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DURHAM — The Durham school board Tuesday agreed to continue revising two policies and provisionally approved three contracts at a support services committee meeting.
Both policies will go to first readings on Sept. 24 when the school board holds its formal monthly meeting. The documents in question cover discipline and magnet school assignments.
Proposed changes to the discipline policy would require principals to mail a notice of suspension shortly after issuing punishments, increase the amount of information on the notice, give parents the right to review their suspended children’s educational records, and clarify the treatment given in disciplinary process for students who may potentially but have not yet actually been found to be eligible for special education.
Some of the changes are coming in response to requests from county residents.
Officials have discussed but not acted on the possibility of changing the initial long-term suspension appeal process, which is decided by a panel of teachers from the school the student attends.
The proposed change to the magnet school policy sparked a discussion that will be picked up again in October, on a separate track from the revision on the table now.
The change being considered now would give priority to any students who have completed fifth grade at either George Watts Montessori School or Morehead Montessori School if by deadline they apply to the soon-to-open Montessori Middle School and list it as their first choice.
The middle school is scheduled to open next August after renovations are completed at the former Lakewood YMCA.
Board members Leigh Bordley, Heidi Carter and Kirsten Kainz all expressed concern about magnet schools’ being perceived as places where children are well-educated and other Durham schools being perceived as places where children are poorly educated.
“We are constantly battling that perception that some of our schools are enriching and unique and the other schools are for other people’s kids,” Kainz said.
The board, however, tacitly indicated support for the revision currently under consideration.
The specific matter to be taken up next month concerns whether teachers, and possibly other staffers, at the Durham School of the Arts should get priority for their children in that school’s attendance lottery.
Teachers have requested that change because DSA keeps unique hours in the district — 8:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., a later start time than all of the traditional middle schools and a later end time than any other place but three specialized high schools.
Also Tuesday, the board provisionally approved:
n A contract of up to $308,000 with the county Social Services department to provide 12 social workers.
n Contracts of up to $438,000 with the county Health department and up to $356,000 with the Social Services department to provide seven nurses and seven social workers, respectively, to staff child and family support teams at seven schools. The teams help children who are suffering physical, social, legal, emotional or development problems.
