, placement, and retention um has a lot of uh housekeeping cleanup, if you will. So you'll see strikeouts um of his her and that being replaced with the student. You'll also see a uh an additional section here for academic acceleration. Uh that really kind of speaks to the the process and the committee. You'll see the cleanup again. Um I pause here for uh the principal being capitalized but you'll notice right here at the top of page two where we had the option of selecting that if if a change happens um if a student is being accelerated and there's a change that occurs that we would do that at the grading period versus waiting for the semester. So you'll
021see the uh choice there. And then moving down on page two, you'll see Department of Education um with that addition there and workforce. The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce again uh some cleanup of the language. Uh you'll see his her designate uh removed. And then here uh again page three in the retention section here again that cleanup of uh his her replaced with the students and you'll see here in letter A striking out mathematics and reading and saying the core subjects listing out mathematics um English language arts science and social studies naming the the four core uh courses or core subjects And then here I believe that's the top of page four. Um again the cleanup of language and you'll see in letter D there the strikeout of the truent for 10% that was
022a change um that a student cannot be retained uh because of the truency but you'll see that language there has failed at least two uh courses of study. Okay. And those are the changes with the promotion, academic acceleration, placement, and retention policy. Any questions for Dr. Lash? Pastor Harrison? I I have a question. Um, and if we can talk about it after the meeting, it's it's the it's dealing with the acceleration um on page two, but it's not going to be impacting the policy itself. It's probably administrative guidelines that we would find that in. So, um, I don't want to hold up the policy portion of it. Okay. Thank you. Um, any other questions on this policy? Okay. If not, let's move on to the next policy. Thank you, Vice President Alexander. Dr. Lash, one
023more, please, if you would. Uh, policy 5780.01, Parents Bill of Rights. Uh my understanding again is this is an existing policy that was recently approved uh but also put on for the committee's consideration with some additional language uh that has been now included uh in the version I think that Dr. Lash is about to talk about. Yes. So I know everyone remembers the parents bill of rights um 5780.01 01. And so we uh think we got it, but I will look at uh you you all to uh let us know. Uh the last time we met last month, we uh talked about what had been added. So you'll see here on page one, the strikeout about the investigation kind of took us a minute to um have the the uh same understanding um and therefore
024added this sentence that you see highlighted in green. So let me back up. the paragraph where you see the striketh through with the investigation language and you see in green experiences any substantial change we talked about that last month um so that it is just staying there because it hasn't been um adopted just yet but the additional sentence that we added again once we got some clarity there um was should there be disagreement regarding the provision of services parents will be notified by school administration through email andor Telephone conference. Any question? I see. I I I have a question. I I state made a question. um this this additional um sentence that we've added um and I think we've had discussions loose discussions um with notification processes and um because we're talking about changes and
025because we're using language like substantial um the notification by email or telephone conference seems to be not adequate. And I say that because we have had um if we're going to use language like substantial and whether it's a 504 plan, IEP, or whatever it is, I think that we need to be doing something stronger than an email or a telephone conference. And so if that's in the policy and we miss that, um, and I'm just thinking of some some recent occurrences, we we this may not go strong. This may not be strong enough in a policy. Dr. Molo, thank you. And I I remember from the last conversation that it was not when there was a substantial change and there is a disagreement regarding the provision of services. How can I disagree with the provision
026of services if there are no services and I don't know about it to begin with? And the whole point and the goal of the conversation was how do how as a parent do I know about this to begin with? And so I thought it was when school staff become aware the parent will be notified and then there might be a change in services there might not be a change in services but we would notify the parent when school staff become aware when when there is a report. So at our last um meeting when we talked about um like a a conflict like you know student wants services but school does not think student needs services that there would be communication and so that sentence um speaks to that um should there be disagreement regarding the
027provision of services so regarding even providing them period. So whether you have them or not, that's um not captured. That that's irrelevant here in this sentence. This sentence is about um that there's a disagreement regarding whether you should have them or not. So, we thought that spoke to um the the conflict that we talked about last time that if a student wants services but school says we don't think you should have services that there would be notification to the I hear what you are saying Reverend um that uh if we're talking substantial change does email and or telephone conference is that strong enough? Um but before we get there Dr. for Monar if that doesn't um communicate that explicitly um if you've got some suggested language because remember going further in the policy does talk
