Note: These minutes should be considered preliminary until they are approved at the next Policy and Amendment Committee meeting.
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Windham Southeast School District (WSESD) Policy and Amendment Committee
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Regular meeting 2:00 pm
Hybrid meeting: WSESU Central Office, 53 Green St., Brattleboro, VT and
Remotely via Zoom
DRAFT MINUTES
Policy and Amendment Committee members present: Deborah Stanford (DS, Chair), Anne Beekman (AB)
WSESD/U Staff and Administrators present: Mo Hart (MH), Shannon Kelly (SK), Bethany Bechard (BB), Rebecca Olmstead (via, zoom), Michaela Simms (MSimms)
Guests: Liz Adams (via zoom), Gretchen Lanterman (via zoom)
Call to Order
DS convened the meeting at 2:07 p.m. and recited the hybrid statement.
I. Approval of Minutes and confirmation of next meeting date
The minutes of 2/12/25 meeting approved by assent.
The Policy and Amendment Committee meets on second and fourth Wednesdays, from 2-4 pm at the WSESU Central Office and on Zoom. The next meetings are scheduled for:
March 26
April 9
II. Reorganization
Tim Maciel has stepped down from the Policy and Amendment Committee. Board member Colleen Savage has agreed to join the committee, but she could not be present today.
Election of committee officers:
Chair: Deborah Stanford
Vice Chair: Anne Beekman
Clerk: open
Committee will continue using Robert’s Rules for Small Boards.
The Policy and Amendment Committee’s regular meeting time will continue to be second and fourth Wednesdays, 2-4 pm.
III. Policies
F8 Student Medication
Invited Attendee: Rebecca Olmstead, Nurse Leader
Since the last meeting, RO met with the district doctor regarding this policy, and the doctor approved the draft brought to the committee today. The committee read the new draft aloud, and in consultation with RO, made a number of edits for clarity, consistency, and accuracy. The last two paragraphs (non-prescriptions medications and the concluding paragraph) were reviewed after RO had to leave the meeting, and these will need to be reviewed again. The procedures section was not reviewed.
F8 is ON HOLD until 3/26 to review new edits and the procedures section with RO.
Statement of WSESU Commitment to Student Safety
The committee looked at the WSESU Commitment to Student Safety, which addresses students’ right to safely access a free public K-12 education regardless of immigration status. This statement is relevant to Policy F5 (Searches, Seizures and Interrogation of Students by Law Enforcement Personnel or Other Non-School Personnel), particularly with the questions of how do we define safety in F5, and how can we do it in a way that doesn’t jeopardize students with immigration status. MSimms noted that we need precise wording that protects the student as well as the student body.
Rather than wordsmithing the whole of F5, which was recently readopted 8/13/24, the committee would like to consider adding a concluding statement to F5. The statement would address the concept of student safety in relation to potential involvement of immigration authorities. Page two of the “WSESU Commitment to Student Safety” document, and the introduction/summary to the recent district handout “Encounters with law enforcement and access to education, student privacy, and immigration enforcement” could both useful in creating the new concluding statement. MH will add these to the bottom of a new draft of F5 to evaluate at a future meeting.
In the discussion, LA raised another concern about F5 and its relation to immigration enforcement, specifically, the second paragraph under Interrogation: “Non-school personnel may also question students under the age of eighteen without notification of parents/caregivers if such questioning …(2) concerns possible criminal activity by the parent or caregiver.”
This discussion is ON HOLD until 4/9/25, when the committee will re-evaluate F5.
Michaela Simms has been invited to that meeting.
Gender Freedom in Schools
Update: SK is awaiting word from MK about whether the draft policy has been sent to Pietro and what the response from the legal team might be.
March 26 agenda: F8 Student Medication, Gender Freedom
Meeting Adjourned 3:57 pm
Notes taken by Anna Monders (recorder)
Submitted by Anne Beekman (vice chair)
