Changes coming to school handbooks

Classes have only been out for about a month, but the Hot Springs County School District No.1 Board of Trustees are still hard at work preparing for the 2015-16 school year.

During their meeting last Thursday, the board approved, on second reading, the transportation and athletic handbooks for the coming year.

While a majority of the transportation handbook remains the same at this point, there have been a few things changed in the document, including hiring procedures for bus aides and school bus drivers. Some items are simply wording changes for regulations that are already in place.

There are also some changes to the scheduling procedures to ensure the best and safest drivers are provided for each trip.

Trial periods will be implemented for bus aides when they are initially hired and a three month probation period will be put in place.

Aides will be required to not only keep the students safe entering or exiting the bus, they are also responsible for seeing that volume levels are kept low so as not to interfere with the driver’s concentration, that safety measures, including remaining seated, are followed, and that rules are followed consistently, on every bus, every day.

Background checks, drug testing and physicals as well as the proper licensing are the norm with bus drivers, however, there will also be a three month probation period and must be on a permanent route for at least 30 days before being hired for the long term. Drivers will be considered “substitute” drivers until permanently hired.

New drivers will not be able to do any out of town trips for one year. After that, they will be allowed to drive within a 100-mile radius of Thermopolis with certain restrictions.

Of course, all drivers are subject to approval by the transportation director before being allowed to drive and may lose driving privileges for safety related violations.

One change found in the athletic handbook pertains to student travel.

While students are required to travel to and from school activities on the school bus, they are allowed to return home with their parents if they’ve completed a release form provided by the coaches.

They were only allowed to be released to their parents, not to another student’s parents or guardians, however, an exception has been added that a travel waiver, available from the activities office, is approved and on file 48 hours prior to departure for the trip.

School handbooks

Handbooks for Ralph Witters Elementary, Thermopolis Middle School and Hot Springs County High School also passed their first readings last week.

One change is found in the RWE handbook under student health requirements.

Students who have had contagious or infectious diseases need to be on antibiotics at least 24 hours prior to returning to school.

In the middle school handbook, a new item “ZAP” (zeros aren’t permitted) has been added.

Any seventh or eighth grader receiving a zero in class will be “Zapped” at lunch. This will result in an automatic lunch detention within one day of the “Zap.” Teachers will “electronically” notify parents that their student was zapped and include information about the missing assignment.

This is a system to encourage promptness and ensure students learn an appropriate work ethic.

Another item added to the handbook says piercings are a decision made between a student and the parent. Any piercing that is disruptive to learning or a safety concern will be addressed with the student and the parent.

An item relating to alternative classroom placement has also been added at the middle school.

The alternative classroom is utilized at the discretion of the principal. Placement in the alternative classroom must be in the best interest of the student in regards to social, behavioral and academic stabilization. The student and parent must agree to follow school rules and interact with alternative classroom staff in an appropriate manner.

Placement in the alternative classroom when a student has reached 100+ discipline points must include a positive partnership between the parent(s) and the principal. The alternative classroom is an ALTERNATIVE to Expulsion for any student at or exceeding 100 discipline points at the discretion of the principal. If the student and/or the parent cannot or will not agree to interact with school staff in a mutually respectful manner the alternative classroom will not be an option. At that point the student will be suspended pending an expulsion hearing.

Any student in the alternative classroom that refuses to engage in a plan for improvement, continues to be defiant, and is unwilling to partner with staff to achieve basic academic goals will be suspended immediately pending an expulsion hearing.

The alternative classroom option is not available to any student that violates the drugs or weapon policy. Possession of drugs or weapons at school results in immediate suspension pending an expulsion hearing with the HSCSD1 Board of Trustees.

Changes that create a personal learning contract and change the athletic eligibility requirements have also been added.

A student on the ineligible list will have an opportunity to become eligible by completing and following through with an academic contract. The student is responsible for establishing communication with the teacher to activate the academic contract process.

This contract will permit the students to participate as if they are eligible. If at any point the student breaks this contract or the SIT deems the student is not progressing, the student is immediately ineligible.

Students at the high school have been required to complete community service hours to be eligible for graduation for several years.

The new proposed handbook removes the eight-hour requirement, replacing it with, “a concerted effort will be made to instill the value of community service and gratitude toward the community through advisory activities and opportunities to practice throughout the four years.”

And speaking of advisory, students who meet the criteria for academic merit will not be required to attend advisory on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Wednesday advisory and Friday careers will require all enrolled students to attend.

A program called Connect 5 will be used to make mass phone calls, texts, and emails to parents and guardians regarding school information. We will try to limit the use of phone calls and reserve its use for emergency and very important information. Text messages, Facebook posts, tweets and emails will be used for more general information whenever possible.

For the first reading of the handbook, the disciplinary matrix policy has been removed from the document, including the points system previously used to determine the level of discipline required for various offenses.