028about the substantial change. So if um there is a change to the services that you're provided, there will be notification and um I know attorney uh Sepus can speak best to this, but you know this policy is is about the notifications when those changes and those things occur. And so the substantial change, yes, notification will happen. But even if there's no services being provided, but I as a student want services to be provided and I request them, there's a that's what we were hoping that sentence would would communicate that we would then be notifying the family. [Music] You look look puzzled there. Go ahead. No, I was just say again I wasn't privy to the prior discussions and uh considerations of this policy prior to my arrival, but I was just going to speak briefly
029to member Harrison's statement about the special education and the IEP piece. Uh there's a lot of regulations and policies already in place uh that require the district to proceed through specific notifications conducting parent notices and things for special education and IEP uh outside of this policy. Thank you. I I appreciate that. Um and I will will put back on the table what what what I have previously stated in this committee. Um, we may have some redundancies in policies language, but it's no reason not to put it in every policy, even if it's found, you know, we're speaking in generalities in this policy. Um, and based on the conversations that we've had, you know, again, looking at policy and saying, well, that's found over here in this policy or that if if we're dealing with this
030situation, it's found over here in this policy. when we're looking at policies, they because it's found somewhere else does not mean that, you know, I shouldn't have to find four policies to find one avenue of um I shouldn't have to look in multiple policies to find out what should happen. If if we're looking at creating sustaining policies and we're looking at this issue here, then I think whatever is prescribed should be in this policy. And even if the language is in a different policy, whether it's a IEP or a 504 policy, when I'm looking at this policy and it says substantial change, then I would think that there's a substantial effort for notification. And I'm not sure. I guess that's what I was speaking to. If we use substantial, which means that it's it's it's
031an impactful change. It's a it's a big change. And I think that that language that we use at the top should say that if we need to notify someone, it should be a substantial effort to notify them. And I'm just not sure that email or a telephone conference rises to uh substantial if that makes sense. I'm going to let uh Miss Culver answer, but I had some thoughts on that too. I mean, because I I want to chime in. Go. So I I think in practice um those are the the two ways that we are most able to reach parents and then continue the services um without putting the child in limbo. Um, we could possibly we could possibly add and um through email and or telephone or in-person conference if you want that as
032an option. But if we wait to have a face-toface a lot of times we are holding up services because it could be a transportation problem with a parent or but the goal is we are going to contact them. Those are just the two most convenient ways we find for our families. Yeah. And and I wasn't speaking so much as to the house, but I was speaking of the urgency of the matter. So, you know, you can have email, telephone, but something because substantial should require immediate. So, you know, and now we're getting into time frames, I know, but I'm saying that we kind of need to close this loop because we're talking about a substantial change. So if we're saying email, telephone conference, I would be okay with saying immediately notify a parent through or
033by or in addition to and I don't want to box us in, but I also want to be respectful of we're talking about a substantial change and we're taking a substantial effort and action. And so may I ask this question? Um, member Harrison, we added Okay. Remember when it said promptly and we added the within two school days? Is that what you're thinking? Like um maybe putting a time bound here, be notified by school administration immediately. and and and and I don't want to do put something in there that's unreasonable, but I just want to make sure that we are addressing if if we put promptly up at the top, but we we need to address that we're saying something happened substantially and we need to make sure that okay, the policy reflects that we
034we've taken action to because there's a sub substantial change. We've been consistent with that. So, I I I appreciate that. I know we had discussions on that last uh meeting. Um I'm I'm not sure if I'm making myself clear. I'm going to I'm going to get in here just a little bit. Um I think when we're talking about this here, uh and it's substantial. I think I'm hoping that everyone's professional and that it means if they need to contact a parent right away that we would do that. Um, and so we would try to contact most be most of the time is by phone. Uh, there's sometimes you may not get them by phone. You might be able to get them by uh email. Uh, I think also, and you guys can correct me if
035I'm wrong, uh, uh, staff, that may be an administrative guidelines, a step by step. So, I'm going to call this person here. I'm going to document that I called them on this date and this time. I'm going to email them. Email shows the date and time, but I'm still going to document this here. If I had to send someone to the home, I'm gonna document that I sent somebody to the home to go out there. So, we're covering ourselves. So, we're we're immediately doing this here at the same at the same time of, you know, covering ourselves. I don't know if that's an administrative guidelines or not. You guys would have to tell me, but I would think that would be part of administrative guidelines because and this is my personal piece of doing policies
