The Examiner U-46 News Feed

U-46 Board of Education to vote on policy changes

By Seth Hancock
  The Board of Education in School District U-46 is set to vote on updates to six policies at its upcoming meeting on Monday, Sept. 25. They were presented on Sept. 11.
  The changes were not provided to the public, but Trisha Olsen, chief legal officer, said the changes were largely not substantive.
  Included is Policy 2:170 (procurement of architectural, engineering and land surveying services) which Olsen said there are “no substantive changes.” She did say the Illinois General Assembly passed legislation to address design contracts for school districts and the policy is expected to come up again in the near future to address that bill.
  Policy 4:45 (insufficient fund checks and debt recovery) included “very minimal changes including the removal of the phrase ‘in the future’ which does not change the context of how the language reads,” Olsen said. Similarly, Policy 4:100 (insurance management) makes “minimal changes to outdated concepts, for example it makes changes to terms like ‘certificates’ and now it says ‘licenses.’”
  Policy 5:230 (maintaining student discipline) addresses licensed and certified personnel and a requirement to maintain discipline. A change adds specification for paraeducators.
  “It makes a carve out for paraeducators to maintain discipline,” Olsen said. “This is aligned with law and to our current practices.”
  On Policy 6:190 (extracurricular and co-curricular activities), Olsen said: “Our previous iteration of the policy addressed all the optional items that IASB (Illinois Association of School Boards) is already recommending for our review. Therefore, there really is no substantive change to our U-46 board policy. But I did want to make sure to point out that it does make more than minimal changes to citations and references.”
  Policy 7:330 (student use of buildings-equal access) concerns access to buildings for students for clubs and other activities.
  Olsen said the update “truly does not make any substantive changes, but it does address equal access to buildings which has been a point of concern.”