Several Grundy County, Tenn., school board policies were set to be updated during the February school board meeting, but those updates were put off to the upcoming March 15 meeting after February’s meeting ran late.
The policy updates were recommended by the Tennessee School Boards Association, which provides notifications of statutory and regulatory changes to local school districts that subscribe to its service. As of the beginning of the year, 123 districts subscribed to the service.
Other policy updates
› Graduation requirements: Adding a new diploma that is available to special education students› Promotion and retention: Changes place a greater emphasis on promotion and provides more detailed factors to identify when considering retention› Graduation activities: Expands the variety of student awards and achievements that must be noted at graduation› Testing programs: Updates methodology information for TNReady and end-of-course exams› Attendance: Adds a “progressive truancy intervention plan,” which includes three tiers› Medicines: Includes new guidelines for administering adrenal insufficiency medicationNew policies› Opioid antagonist: State districts must keep at least two opioid antagonists in each school in case a student experiences a drug overdose and details parental notification and maintenance procedures.› Glucagon and diazepam gel: Spells out who is permitted to administer glucagon, a hormone used to treat students with low blood sugar and are unable to take liquid or food by mouth because of unconsciousness or seizures
Those updates are then added to the school board agenda to be voted on for approval, Director of Schools Jessie Kinsey said in an email.
“[This] is vital to a smaller school district like Grundy County who do not have a full-time attorney on staff,” she said.