036for a number of years. I don't think everything needs to go into a policy because like you said, we get we box ourselves in. I like that Akan public schools has administrative guidelines. So that's a step by step and that shows if this is going on here's my step that I should do. Take these steps. Now if I'm not taking those steps as the person who's supposed to be in charge then I'm not doing my job. So I think that's where it may be. And you guys tell me I'm looking at people who are uh here if if that may be an administrative guidelines. I don't know. Madam President, [Music] so looking through this plan also I'm referencing back to what member Molinar stated as far as once the staff member has knowledge of it
037immediately um contacting the parent because of the gaps that happen with that. So if my kid comes to school and says I don't want I don't need to go to tutoring anymore. I don't want to go to tutoring anymore. and you can't physically force certain kids to go to tutoring. Then the parent comes around and say, "Why is my child no longer getting tutor? I seen their grades. They're supposed to be I signed a title one form and they were supposed to be getting tutoring, but the middle school just said, "I'm not going." Right? And so the parent was unaware. You know how those things can go. But the one caveat is what I was thinking is should there be disagreement regarding the provision of services, parents will will immediately be notified by school administrator
038via email, teleconference because it's just putting that like it's an immediate note. So once I'm aware then an email it's just becomes a standard operating procedure that we immediately notify the parent via email because then it puts the responsibility on the parent for those um vessels of communication that they put just because that's what it sounds like I was hearing from both member Molar and Harrison is just to put that one word yes immediately notified because as soon as I become I'm made aware as a principal if the t if the tutors come and tell me this per this child is refusing to go to tutoring that is just there is what it sounded like to me. So is that is that what you guys want to have in Dr. Monar? Thank you. Yes I
039I I like the direction that this is going and and I understand that we have administrative guidelines. I know we discussed maybe even bringing the administrative guidelines at some point and because I know IDEIDA has recommendations but and we can assume that our administrative guidelines are that but we don't we don't know and that's why we're putting it into policy because also it it can change but if it's in policy it won't change and so with the title one which is a great example and thank you for providing that example or not title the tutoring um because there could be a disagreement that the student thinks they need t student thinks they don't need tutoring, but the school thinks they do need tutoring and that that's a disagreement there. And so now we're notifying family
040as a disagreement. But there might be instances where there isn't a disagreement. And so my um concern from the very beginning of this is because we are really focusing on notifying parents about changes in mental, emotional, physical health. Right? And the mental health component of it has been where I'm trying to think of how can we make sure parents know what's happening with their kids. That that's always been my perspective. And so I'm even thinking, let's say for instance, um there's another student who notices something about their classmate, about their friend, and they um inform a a teacher or a counselor or someone, and then it is determined that there's no substantial change, nothing's going to be done. As a parent, I still want to know that. I want to know that this classmate is
041concerned about my kid. I want to know this friend. And because maybe it isn't a substantial change yet, maybe it isn't, it hasn't grown to that yet. But as a parent, there's still something I can do at home. There's something I can do, you know, at dinner or over the weekend or with the grandparents that can make this better, even though the school does not need to provide a service for this yet. Um and so those type of experiences are why I think the as uh President Jackson and member Harrison were saying just as soon as staff become aware when staff become aware of um a physical em you know what we have mental, emotional, physical concern. When staff become aware, the parents are notified and and that's cut and dry. You know about it,
042you don't know about it. I don't have to determine how big of a deal I think it is. I know about it. I'm gonna tell the parents. Thank you. So, so we're saying no immediate in there, immediate in one place and then we're putting something else somewhere else. I just want to make sure I'm clear, too. No, I think we can be consistent with with with the language, you know. So, I wasn't trying to to to think of a word. I'm just saying let's be consistent with, you know, immediate. If if we're going to use immediate, let's let's be consistent with immediate. Um but but I think this is kind of the the reason why we're making some of these changes while the while it's in the bianual bill is to empower parents with information
