MC schools prep policy in ‘Octomom’ era

If Madison County ever has its own “Octomom” school officials may need to ensure all eight siblings are placed in the same classroom.

A new Virginia state law now requires that public school boards develop policies to allow a parent of twins or “higher order multiples” (triplets and so on) to request that the children be placed in the same classroom or separate classrooms if they are in the same grade level at the same elementary school.

“I just have to sort of smile when I talk about this one,” Madison County Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Tanner said as the school board went through policy revisions at its regular June 8 meeting.

“As I read this one I wondered what stimulated this being in the law – classroom assignments for twins, now in the law,” she said laughing.

State code allows a school’s principal to determine whether the requested classroom placement is disruptive or harmful to the children’s education or the school in general, and can suggest an alternative classroom assignment, according to the law.

This policy is just one of many public school policy revisions that have headed to the Madison County school board following the conclusion of the Virginia General Assembly.

Another new rule that garnered some laughs from officials referred to a guideline that prevents school officials from suspending a student from school solely due to “truancy,” or absence from classes. 

“It makes sense in some ways because you don’t want to reward a student who doesn’t want to go to school by not having them go to school,” Early said.
State lawmakers have introduced a new policy that introduces a different kind of punishment for students who skip school – suspending their driver’s licenses.

Madison County school officials will now notify Madison Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court representatives when a student has 10 or more consecutive unexcused absences from school. The court can then suspend the student’s driver’s license, Tanner said at the meeting.

School board members are currently reviewing the above policies and are expected to vote on them at the board’s next regularly scheduled July 13 meeting. Public school boards are required to approve policies included in the state code, according to the superintendent.

During the board’s June 8 meeting, officials approved a few other previously discussed policies including a new state law regarding the amount of physical education and health classes required of students every week.

School divisions will eventually be required to ensure that students participate in 150 minutes of health and physical education per week on average. State officials realized the staffing changes this new rule may require so are only requesting that school systems’ establish a goal and a timeline regarding adjusting current offerings to satisfy the new requirement.

At the board’s May meeting, Supervisor of Instruction Renee Honaker said that the school system is close to meeting this requirement at all schools except Madison County High School, where students are only required to participate in physical education for the first two years.

In other matters at the June 8 Madison County School Board meeting, the board:

• Recognized Madison County teachers selected to participate in the Virginia Teacher of the Year program. The participating teachers include, Madison Primary School teacher Cindy Pattie, Waverly Yowell Elementary School teacher Aimee Morehead, Wetsel Middle School teacher Richard Gaylord and Madison County High School teacher Dawn Tucker. Pattie – who received $500 toward classroom materials from Madison County Public Schools and $500 toward classroom materials from the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Freemasonry fraternal organization – was selected as the Madison County school district’s teacher of the year and will go on to compete in the regional competition. The school board also recognized retiring employees including, Judy Carter, James Johnson, Sally Francis and Floyd Aylor.

• Approved Glencoe McGraw-Hill “Teen Health I,” “Teen Health II,” and “Teen Health III” textbooks for Wetsel Middle School six, seventh and eighth graders. 

• Following the June 8 meeting, Superintendent Brenda Tanner told The Eagle that the board of supervisors voted during a special May 21 meeting to approve the creation of two new school accounts – the “lottery proceeds nonrecurring costs escrow account” and the “capital school projects fund” – that allows the school board to “carry over” leftover state funds not spent during the current fiscal year to be used toward school building improvements, renovation or construction. The superintendent also said that school officials are still planning to have a few “energy performance” contractors perform a “back of the envelope” audit of the county’s schools this summer. This audit – which is performed for the schools for free – includes multiple contractors examining all of the schools’ buildings (as well as some county office buildings) to determine what renovation work could be done to the buildings to improve their energy efficiency and provide substantial savings on their current energy costs. School officials then decide later if they want to enter into a contract with one of the companies after the audit is completed.