The Jefferson City School District Board of Education will vote Monday on whether to approve policy changes, bids for several projects and the final budget for the 2021-22 school year.
The board will vote on whether to adopt a telework policy and approve changes to a student records policy and staff sick leave pool policy.
The student records policy change would prohibit staff from releasing students' cellphone numbers. Anybody can request contact information for a student, but the policy change would require staff to release home phone numbers instead.
District administration will ask the board for approval to no longer offer the staff sick leave pool to new employees. All employees currently in the sick leave pool would remain in it.
Employees are covered by long-term and short-term disability insurance, so there is no need for the sick leave pool, Chief of Learning Shelby Scarbrough said last month at the policy review committee meeting.
"This is just something that kind of cleans up our practices a little bit where we can promote the benefits that we have in place that are in line with all of our other policies instead of going through the sick leave," she said.
The telework policy is a new policy created due to telework suddenly becoming expected during the COVID-19 pandemic.
There wasn't a telework policy before, but the district did allow employees who were quarantined but not ill to work remotely.
In general, the district prefers employees work at their assigned buildings or offices, but there are some positions that require employees to occasionally work remotely. The proposed policy would require approval for telework from district administration.
"Unless there is a district emergency or disruption of operations, telework will be approved only when the district benefits from the arrangement and employees can effectively complete their job duties remotely," according to the proposed policy.
The board will vote on whether to renew contracts with Central Dairy, Kohl Wholesale and Graves Foods for food and non-food items and whether to approve the following bids from Jefferson Asphalt: $24,575 for main drive repairs at Lewis and Clark Middle School, $24,878 for mill and overlay of the east and west side of Lewis and Clark Middle School and $17,493 for playground repairs at South Elementary School.
The board will also vote on whether to approve a resolution authorizing the district to enter into a lease purchase transaction with UMB Bank to finance a portion of the costs to acquire and install energy conservation improvements.
The board meeting will also include several presentations and reports.
Director of Quality Improvement Brenda Hatfield will present results from a survey sent to parents in the spring. Some of the topics in the survey included questions about communication from teachers and whether students enjoy the school they attend.
"Overall, the district is pleased with the results and looking forward to incorporating what we learned from parents," JC Schools Communications Director Ryan Burns said.
The meeting will include recognition of teachers who taught through the Launch virtual learning program during the 2020-21 school year and reports from Superintendent Larry Linthacum, Chief of Learning Shelby Scarbrough, Chief Financial Officer Jason Hoffman and Parents as Teachers Coordinator Katie Epema.
The meeting is scheduled at 6 p.m. Monday at the Miller Performing Arts Center auditorium, 501 Madison St. in Jefferson City. It will be livestreamed on the JCSchools Videos YouTube channel.