Policy updates on medication, homeless students and volunteers |
On Board Online • June 12, 2017
By Courtney Sanik
Senior Policy Consultant
It's inevitable: No matter how much thought your board puts into its policies, many of those policies will need to be changed.
Laws, regulations and commissioner's decisions can necessitate policy changes. So can guidance documents from federal or state authorities, changes in your district's practices or just changes in how people in your district think about a given issue.
Sometimes a change only impacts a single policy, but more often there may be ripple effects through your policy manual.
Polices that currently may need updating are ones dealing with medications on field trips, homeless students, and volunteers. This article discusses recommended and mandatory changes to sample policies that NYSSBA supplies to member districts.
Medication on field trips
Based on the State Education Department's guidance document called "Guidelines for Medication Management in Schools," we have added a section on medication to Policy 4531, Field Trips and Excursions.
The guidance (available at goo.gl/iYBRCA ) instructs field trips to be canceled if an appropriate adult (school nurse, parent, or parent's designee) is not available to assist with the administration of medication when needed. However, it is possible that the student's health care provider could modify the medication schedule to accommodate the trip. Additionally, a trip could be rescheduled rather than canceled.
A given field trip may have to be canceled or rescheduled to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). These federal laws require students' accessibility to all school events, which include field trips.
Tip: Since boards will be reviewing this policy for this new language, there are two other items to consider. Is the time frame for arranging field trips long enough to make arrangements for an appropriate adult to be included? Also, language cannot be included to require parents to attend field trips for the purpose of administering medication.
In another medicine-related change, state law and regulations have been updated regarding use of epinephrine auto-injectors. This change removes the need for collaborative agreements with emergency health care providers to administer this life saving medication when needed. Policy 5420, Student Health Services was updated to reflect these changes (among others).
Homeless students
NYSSBA has made several changes to sample policies it provides member districts regarding homeless students. These changes are required.
New York State law was amended in the state budget bill, and regulations were just approved by the Board of Regents, to conform to changes under Every Student Succeeds Act and to the McKinney-Vento law for homeless children. New York State provides more detailed instruction and additional requirements than the federal law in some areas, such as transportation and immunizations/communicable disease exclusion. There was additional clarification regarding how to handle homeless preschool children and homeless children with siblings attending a district school. Policy 5151, Homeless Children was updated to reflect those changes. This policy and update are both required.
The changes regarding immunizations/communicable diseases also necessitated changes to Policy 5420, Student Health Services as districts may now temporarily exclude homeless students from registration if they show actual symptoms of a communicable disease that poses a significant risk of transmission to others.
Also, Policy 5500, Student Records was updated to reflect another issue which districts may face regarding homeless students and directory information: What do you do with addresses? Under federal and state law and regulation regarding homeless students, "information about a homeless student's living situation" must be treated as an education record and not directory information. Such information would include a student's address, but could also include other information that would disclose a student's eligibility for services under McKinney-Vento.
We have highlighted some of the larger issues in this policy and regulation, as well as clarified how addresses must be treated. The state Technical Education and Assistance Center for Homeless Students ( http://www.nysteachs.org /) is a good source of information and further guidance if the district needs assistance with this matter.
Tip: When revising this policy, work with your district's homeless student liaison to ensure language adopted is aligned with the district's practice and the liaison's responsibilities under the federal and state laws.
Volunteers
Many districts encourage and directly benefit from volunteers from all backgrounds and age groups who are willing to share their time, training, experience or personal characteristics with the district and its students.
Policy 4532, School Volunteers establishes the board's expectations regarding what sort of work volunteers can do for the district. Some boards establish more restrictive limits than others. NYSSBA's sample includes many facets of volunteer use including data entry or other volunteer tasks.
There is a provision of federal regulations for FERPA which permits school districts to allow volunteers, under certain circumstances, to access student "personally identifiable information" (34 CFR Part 99). This is optional, and does not mean volunteers should have unfettered access to student records. We have added optional language in this policy to allow the district to utilize volunteers in ways in which they may access student's personally identifiable information. Also updated to reflect this change was Policy 5500, Student Records.
Tip: In establishing or revising this policy the board should take careful consideration of just what volunteers are allowed to do. The district may wish to have the school attorney review the type of activities volunteers may do.
One final tip: When reviewing policies, also look at the policies which are cross-referenced with the main topic to ensure others are updated accordingly. Many topics are intertwined, and not updating relevant policies may result in contradicting information in the policy manual.
If you would like to see a sample for any of the above mentioned policies or subscribe to NYSSBA Update Services and automatically receive updated policy language, please contact us at policy@nyssba.org or call (800) 342-3360 and ask to speak with someone in Policy Services.