043and I think if we can if we keep that in the forefront then we will kind of be on track. So what language do we want to we send with Dr. Monard? Sounds like if everyone's agreeing upon that, then we can probably put that in in because it sounds like we're not we're we were saying immediately at first, but now we're not saying immediately. So if we're saying notify, can you say that again, Dr. Mono? How you said that? Immediate is in the in is is in this policy. It's just further down. We were saying just be consistent promptly. I was going to ask that question because we were using the word immediate and I heard what you said. Let's be consistent. So, do we what whatever you guys are using is fine with me
044as long as it's I'm okay with that, too. I mean, I just want to make sure we have the right language that everybody agrees upon. Okay. So, we agree upon promptly, then we'll put promptly in there. Okay. Dr. Moh, did we have the number two days in there somewhere also? Yes, it's um that's what I Yes, just Yeah, right here. Yes. School district personnel will promptly defined within two school days. So if we use promptly in the top, it will still mean within two school days. All right. So all mine is clear. Feel like I have one more question, Mr. Alexander, just to be sure. So um with what Dr. Monar um mentioned, is there so I got promptly. We'll add that. Is there also a request to add um another qualifier or descriptor? I
045just want to make sure we got it all. She's asking you, Dr. Muller. Yes. So, and I'll email this to you with the other last one, too, but I think we were saying when they become aware. Okay. When they become aware. Got it. Perfect. All right. Thank you. Any other questions on this for Dr. Lasher on this policy? Okay. If not, let's move on to the next one. That's some good work. Good work. Chair Alexander, we are now entering um section four of the committee meeting, which would be new business, and that would be 4.01. Uh this is a policy my understanding that has not yet been introduced to the committee. Uh so it is policy 980 uh the posumous and honorary diplomas policy and so we have Angela Carter here to speak on that
046and provide background on this policy. Okay. Yes. So this was requested by um the board that we put something like this in place. So this is our first attempt at this um policy and originally the district had um section B as in this policy and we did not address um posthumonous um piece within our policy uh with APS. Um and so um we're proposing that we call it posthumonous and honorary diploma postumous uh and honorary diplomas. Uh before it was called high school diplomas to World War II, Korean conflict and Vietnam conflict veterans because we just addressed veterans. And so it reads, "The board of education values the dedication and service of its students and community members and wishes to recognize individuals who were unable to complete high school due to extraordinary circumstances. The board
047authorizes the issuance of postumous or honorary diplomas in the following circumstances. student who students who are deceased to honor students who died while enrolled in the district or who experienced significant hardship and were unable to graduate. The board superintendent or the director of family and student services may award aostumous or honorary diploma. This diploma is symbolic in nature and carries no legal rights or benefits. example, it is not considered equivalent to a diploma earned by meeting graduation requirements. To be considered for this diploma, the individual must have been enrolled in the district at the time of death or experience a significant hardship that prevented graduation. A written request must be submitted by a parent or immediate family member of the deceased student. The request must be received by the last business day in March of
048the school year in which the student would have graduated. The request must be submitted to the assistant superintendent and include any relevant documentation that supports the request. The decision to award a diploma is at the discretion of the assistant superintendent and the board of education. And then just a few changes based on what was in the old policy. Um so changing fight for to serve, changing all crossing out all of and putting under to provision and then enrolled in any high school in Ohio instead of saying this state. um crossing out either and putting the veteran left a public or non-public putting crossing out in order adding the word or on that first bullet under a to serve in the armed forces of the United States or um due to family circumstances and crossing out
049of the United States and just um leave it at armed forces. And then a few more um correct um crossouts down at the bottom. Um the board will award the diploma postumously and present it to a surviving relative and then note the other crossouts down at the bottom. The board may award this diploma upon receiving an application and appropriate verification of eligibility from the governor's office of veterans affairs and then applications are available through so there again this is our first attempt and a rough draft so feedback and any changes or modifications questions or feedback miss thank you uh chair Alexander Ander. Um, and thank you cuz I know this is something that I was uh certainly advocating for. It's unfortunate that we have to have this as a result of us having violence in
050our community. Was brought to my attention about uh you know several students we've lost due to violence want to be uh recognized. So I appreciate this opportunity. Um my comment is around uh section uh number three on the first page. Um, and I'm thinking about um students who may have already their graduation date might have already s you know passed us by and so I think we should kind of tweak that because we might have someone um you know whose graduation year was in 2020. But now that we have this policy, we can acknowledge um those individuals. Um and then also um and I don't know if this is more of an administrative guideline, but I would anticipate the community having questions. Um, understanding that this is uh honorary, this is not an official diploma,
