Limestone County School Board revises policy manual

Published 12:00 pm Thursday, August 24, 2023

The Limestone County Board of Education met Tuesday night and updated the system’s policy manual. Revisions were made to the sick policy’s verbiage regarding sick leave due to fostered and adopted children. Changes were also made to the school systems’s unpaid meal charges to address non-students and extra items.

The following was added to the LCBoE Policy Manual regarding unpaid meals.

Unpaid meal charges

• Non-students will not be allowed to charge meals. Federal law prohibits the charging of any adult meals.

• Students who do not have money to cover the cost of a meal at the time of meal service will be allowed to charge all types of available reimbursable meals to the student’s account; however, a student will be prohibited from charging à la carte or “extra” items (e.g., a second milk or additional entrée) if the student’s account is negative. No student will be turned down from receiving a reimbursable meal.

• Families can obtain assistance with applying for free or reduced-price school meals by contacting the Limestone County Child Nutrition Director.

• Charged meals are not considered an allowable expense. All uncollected charges will be the responsibility of the school where the charge was made. All charges must be paid to the Child Nutrition Program at the end of the scholastic year using non-public funds.

Changes were also made regarding public comments at LCBoE meetings to clarify when comments will be heard and the process for doing so.

Revised public participation

Board work sessions and regularly scheduled Board meetings are the forum in which the public may address the Board. Public Participation is not heard in connection with special called Board meetings.

In order to permit orderly scheduling of public remarks and the inclusion of such in the agenda, anyone wishing to speak before the Board, either as an individual, or as a member of a group, should inform the Superintendent in writing of the desire to do so and of the topic to be discussed as early as possible, but in no event less than five working days prior to the work session or Board meeting.

Any individual desiring to speak shall stand and give his or her name and the group name, if any, that he or she represents. The presentation should be as brief as possible, and in no event shall such address exceed three minutes. Speakers may make statements about their particular concern with school operations and programs and shall observe appropriate decorum in doing so. The Board will not hear (1) comments regarding individual students or (2) comments regarding school personnel or person(s) connected with the school system that are unrelated to the performance of their duties, not tied to official business of the board, or are merely an attack on someone’s good name and character rather than their conduct or a position they have taken.

While the Board encourages public participation, the Board generally has no authority to address specific issues. Citizens are encouraged to contact the appropriate administrator to address specific concerns within the system.

The Limestone County Board of Education also approved the following agenda items.

Overnight trips

• FFA members to travel to Auburn, Ala. and Moultrie, Ga., on Oct. 17-19 for agricultural higher education and industry tour.

District purchases and renewals

• Acceptance of quote from Porter Roofing Contractors, Inc. to repair roof on East Limestone Middle School at a cost of $22,071.

• Acceptance of quote from Porter Roofing Contractors, Inc. to repair roof on Tanner Elementary main building at a cost of $29,777.

• Purchase and agreement for five new seat of Etrieve Software for access to the program by the Payroll Department at a cost of $4,166.67 for year 1; $5,150 for year 2; and $5,304.50 for year 3 from Softdocs SC, LLC.

• Purchase of 1,300 emergency flip charts at a cost of $34,865 funded from School Safety Grant.

• Purchase of required textbooks and supplemental materials for dual enrollment courses at UNA at a cost of $25,441.28 from Follett Content Solutions.

• Renewal of Brightly (SchoolDude) TripDirect at a cost of $7,652.97 and MaintenanceEssentials Pro at a cost of $15,158.28 for a total cost of $22,811.25.

• Purchase and installation of Johnson OSR playground structure with shade and bonded rubber under the structure and a pathway around the structure from KorKat for $65,250 using Pre-K funds.

Other business

• Closure of East Limestone High School’s account with First National Bank and opening of a new account for East Limestone High School with PNC Bank.

• Adoption and purchase of The Essentials Health by Goodheart-Wilcox at a cost of $44,540.55 for high school health courses.

• Adoption of the following LCBoE Policy Manual revisions and additions:

• 3.9.3 Expenditures

• 3.9.5 Consultants

• 6.6 Off-campus Events

• 3.17 Child Nutrition

• 5.10.3 Paid sick leave

• 2.5.4 Public participation

• 2.7 Policy adoption/revision

• 7.10 Extended programs: Community education