March 28, 2024

School board further modifies policies regarding outside resources

NHS teacher asks board to be considerate with modifications

One teacher conveyed her concerns over several recently proposed policy revisions within the Newton Community School District.

Over the last several months, the board of education has been heavily reviewing and updating a number of policies. The particular policies that sparked Bev Thomas’ attention were Board Policy 603.7, which pertains to outside resource people, and 1003.5, which regulates 603.7.

She also spoke out on plans to modify Board Policy 603.8, the policy that regulates teaching controversial issues.

Thomas teaches family and consumer sciences at Newton Senior High School, which features courses that implement a number of guest speakers. Thomas brought this to the board’s attention at Monday’s meeting during the public forum, before the board addressed the three policies.

“I just want to emphasize to you, that we have lots of speakers that come into the building, and usually they’re only there for 43 minutes (and) they check-in,” Thomas said. “The ones that I use in my health classes I have used for several years and they’re usually connected with some organization and I feel as though they’re very safe … I’m usually on the ball with that.”

Thomas encouraged the board to think carefully on the decisions it made in regard to those policies.

When it came time for the second reading of policies of 603.7 and 1003.5, Superintendent Bob Callaghan presented the board with further modified versions of the policies that were based on the input they gave at the Aug. 25 meeting.

In the updated version of 603.7, teachers still have to notify building principals well in advance if they plan on using an outside resource in their classroom and the principal has the right to deny this request.

Section 603.5 — which is listed within the updated version of 603.7— further breaks down the outside resource policy. Teachers have to notify parents of the context of the outside resources visit by either a note sent home, campus or teacher newsletter or the school’s webpage or Facebook page.

This is to ensure parents are notified early enough to give them the option to opt-in or opt-out of certain presentations.

Parents would need to opt-out for non-controversial matters and opt-in for controversial speakers. Whether or not a subject is determined to be controversial is based on the judgment of the classroom teacher and the building principal.

“Everybody’s in unless the parent say’s, ‘no, I don’t want them in,’” Callaghan said about the opt-out measure.

At the elementary level, Callaghan and Jim Gilbert, associate director of elementary education services, confirmed that no outside resources have been deemed controversial.

Callaghan gave the board an example of what could be considered a controversial topic.

“If Planned Parenthood was coming into the schools, that could be controversial. So parents then have to say, ‘I don’t want my child coming in,’ or, ‘I do want my child coming in.’ For some people it’s OK and for some people it’s not OK. So we want parents to be able to have that opportunity to say, ‘yes, or, ‘no,’” Callaghan said.

603.5 also states that some outside resource people may have to undergo a criminal history check to  have access to students, and 1003.5 regulates 603.7.

Due to the amount of modifications, the board elected not to consider last night’s reading a second reading, and instead approved of it as a first reading for 603.7 and 1003.5.

Once the board wrapped up discussion on those policies, it approved the first reading of 603.8, which Thomas also referenced. Updates to the policy further infer that it’s up to the classroom teacher and building principal to deem whether a topic is controversial or not, and that parents have to opt-in for their children to experience that lesson.

In other business:

• A vote on purchasing a new vehicle was tabled along with a vote on purchasing new garage doors at the bus bay.

• The district will hold a public hearing on Sept. 22 for the purchase of a new fire escape at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School.

• A $7,500 contract with Skiff Medical Center was approved for the hospital to provide staff to cover athletes at Newton Senior High School athletic events for the 2014-2015 school year.

• The district agreed to pay School Administrators of Iowa $12,000 by Jan. 1 as a fee for SAI  providing training and overseeing the district’s newly implemented School Administrator Manager program.

Contact Senior Staff Writer Ty Rushing at (641) 792-3121 ext. 6532 or at trushing@newtondailynews.com.