051but I'm sure folks would ask, well, is my child's name going to be in the booklet, you know, at graduation, or will they their name be mentioned at a ceremony, or is that going to be determined at the building level? So, those are just I'm thinking out loud of of uh anticipating what I might hear from from families who might be interested in this. Okay. Any other pastor Harrison? I I have a couple of and I think they probably would be better served um to email them, but the um when we move into section B in the veteran section um because it specifically lays out conflicts andor wars. Um we've we've moved into now at least three times as many from this last one. Um and then there's some language in here that kind of
052um spec specific to veterans um that I think we can maybe look at to be more inclusive. Um, so I'll email those um I I'll email those in and w within this um policy. I I am curious when we are talking um about the violence within our community um and the students that we have lost um and I don't know that we can nail it down any I don't know if we can zero it in any closer but it kind of seems vague is are will we will there be administrative guidelines to this policy because I understand we can't put everything in this policy, but um u I I guess I should email it, but it's it's kind of every situation is not the same. And so if if I'm asking, well, I don't know
053if my situation fits. Um so what's the process? Um, and maybe that's what it is to to find out if my specific situation fit and then I can look and and there's a process because it's you can't put the process in the policy but the policy is kind of vague to um it's specific in veterans but it's vague to community the students in the community. Okay. Madam President. Okay, this is because I'm trying to see that I misunderstand. So I thought part A was for community and part B but how the part B that's what I'm the part B about veterans because in order for them to be in the is this just reference point I guess that's what I want to say for part B was reference language to Mr. U member Harrison's point
054is part B just reference language. It's nothing to do with mil the military. Correct. U it's part it's for someone that has passed away that served in the military and right but because I'm the um postumous diploma if they're in the milit that's why I'm trying it's separate because if you're in the military you already have your No, that's not Oh, okay. I just learned something. So, you don't have to have your you don't have to have a GED or a diploma to go to the military now. Uh, can you Yeah, this is something new for me. Good. I like learning new stuff. Good for me, too. I don't know that. Um, so that's why I was thinking it was that's why when member Harris starts talking, I was like, well, wait, I think I
055am understanding this right or in two parts, but I don't think so. Go ahead. Good evening, President Jackson, Vice President Alexander, and members of the board. The actual one with the veterans was at the time that we had the draft in action for World War II, Korea, and the Vietnam War. And once students or young males were drafted, they had to leave in the process and did not complete high school. It is very specific through the veterans affairs as to who is eligible. So now we have a volunteer service at this point and they have not added to your point say the Iraq conflict or other wars. It's very specific as to how we get this information as to who qualifies and once we get a request we work through the Veterans Affairs Department to
056see if we can a allow that to be awarded. So we've done this exactly twice. um one of which was a gentleman who was drafted out of World War II and his family asked on his behalf and it was determined he qualified and they flew in all the way from Hawaii and they he actually graduated with a class of students at Owlet. So that's why those specific conflicts or wars are listed is because that's when the draft was eligible to take people prior to being allowing them to complete high school. At this point, you are correct. You do need a high school diploma to be eligible now to go ahead and apply for the military, which is part of our college and career model of having students be ready to go on to post-secary employment,
057education, military service. Um, so and they take very specific tests to not only show that they graduated, but they also earn the offer from the military. And that's why we're very fortunate to have our four ROC coordinates here. We have one for Army, one for Navy, one for Air Force, and one for Marines. And they help them get ready for those applications. Excellent. Thank you so much. That's was my question. So now it takes me back to my original that this part is just for reference because you couldn't be a milit a veteran without already having a diploma currently in our his like currently. And so that that's why I was thinking until member Harrison start talk asked his question that part B was just a reference point like all the veteran stuff would it
058was just being looked at for possible language for the postumous diplomas for students who while in I know we had one lady presented to us I think her child might have uh became deceased in the seventh grade and then another one was in high school. So that's what this is what this is for because we wouldn't have any that people who would demise in a conflict military conflict even if we updated that wouldn't have a high school diploma. Is that correct? Cuz Mr. member Harrison was saying that take like some of this stuff is too towards veterans and I'm saying is this just for language we're clearly going to take the veteran information out because this is not this wouldn't be this wouldn't apply to veterans that's my question it wouldn't apply for what we're
