December 6, 2021 at 4:00 PM - Policy Committee Meeting

Description:  Attached please find Policy 370 Rule #4 regarding Co-Curricular Reductions and Revisions.  The Co-Curicular Committee met on November 30th and per their review of co-curricular programs, such as Mountain Bike Club, that is asking to move from a Category C to a Category A  Co-Curricular Program, the committee also thought that any Category A program (program that competes) should have a paid advisor/coach.  The change to this policy is highlighted in yellow as part of the application form.  The administration is recommending this revision to the Committee.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to review the Board's practice and policy related to public comments at Board Meetings.  Per the current policy, comments can be made at school board meetings on any topic related to the operations of the school district, and the topic of the comment does not need to be articulated on the agenda for the meeting at which the comments are expressed.  

The Board has asked the Policy Committee to review this policy.  Current and previous policy language are attached to BoardBook for your review.  Previous policy language limited public comments to items on the meeting agenda, and practice allowed for comments on any topic to occur on a quarterly basis.
 

Description:  Attached please find revisions to Policy 447.6 regarding Restraint and Seclusion of students.  Tiffany Loken, Director of Special Education, will be present at the meeting to explain the changes, the rationale, and need for these policy modifications.

Description:  The Board has requested the Policy Committee to review policy options related to the flying of flags on school-operated flag poles.  Currently, the district does not have a policy on this issue.  Currently, the district flies the American and State of Wisconsin flags on our flag poles.  Over the last two years, individual board members have brought forward requests/resolutions for the Board to consider flying the Pride Flag in June, The Ho-Chunk Flag in November, and the Junteenth Flag in February.  Each of these requests has been approved by the Board.

In preparation for this discussion at the Policy Committee level, we reached out to the Wisconsin Association of School Boards for background and sample policy language that they would have access to from other school districts in Wisconsin.  Per their research, there is very limited experience in Wisconsin on this matter in schools.  Dan Mallin from WASB did a search for options for us to consider and pulled samples from other states, college settings, and from Canada.  Those samples are attached.  Also attached is a document regarding the Key Aspects of a Flag Policy and the Village of Waunakee Flag policy.

I believe we should start with a discussion on this topic at the Committee level and then do some additional research based on that feedback. 

In general, I think there are three pathways to consider:
1.  Do not create a policy and maintain our current practice of requests coming to the Board on an individual basis.  This approach does not, however, address the Board's concern about a process for clearer guidelines for assessing this issue.

2.  Create a policy with a distinct definition of which flags will fly on school-controlled fag poles.

3.  Create a policy with a distinct definition of which flags will fly on school-controlled fag poles, with the addition of an application process for additional flags to be considered.  If this is the route that is desired, then care needs to be taken as to who can put forth these applications (board members, staff members, community members, students, etc) as well as the criteria for vetting which applications to approve/deny.

4.  Other Options?

I recommend that we discuss the various options, review the sample policies, and bring this item back at a future Policy Committee Meeting for further discussion/consideration/research.

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