The East Grand School District Board of Education heard the first reading of new or amended policies at their regular meeting Sept. 6. The changes update district policy to align with new Colorado laws relating to public education.

The online district policy manual does not yet reflect the changes because they have to be read at board meetings three times before final approval. Superintendent Brad Ray explained what each of the 12 approved policies will change.

• Policies JFBA and JFBB prevent schools from inquiring about disability or Individualized Education Program status until after a student is enrolled. 
• LBD-R adjusts the window for charter school applications, giving districts an option between a single-day and rolling window to replace the old 90-day one.
• Remote learning allowances change with policies IC and ICA, going from permitting completely remote learning due to COVID-19 to allowing limited remote learning based on circumstances. 
• BEC adds to what the school board can discuss in executive sessions relating to hiring superintendents.
• A trio of policies, IHCDA, JFAB and JFABA, will change to align with Colorado’s Public School Finance bill (HB22-1390). Students who fail to complete concurrent enrollment courses that the district paid tuition for will no longer have to repay the cost to the district. 
• GBAB expands workplace safety policies related to COVID-19.
• Policy GBJ increases privacy protections for school staff by allowing their personal information to be withheld from the internet if there is a threat to their immediate family. 
• JFABE-R requires district child welfare liaisons to provide foster children with information about tuition waivers for higher education.
• In the policy dealing with conflicts of interests, GBEA, the definition of immediate family will be corrected to align with other Colorado laws.

Construction update

Colleen Kaneda from Dynamic Program Management, the owner agent working on bond program improvements in the district, gave another construction update to the board. She said the schedule has not changed since June and phase one of East Grand Middle School’s renovations are complete.

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Kaneda mentioned that the permitting and design processes for the new Granby Elementary School and career technical education buildings are going well. Representatives from the construction firm JHL went through design details and timelines with the school board.

Other business:

• Sarabeth Smith, the district instruction and assessment coordinator, presented “celebrations” to the board, which highlighted areas where the district succeeded based on test scores last year. The test scores also inform the district on areas to focus on for improvement
• The board approved the minutes from their Aug. 16 meeting.
• Members recognized four new hires: Chloe Breitbach, Christina Purdy and Lauren Turner as paraprofessionals at Fraser Valley Elementary and Stevie Kitterman as a full-time substitute teacher at Middle Park High School. 
• Board member Chris Raines gave an update on a working document that clarifies the relationship between the school board and the superintendent.

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Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify the process required for approving new school board policies.