059trying to change is so so because this is the first draft I'm looking at this as a a section and a B section the B section ction is already contained in the OC. Yes, it's already on our books as policy. Yeah. So, the B section is not we're not replacing B with A. This is A B. Correct. It's adding A to the top of Yes. Okay. I thought that was Okay, good. Thank you for that, Member Harrison, cuz that's what I was wondering. Are we taking information from B into A? like what we're using as a reference point for theostumous diplom. That's what I was asked to but it's just to add on to. Okay, I'm clear now. Thank you. So when um we were asked to work on this policy, we looked at what
060policy do we currently have and right now we have n 9,800 which which just addresses um the veteran veterans. Thank you. Okay, any more questions? I I do have a uh something I say and Miss Carter if it's okay if board members have something they want to or some suggestions can they email them to you because this is a working document still just first piece to be able to put it in and work what we need to and come back till we get to a point where we have a a solid policy. Yes, if they could email attorney Sepusk. Okay. I'm sorry. So, email our attorney any any suggestions and thoughts and we'll just weave it on in where we can to uh try to develop this policy because it is new and I'm glad
061that we uh we're doing this and Miss Audrey, thank you because you pushed this for a lot and we needed to have something like this here for others as well. Okay, any other any other comments for this policy? Okay, we have about four minutes. I don't know if we want to start anything else. So, you guys have something you can do in four minutes. If not, we will stop right here. Not in four minutes. Vice chair. Okay. Do we have any other comments or something anyone wants to talk about before we end? Pastor Harrison. Um, yes. The um it's been a long meeting, long two meetings. So, but the vendor relations we've been working on the independent contractor and the um that that policy has been kind of pushed to to the back and and
062especially now that we've had recent um [Music] um a lot of conversations about vendors and uh I I really think we need to look at that policy and get to uh get some clarification or you know pass that policy so that we can have um a a guideline that everyone can see. The policies are not just for us, but the public when they if they want to come and address us at a certain time, they need to be able to understand, okay, there's a policy and you can look at the policy. It may be something that they they they thought should have happened didn't happen or maybe something didn't happen that should have happened, but um the policy is not just our policies, but for everyone to see. So, I would really like to see
063us move that policy or start to work on that policy. Okay, that was one of the one of the uh part of our discussion when we talked to attorney since these are something they had to have uh by the end of this month. Uh and our meet next meeting will be the the last one before the end of the month that we get these done first because they're saying that we need to have these done and then we're moving the other ones up to try to get into uh more discussion. We because that that's one that we want to have a lot of I know I'm sure we have a lot of discussion. There's a couple others that we would have a lot of discussion about. So, we want to make sure we have enough
064time, you know, to do that. So, I thank you for for stating that, Dr. Muller. Thank you, uh, member Alexander. I agree that there are policies on the back burner. It'd be great if we could move them up. I'm glad we're bringing new policies in because I know that these have been important to our members. Also, um, as regarding the actual vendor policy that's here, I know that there are technology statements and technology requirements. Um and that is rel related to some things that we have to pass. We have to put in for our own security. In addition to that, when we do discuss this, I want to know um about the web content accessibility guidelines and if the vendor contracts are going to state their obligations or is it our obligation and what we're
065going to do as far as compliance goes as we have that April deadline that we need to have that accessibility. I'd like to know in here who's who's holding that responsibility. Um is something that'd be really nice. And then um the public complaints policy. I feel like I know where why we feel like we need this. I do feel like a lot of this is kind of redundant, but I'd like to know when this is presented um from the author kind of where this came from. So not why do we have it? Why do we think we need it? I think we all know that. But um the other policies that were looked at in order to grab this language and other maybe similar institutions that have policies like this and um how they use
066theirs. Thank you. So our staff has some some work some more work. Uh okay. So we'll we'll we'll we'll work on getting some of these other policies up to uh to our meetings and get some discussion on them. uh we're going to allow our staff to have the time to put these together and once they get it together then they can they can bring it back to us and we can uh get started. So we as long as we don't have any policies that are that we have to have uh then we will bring those forward but there's something we have to have immediately then we'll have to get that that taken care of. Okay. Any other questions or comments before we adjourn? Any questions or comments from anybody, staff, board? Nothing. Okay. Well, uh,
067thanks to everyone who was watching the meeting and, uh, we at this point in time, we're going to adjourn. Thank you again. Have a good evening.