The Oglethorpe Echo
The Oglethorpe County Board of Education unanimously approved several policy updates Tuesday night, including changes to employee leave and electronic device use to align with the new state requirements ahead of the school year.
This includes updates to the Equal Opportunity Employment, Equal Educational Opportunities, Suicide Prevention, Employee Leaves and Absences and Use of Electronic Devices by Students policies.
The policies follow guidelines set by the Georgia School Boards Association.
“Some of the new things I will draw attention to is employee leave in absences,” Superintendent Phillip Powell said. “This is in line with the new state law that brings the number of personal days from three days to five days.”
The district’s electronic device policy will comply with the new Distraction-Free Education Act that bans use of cell phones throughout the school day.
“The last one that I think most people are unaware of is the new suicide prevention laws, where all teachers have to be trained on suicide prevention, suicide awareness, and all students in grades 6 through 12 have to be trained on suicide awareness,” Powell said.
The board also approved spending $37,700 to purchase fencing to be installed around all 51 air conditioning units in the playground area at Oglethorpe County Elementary School before school starts on Aug. 7.
Gates will be installed to allow access to the units.
“It was important that we approve the installation (Tuesday) so that they could get that fence up prior to the kiddos coming back to school,” BOE Chair Becky Soto said.
In other business, the board:
Approved the creation of a new position called executive director of curriculum & instruction, effective July 1.
Stated that the director of technology will move from a classified position to a certified position.
- Approved a collaborative operating agreement with Foothills Regional High School.