By PAT NEWMAN
pnewman@thecitizennews.com

New policies imposed on schools by the Georgia General Assembly this spring are now being examined by the Fayette County School System.

“We're going to look at the policies we have in place, and see if they meet the letter of the law. If not, we will develop policies,” Dr. John DeCotis, Fayette County School Superintendent said Monday night.

Most of the state requirements are part of House Bill 1187, also known as the Governor's Education Plan. By July 1, school systems must have policies in place regarding nepotism, alternative education programs, revised teacher evaluations, non-renewal of teacher contracts, finger printing and records checks for school employees.

They also must provide duty-free lunch breaks for teachers in kindergarten through fifth grade, have policies for mandatory attendance at alternative school programs, procedures for handling chronic discipline problems, preenrollment for 2-year-olds, school health nurse program, elimination of teacher tenure, code of conduct rules regarding pagers, school district decals for all vehicles, equity in sports which goes beyong Title 9 requirements, expulsion of students committing violent acts and communication devices on all school buses.

The board is also looking over the district's code of conduct for students, which is progressive in nature, and involves parents working with the student and school personnel to correct behavior problems. The policy also moves toward removal of an unruly student by the teacher from class, DeCotis explained.

Another policy on the table is designed to involve parents in policy making through PTA/PTO participation, community meetings, questionnaires or parent committees.

Board member Woody Shelnutt asked DeCotis if there was a policy for notifying parents if there was a “big problem” in a school such as trouble on the buses or weapons violations. DeCotis said there is no general policy in place currently, but added that at “certain levels,” parents are informed of serious, or potentially serious situations. One example was the fallout at several Fayette schools last spring from the Columbine shootings. School administrators did inform parents of what was happening in their schools and steps that were being taken to remedy the problem.

In response to the state's requirement stemming from Senate Bill 458, which requires communication devices on all buses, assistant superintendent Fred Oliver informed the board of a plan to purchase 13 cell phones. All buses have radios which allow them to call 911 within a 50-mile radius of the county and stay in contact with the transportation office. The cell phones will be used on buses traveling outside the 50-mile radius.

Teams traveling to games and meets would be most likely to use the cell phones, Oliver explained.