Policies of a school district, especially those negotiated with bargaining representatives for the protection of teachers, have the full force and effect of law, and legally bind the school district. Wessington Springs Ed. Assoc. v. Wessington springs Sch. Dist., 467 N.W. 2d 101 (S.D. 1991).
By Gerry Kaufman, ASBSD Director of Policy & Legal Services
Six sample policies were recently amended by the ASBSD Policy Services team.
Those amended sample policies, include:
- BBB: School Board Elections
- BDDG: Minutes
- GCDB: Criminal Background Checks
- IC: School Year – School Calendar
- IGDF: Student Fund-Raising Activities
- KI: Public Solicitations and Advertising in the Schools
“The amendments to policies BBB (School Board Elections) and BDDG (Minutes) relate to the recently enacted law requiring schools to post school election information in school board minutes,” ASBSD Director of Policy & Legal Services Gerry Kaufman said.
During the 2018 legislative session, Senate Bill 66, which requires schools to report certain school board election information in their minutes, was passed and enacted on July 1, 2018.
Kaufman added the amendment to GCDB: Criminal Background Checks, was to help clarify who had to have a criminal background check, while the amendment to IC: School Year – School Calendar, reflected the state law now refers to the number of hours school is in session instead of the number of days.
Finally, the amendments to sample policies IGDF: Student Fund-Raising Activities, and KI: Public Solicitations and Advertising in the Schools, added provisions related to students and non-school entities conducting bingo and lotteries (raffles) activities at school, and that the title to KI was also amended to specifically include bingo and lotteries.
For questions related to the amended sample policies, contact Kaufman at gkaufman@asbsd.org or at 605-773-2513.
To access the ASBSD Policy Services website, school board members and administrators must login at http://policy.asbsd.org. Your district’s login and password information has been previously provided to your district’s administration.
If you are not able to access the ASBSD Policy Services website, please contact your district’s administration or ASBSD Policy Services Associate Kay Thompson-Tieszen at kay@asbsd.org.