A number of laws impacting schools from last legislative session are being rolled out to Mount Vernon and Lisbon Schools.
One of the first is the requirement that all parents have a copy of the student handbook on a yearly basis and parents must acknowledge receipt of the student handbooks.
Schools also now need to provide a copy of policies and regulations related to possible objections to the use of certain instructional and library materials, as spelled out in Policy Code No. 605.3.
That code notes that “It is the responsibility of the superintendent, in conjunction with the principals, to develop administrative regulations for reconsideration of instructional materials. Information related to the process for reconsideration of instructional and library materials will be made available on the district’s website.
Parents or guardians of students enrolled in the district have the ability to request that their student not be able to access certain instructional material or check out certain library materials. For purposes of prohibiting access to instructional materials, Iowa law has defined instructional materials to mean either printed or electronic textbooks and related core materials that are written and published primarily for use in elementary school and secondary school instruction and are required by a state educational agency or district for use by students in the student’s classes by the teacher of record.”
Parents who object to certain material being taught to their child need to fill out a form and present that to the school administration at their schools.
Mount Vernon Schools is also in the process of reviewing any materials sexually inappropriate or dealing with gender identity issues in grades kindergarten through sixth grade.
“This is a large task to complete, and I appreciate your patience as we work over the next several months to complete this task,” said superintendent Dr. Greg Batenhorst.
“Our main priority is to be compliant with the law and new regulations so we are acting swiftly,” said Autumn Pino, Lisbon superintendent. “It would be helpful for us to have more guidance from the Department of Education..”
The Lisbon School board is utilizing guidance from the Iowa Association of School Boards, School Administrators of Iowa, Rural School Advocates of Iowa, and their own legal counsel as needed. Pino notes that every district is in the same boat on some of these issues.
“So far our staff participated in a staff meeting with a legislative overview,” Pino siad. “I also met with our ELA teachers to provide some steering and support, in addition to meeting with our librarian to talk through and provide additional clarity related to our next steps.”
A special meeting was also held on Wednesday, Sept. 6, to walk through the newly proposed policies.
Another change concerns public participation at school board meetings, Code No. 213.
The code now specifies that citizens who wish to address the board during public comment must notify the board secretary prior to the board meeting. The board president will recognize those individuals to make their comments at the appropriate time during public comment. Any citizens wishing to present petitions to the board can do so at that time, but the board will only receive petitions, not act upon them or their contents.
Boards can limit the amount of time set aside for public participation. School boards will not take any action on any matter during public comment.
Citizens can petition to have topics placed on an agenda of the school board by having enough valid signatures, accounting for 10 percent of individuals who voted in the last school board election or 500 eligible electors of the district (whichever is smaller). Boards will place those items on the agenda within 30 days of being petitioned. Boards will also allow people who wish to speak on the item to sign up ahead of the meeting.