The District 205 Board of Education approved a new code of conduct for students this week.
A major change to the code was head coverings are not allowed unless approved by building principals. The language was of concern to some board members — who initially suggested tabling the topic for another month.
Superintendent John Asplund told the board that there had to be a policy in place for parents and students to prepare for the coming school year.
“I’ll be honest, the way we approved it last year had great intentions [but] the impact was very negative. It created a great deal of chaos in the building and I would like to see it addressed in some way to help out the staff, the administration, and the students.”
Asplund said that students last year would wear welding masks to school and claim they were protective head coverings. There were also issues with kids wearing Viking helmets or six-packs of soft drinks on their heads.
Asplund added that it wasn’t the hair policy he was most concerned with, “I’m not really worried about this part — it’s the cell phones. So, we need to approve something tonight so that if we are making a big change to cell phones, we need to be able to let parents and students know of the change so there is ample time for them to prepare for that.”
During last month’s presentation on the school code, cell phones were identified as the biggest hurdle for teachers educating students. Unless granted permission by the building administrator, the policy will be that the devices are off and out of sight from the start of school till the end of school.
In other action, the board approved an agreement with Hazard Young and Associates to engage in a strategic planning campaign for the district.
With fresh, newly renovated buildings, the district is now taking a dive into looking forward to how they can improve the district and plan for the future.
Superintendent Asplund told board members Monday that the plan was to next establish a timetable for when HYA would begin having community meetings. “Early August/September would be the community meetings and the surveying,” according to Asplund.
Board President Courtney Rodriguez encouraged the idea of holding these community meetings in person and virtually.
The cost to the district for the strategic planning was $25,000.
