Burke County Board of Education amends policies to align with evolving regulations

The Burke County Board of Education voted Monday night to change the language in several policies concerning nondiscrimination on the basis of sex, parents’ rights to inspect and object to educational materials, and cyberbullying. The board met on March 3 at the Olive Hill Resource Center.

Board Chair Tiana Beachler brought the revised policies before the panel, who voted unanimously to adopt the amended wording for all four. There was no discussion of the policies, which had been a part of the work session agenda on Feb. 24.

The Board of Education removed the words “including pregnancy, childbirth, sexual orientation, and gender identity” from the nondiscrimination on the basis of sex policy; added “all state and federal laws,” and removed “the First Amendment” in the parental rights on educational materials policy; and added a policy stating cyberbullying will not be tolerated in Burke County Schools.

They also amended wording to the weapons, bomb threats, terrorist threats, and clear threats to safety policy, adding the option of expulsion to consequences for students who violate the rule.

Beachler recently explained some of the changes were proposed in order to provide more general wording to help the board adjust to changing federal and state laws.

“One of the things we’ve come to notice, when it comes to these kinds of federal policies, is that they change continuously,” Beachler stated, “so we looked at the policies and said, for us to stay consistent, for our parents and our stakeholders, how do we generalize this so that it can withstand any administration change, any Department of Education change?”

Beachler explained the board made the amendment to the educational materials policy in an attempt to create a policy “that is in alignment with all the laws instead of hyper-focusing on one amendment.

“Does it change the meaning of what the policy states? No. It actually makes it broader than what we have,” she added.

The board also approved the county’s summer remediation plan, a program offered annually to provide additional remedial support for students in grades four through 11 who were not proficient on End of Grade or End of Course assessments.

Board members recognized Jessyka Becerra Robles of Ray Childers Elementary School for taking second place in the American Heart Association’s healthy heart poster contest.

They also lauded Table Rock Middle School students Bailey Heape and Charlotte Revilla, who won first place in their respective categories in the Regional Science Fair. Bailey’s project was “Gelling Together: A Continued Study of Hydrogels in Farming,” (Category Biological Science A) and Charlotte’s project was “Grow Where You’re Planted: Microgreen Radish Seed Germination Rate Under Different Colors of Lights.” (Category Earth Science). Bailey also received a special award “Best Display of Science.”

Both students will advance to the State Science Fair on March 29 and have been invited to participate in the State North Carolina Student Academy of Science at NCSSM-Morganton Campus on April 25.

The Burke County Board of Education’s next scheduled meeting will be a work session on March 31.