B. Title IX Special Updates

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Submitted by jenny_hunter on Fri, 08/14/2020 - 11:29am

Strategic Priority		Reason for Consideration
Graduates Prepared for Work, Higher Education and Citizenship		Action	X
Excellent Educators		Information	X
Healthy, Safe and Responsible Students		Discussion	X
Operations and Support	X

On July 28-31, NCSBA issued a set of special time-sensitive policy updates in response to new Title IX regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Education in May. The new regulations are effective on August 14, 2020, and will require significant modification to the way school officials respond to reports and complaints of sexual harassment. To accommodate these changes and their wide-reaching effect on existing policies, NCSBA recommends deleting two policies from our policy manual; adding six new policies; updating four existing policies; and providing a new administrative regulation (regulations do not required board approval). NCSBA and the board attorneys recommend adopting the new and revised policies immediately. It is also recommended that we post the required information on the school system’s website as described in policy 1720/4030/7325.

The new policies and administrative regulation include the following:

Policy 1710/4020/7230, Discrimination and Harassment Prohibited by Federal Law
Policy 1720/4030/7235, Title IX Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex
Policy 1725/4035/7236, Title IX Sexual Harassment – Prohibited Conduct and Reporting Process
Administrative Regulation 1725/4035/7236-R, Title IX Sexual Harassment – Definitions (information only; regulations do not require board approval)
Policy 1726/4036/7237, Title IX Sexual Harassment Grievance Process
Policy 4329/7311, Bullying and Harassing Behavior Prohibited
Policy 7232, Discrimination and Harassment in the Workplace

The following policies are recommended for revision:

Policy 1730/4022/7231, Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disabilities
Policy 4040/7310, Staff-Student Relations
Policy 4331, Assaults, Threats, and Harassment (renamed “Assaults and Threats”)
Policy 4340, School-Level Investigations

The following policies have been deleted from the NCSBA model policy manual and are recommended for rescission when the new policies listed above are adopted:

Policy 1710/4021/7230, Prohibition Against Discrimination, Harassment, and Bullying
Policy 1720/4015/7225, Discrimination, Harassment, and Bullying Complaint Procedure

Policy 2420, Adoption of Policies, states that policies introduced and recommended to the board will not be adopted until a subsequent meeting. Policy 2450, Suspension of Board Policies, allows the temporary suspension of any section or sections of board policies by a majority vote of board members present at a meeting. Because these policies require immediate action, Dr. Brian Weaver will recommend that the board temporarily suspend its normal two-read process and adopt the policies at this time.

Pursuant to board policy 2450, a motion is in order to suspend a second reading and immediately adopt the six new policies and four revised policies listed above as presented.

A motion is in order to rescind policies 1710/4021/7230, Prohibition Against Discrimination, Harassment, and Bullying; and 1720/4015/7225, Discrimination, Harassment, and Bullying Complaint Procedure.

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