School Committee welcomes public comment on policy change

Date: 4/25/2011

April 25, 2011

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

LONGMEADOW — As the School Committee continues its policy review through the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC), changes to the longest section of the policy manual have been posted for public comment.

"About two years ago, we enlisted the help of the MASC and one of their services is the review of current policy to update what needs updating and to get rid of outdated policies," School Committee Chair Armand Wray explained. "We have three [policies] left for this year."

Section J, which is 75 pages long, outlines the School Committee's regulations regarding students, with topics ranging from school entry age and admissions to attendance to extracurricular activities to student conduct.

Student conduct policies include bullying and hazing, topics that have been of particular interest to school committees in Massachusetts, which recently had to develop Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plans, per order of the Gov. Deval Patrick Administration.

"[Section] J is without a doubt the longest policy and a large part of Section J pertains to the student," Wray said. "All the work on bullying and prevention and all the updated procedures would be found in that section."

Section J, which was posted on the Longmeadow Public Schools Web site on April 15, must remain open for public comment for a minimum of 30 days. Those wishing to make comments on the policy may do so by visiting http://sites.longmeadow.k12.ma.us/www/news/policiespostedforpublicinput and clicking on the "Policy Impact Form" link.

Once the review period is over, the policy will be added to the agenda of a future School Committee meeting, at which the committee will either vote to accept the updated policy or amend it, based on public feedback.

Wray said two other policies would be open for review shortly, which would formally end the MASC's review procedure, but added that policy review has been, and will continue to be, a continuous task for the School Committee.

"It will always be an ongoing procedure for us," Wray said, using the policy change regarding kindergarten entrance age as an example of a time when the committee reviewed and amended a policy.