Retention issues are addressed in the new guidelines.
By Donna M. Perry
Staff Writer

JAY – School Committee members approved handbooks prohibiting classroom teacher requests, displays of midriff or underwear, and trading or collector cards in school.

Board members accepted several changes administrators made to the student and parent handbooks Thursday at all levels.

Elementary School Principal Beverly Gillespie said Jay Elementary School no longer accepts requests for classroom teachers. However, if a parent has issues or concerns with a teacher, they should contact the principal.

Gillespie said requests were accepted previously with first and second choice of teachers if submitted in writing by April 1.

But some people missed the deadline and still wanted to request after a teacher was appointed, she said.

Other changes include the addition of code red drills and written requests from parents not to have their children photographed or videotaped.

Code red drills are practiced periodically for safety purposes when school doors are locked and no one is allowed in or out of school, she said.

Middle School Principal Scott Albert said students are prohibited from possessing trading or collectible cards to school.

They were allowed to bring them previously, he said, but after complaints of cards being stolen and students playing with them at inappropriate times, the decision was made to ban them.

Criteria used for retention of students now covers students in grades six through eight. Students must pass all required subjects, which means that the final average in each subject is 65 or above. Students in grades six through eight that fail one subject may appeal to the Placement Appeal Committee. Students who fail two subjects “will be retained unless they successfully complete summer school. Students that fail more than two subjects are automatically detained,” Albert said.

In order for students to be eligible to take summer school, their yearly average in the subject area must be at least a 50.

High School Principal Peter Brown said Assistant Principal Kenric Charles met with several students during three meetings in the spring to discuss amendments to the handbook.

Changes in the high school handbook include an excused absence for one personal day with parent permission. Past practice has been to punish students if they take a day off from school that doesn’t meet the state excused absence criteria, Brown said. State criteria set for excused absences is personal illness, appointments with health professionals, observance of religious holidays, emergency family situations and personal or educational leaves approved in advance. Addition of the personal day would allow a student to go skiing with a parent and it would be considered an excused absence.

Additional changes include senior privileges granted to students who have an 83 average for the preceding quarter with no grade below 74; if students are suspended they will be able to receive a 65 percent of an earned grade, if they do make up work; and students are able to drive all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles to school if they meet state criteria.

Brown also said student dress is a concern. Appropriate dress is expected of all students, he said.

Unacceptable at school are clothes exposing a student’s midriff, chest, rear-end and underwear, he said.

“School is not the beach,” Brown said, and administrators are asking students to please don’t dress like the beach.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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