District defers approval of athletic discipline changes
By Melissa Rollins, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
The agenda for the July meeting of the Darlington County Board of Education listed the new athletic discipline policy as an action item. Instead of approving the policy, as the agenda said was recommended by district administration, the item was moved to the next board meeting.
Associate Superintendent for Administration Dr. Willie Boyd spoke to the board concerning the new policies. Boyd wanted to make sure that the board understood that it was not simply a new policy that was being put into place. He emphasized that this was a district-wide procedure to deal with issues that may arise with students in the athletic programs at the high schools.
“We don’t have a final product and I do apologize for that,” Boyd said. “We have talked with the attorneys twice; I talked with one in person at the beach at a conference and the attorney is still working on it. He did share some information with us for consideration as he continues to work.”
Boyd said that the attorney thought there were several areas in the new guidelines that were unnecessary.
“The attorney, in reviewing the information I sent to him, said that our current policy JICDR, which is the student code of conduct, covers all we need to have it cover as it relates to disciplinary action that might occur with students, whether in school, during school activities or crimes in the community,” Boyd said. “The next item is, he suggested we not tie our hands with saying misdemeanors or felonies because what law enforcement might call a misdemeanor by the book might be a disruption to the academic process or might be an unsafe act toward faculty or students … We have two sides that we deal with: we have the school board policy has its side and then, of course, law enforcement has its side … the decision that is made from a punitive standpoint is not necessarily the same action that is taken by law enforcement.”
Boyd said that the attorney also suggested taking away a community service requirement as part of a punishment because the district could be held liable if a student is hurt while do it.
Chairman Jamie Morphis said that a decision should be made amongst the district’s Athletic Directors what action should be made with the new recommendations from the district’s attorney. Boyd said that the group working on the new guidelines, including the Ads, would be meeting again and would discuss where to go from here.
In other business, the board recognized and congratulated Spaulding Middle School Teacher Brittany Hamilton for her win at the 2017 International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Conference in San Antonio. Hamilton brought home the 1st Place Teacher Education Network Technology in Action Award.
Along with a plaque, the district gave Hamilton a $300 check to use for her classroom. Hamilton said that money would go toward purchasing a microphone to use when her students are making videos about what they are learning.