By PAT NEWMAN
pnewman@thecitizennews.com

The passage of House Bill 1187, known as the Governor's Education Reform Bill, has triggered the need for a host of policies to be formally adopted by the Fayette County School System.

School Superintendent John DeCotis introduced six of the proposed policies during Monday night's board meeting. He said they were drafted with the help of the school board's attorney and were intended to fulfill the new law.

While the school system has a version of most of the policies in place, it added one involving parent notification of “issues, actions and activities” for review. According to the policy, administrators will “develop procedures to establish protocol and guidelines to keep parents and citizens informed of issues, actions and activities during the operation of the Fayette County schools.”

Efforts to inform parents about school issues, actions and activities will be conducted through PTO, leadership teams, newsletters, advisory councils, parent and citizen information meetings and letters.

In the case of a death of a student or staff member, act of violence, threats, inappropriate student conduct, school emergency procedures and behavioral codes of conduct, the same methods will be used to inform parents when authorized by federal and state law, especially when involving a minor. The ultimate decision on how and when to release information will be left to the discretion of the school administrator in charge.

DeCotis said the policies are available for study, comment and review.

The other five policies involved the establishment of school advisory boards, community input in policy planning, nepotism, school motor vehicle identification, communication devices on school buses and the school health nurse program.