Policies on volunteers, sex offenders, and tobacco use covered in school committee meeting

Wrangell Public School's policy committee met last Thursday afternoon to review several proposed policies for the school district. One such policy refers to volunteers helping out around the school. According to Kim Powell, with the school district, the policy would require anyone wishing to volunteer with the school undergo a background

check, if that volunteer will be interacting with students. The policy goes on to state that anyone acting as a volunteer in a classroom, media center, extracurricular activity, or other instructional setting will be supervised by school personnel. There was some discussion about the time and cost of getting a background check done, but the policy largely met the approval of the committee.

Another policy the committee examined was restrictions on sex offenders on campus. The policy states that save for a few listed exceptions, any sex offenders were prohibited from being on school district property. All sex offenders without any children enrolled in the Wrangell school system are barred from campus property save for attending open meetings or a public event, outside of school hours. A parent or guardian of a Wrangell student is also prohibited from campus except to attend a public meeting or event outside of the instructional day. The superintendent or school administrator can provide prior approval for a sex offender to be present on campus property for the following cases: To pick up or drop off their child, to attend a parent-teacher conference or other meetings with school staff related to their child, or "under other special circumstances, on a case by case basis, for which the school administrator has given written consent."

The policy goes on to explain the procedures for approving the presence of a sex offender on school property, what to do in the situation that a student is a sex offender, and bars electronic communication between sex offenders and students.

Tobacco use was also discussed. The committee was considering a policy outlining the school district as a tobacco-free environment. Anyone on school property or at school-school-sponsored activities would be barred from using, distributing, or selling tobacco products. The policy also states that this applies to all kinds of tobacco products, but not to FDA approved products for nicotine replacement therapy.

The committee also reviewed proposed policies regarding the recruitment of superintendents, their contracts, and student activity funds. Superintendent Debbe Lancaster pointed out that this was only a committee meeting, and these policies would have to be approved by the school board before they took effect.