April 23, 2020 at 5:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Rationale:  Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA)

Following up on emergency closings and telework, TSBA created a new model policy on sick leave and expanded Family and Medical Leave provisions under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. This is a new policy that aligns with the federal law, which is effective until December 31, 2020. It incorporates the additional information found in the U.S. Department of Labor regulations that were released on April 1, 2020.
 

Rationale:  Notes from TSBA: 

The State Board of Education met on April 9th and passed policies and regulations in response to COVID-19 school closures. The changes impact attendance reporting, grades, graduation requirements, and testing, among other areas. Many of these changes create conflicts between current state law and local board policies for the 2019-2020 school year. To address these short-term conflicts, we recommend voting to temporarily suspend portions of local policies. Attached is model language for a resolution to suspend policies for the remainder of the school year that conflict with the new emergency rules and policy changes made by the State Board of Education. Also included is a list of policies and a brief explanation of State Board changes.

List of Potential Policies Impacted

See below for a list of policies impacted by the new State Board of Education rules and policies for the 2019-2020 school year. This is based off of our model policy language as well as provisions we typically see Boards add. As policies differ district to district, we recommend including the catchall provision in the sample resolution above to ensure that all potential conflicts are covered. 

• Policy 4.600 - Grading System
  • Changes to State Board Rule 0520-01-03-.11 prevent students from receiving a grade lower than they earned as of March 20, 2020. 
  • Changes to State Board of Education Policy 3.301 remove the requirement that students taking post-secondary courses participate in the associated exam in order to received additional GPA weighting for spring 2020.
    • This only impacts the Uniform Grading System. Locally approved grading systems may be calculated in line with board policy.
    • The Department of Education has stated they will release guidance on this by May 1st. 
       
• Policy 4.605 - Graduation Requirements
  • Changes to State Board Rule 0520-01-03-.11 lower credit requirements for graduation from 22 to 20 for the class of 2020. This rule also removes the requirements for: (1) the ACT/SAT; (2) required civics exam; and (3) EOC exams.
  • Students scheduled to receive an occupational diploma in the 2019-2020 or 2020-2021 school year shall only be required to demonstrate one year of work experience.
     
• Policy 4.700 - Testing Programs
  • Changes to State Board Rule 0520-01-03-.11 prevent EOC exams scheduled for the spring from being included in a senior's final grade for a course.
  • Boards will also need to decide if they want to require students to take TCAP exams this year. EOC scores may only be included in grade calculations for non-senior students per the State Board rule.
     
• Policy 5.109 - Evaluation
  • Changes to State Board Rule 0520-02-01-.01 state that overall level of effectiveness scores will not be generated for the 2019-2020 school year.
  • Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers shall not be evaluated using the growth portfolio model for the 2019-2020 school year.
  • No student data from this year will be allowed to negatively impact a teacher.
     
• Policy 5.802 - Qualifications and Duties of the Director of Schools
  • Changes to State Board Rule 0520-02-03-.09 allow Directors to request an extension to file reports on educator licensure action. Previously, Directors had only thirty days to report alleged educator misconduct and/or associated disciplinary action.
     
• Policy 6.200 - Attendance 
  • Changes to State Board Rule 0520-01-02-.17 allow attendance to be taken for online courses, however, students may not be penalized for non-attendance. This means absences may not be counted as unexcused and students may not be reported as truant for not attending these courses.