Policies regarding suicide prevention, school attendance, and the distribution of Teacher Appreciation Grants were among those updated by the Knox School Board last week. Superintendent Dr. William Reichhart explained last month that the student suicide awareness and prevention policy seeks to raise awareness among teachers and students.
Changes to the attendance policy will mean that certain activities specified by the state will no longer be counted as an excused absence but as an exception to the requirement to attend school, if they’re approved by the principal beforehand. Those activities include serving as a page for the state legislature, serving on a precinct election board, active duty with the National Guard, and taking part in the state fair for educational purposes.
Another policy outlines how Teacher Appreciation Grants will be distributed. The Knox School Board has officially decided that teachers rated “highly effective” will get 25 percent more than teachers rated “effective.” That was the formula the school corporation used last year.
Updates were also made to the policies dealing with student assessment and the employment of the superintendent, among others. The changes were recommended by policy consultant NEOLA, to bring the corporation’s policies up-to-date with changes made at the state level. However, some of the updates simply involved minor corrections and language changes.
