The board of directors for Morris Jeff Community School approved several school policies during a regular monthly meeting Thursday evening.
The approval was done as a formality, board members said, since the school is currently operating under the policies for the 2013-14 school year. The board approved policies present in the Morris Jeff Community School Employee Handbook and the school’s parent handbook, as well as the school’s finance policies.
At Thursday’s meeting, the Morris Jeff Association of Educators, a union representing teachers at the school, came up with some suggested revisions to school policies. The union recommended the formal creation of a new hiring policy, as well as teacher job descriptions that outline the time, duties and responsibilities while at or after school.
The association also recommended an updated policy when it comes to reporting child abuse and other policies involving social work, as well as modifying and refining a new report card policy.
After the association presented recommendations to the board, member Kamala Baker recommended giving the association more time to refine the details they want to see in the new policies, and presenting those edited recommendations to the board’s governance committee so they can discuss them at the next meeting.
“This needs to be fleshed out to see what the comparisons would be, then go to governance committee to see what they think about the changes,” Baker said.
She also recommended that the teacher’s association bring all of its suggestions to the governance committee at the same time.
Sarah Bell, vice president of the Family Partnership Steering Team, recommended a few changes for the Student-Parent Handbook.
Bell said there was “a lot of talk among parents” concerning the morning meeting policy. She suggested having something in writing about specifics for when the temperature got below a certain point.
She also suggested a guideline for starting new clubs for kids, and establishing policies when it comes to uniform changes.
“Part of the description should be to have communication with any changes that come up,” Bell said.
Board Secretary Jennifer Weishaupt suggested that the board governance committee take a look at the potential revisions to handbooks and other policies, then come back to the board with suggestions during January’s regular board meeting.