Olympia School Board reviews policies management, personnel, student policies 

The Olympia School District (OSD) Board of Directors reviewed policies related to management support, personnel, and students at a work session on Thursday, August 1. 

Changes to the 6000 Series, or management support policies, were first read during the meeting, a recording of which is available here. Policies 5000 (personnel) and 3000 (students) Series were also reviewed again. 

“Policy is one of the main roles of the Board of Directors. It's one of the things that we are responsible— to ensure it is maintained in a timely manner, and it complies with RCW (Revised Code of Washington) and best practices, and with our community's vision of education,” stated OSD Board President Hilary Seidel. 

The board held the first reading for the 5000 Series on August 31 last year and accepted community feedback from February 20 to March 1 this year. 

The 3000 Series had its first reading on September 7 last year, and community feedback was accepted at the same time as the 5000 Series. 

Seidel said that the previous board of directors had talked about doing a policy overhaul but had not actualized it. She added that the board is now using the old materials from the past board to charter a citizen advisory committee and do a review of all the district’s policies.  

Management support policies 

The current policy 6000 Series mostly included fiscal policies and was last updated in 2011, hence the need for discussion.  

Huffman noted that the workgroup which sent recommendations for the policy included a community member with experience in school management, a community member with disability advocacy experience, and staff members. 

One of the proposed changes introduced for the 6000 series regards policy 6030 on financial reports, where the time and resources used to fulfill the requests will now be posted. 

Policy 6114 also has some proposed language revisions to address the inequity between schools in terms of gifts and donations. 

Policies 6600 to 6605 about transportation and student safety focused on the best way to make sure that students can get to school in ways that are healthy for themselves and the planet, and which the district could afford, too. Community members suggested reducing students’ walk route radius. 

Personnel and student policies 

For the policy 5000 Series focusing on personnel, the board reread some policies related to electronic information systems and professional civic service organizations membership. 

Some of the student-centered policies reviewed under the 3000 series involved guidelines related to handbooks, survey administration, and searches of lockers, desks, and storage areas. 

Adoption 

The proposed changes will appear on the board’s policy adoption page, and there is a form that may be used for public comment.  

The public comment period will be open for at least 10 days to a couple of weeks, and then the board will receive the comments and make adjustments.