At the Sept. 14 BASD meeting of human resources and finance committees, Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) Russell Giordano presented a dozen policies on nondiscrimination and harassment. “The policy updates and new policies are the result of the final directives from the federal Department of Education, Giordano explained, “They are all related to the revised rules for sexual harassment investigations under the update provisions under Title IX. Although the main focus of the department’s efforts is college campuses, the specifics bleed into K-12.

“During the Obama administration,” Giordano told the board, “schools would receive significant guidance through ‘Dear Colleague’ letters, which did not have the force of law because they were not adopted during the ‘notice and comment’ process. In 2017, the new administration rescinded two ‘Dear Colleague’ letters […] and proposed new regulations that did go through a notice and comment period […] Our attorneys presented us [Vivian Robledo and Giordano] with information, and Vivian worked closely with the attorneys to develop policy changes” which Giordano then worked on with Chief Pupil Services Officer Claire Hogan and HR Manager Jane Fischer.

The definition of sexual harassment does not include conduct over which schools do not have substantial control, e.g., a party at a student’s family home. “There’s a little bit of constricting of what constitutes harassment, but an expansion of what you have to do to deal with these cases,” Giordano summed up. The reason for the multiplicity of policies is that the new federal requirements “necessitate separate policies for sexual harassment, including reporting, documenting, investigating, and adjudication” of sexual harassment. These policies include the designation of a Title IX coordinator and the procedures to be followed in case of a grievance.

There will also be formal training for staff. “The training is really important,” Director of Student Services and Minority Affairs Vivian Robledo-Shorey said, “because everyone is a mandated reporter now.”

Giordano encouraged the board to send questions to him as they read through the policies, so that every question can be answered prior to the October board meeting.

Supt. Dr. Joseph Roy also introduced an updated charter school policy providing a timeline for charter applications, as well as restrictions on charter amendments. The policy changes are based on recommendations from attorney Allison Petersen of the Levin Legal Group, who represented BASD several month ago in its review of the new charter request from Lehigh Valley Academy. For example, the updated policy specifies that “to change any material provision of its charter, [including but not limited to: curriculum, location, approved grade levels or enrollment limitations, or mission and focus,] a charter school must submit an amendment request to the district.” All policies can be found at https://go.boarddocs.com/pa/beth/Board.nsf/Public; the board will vote on their enactment after their third reading.

Giordano anticipates every principal having final eClassroom numbers soon, at which point staff may need to be added; however, the district only has one teacher more than it had last year. There are currently 44 sections of eClassroom students. Board member Winston Alozie asked whether teacher transfer requests indicated any trends, and Giordano said that reasons vary. Some teachers have been in assignments for many years where students’ emotional challenges have taken a toll; others find opportunities to dramatically shorten their commute, or to work in their own child’s school.

Board Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Stacy Gober informed the board of the resignation of Herman Webber from both the BASD Authority and the BAVTS Authority, financing bodies for the district and its vocational-technical school. Webber is unable to fulfill the remainder of his term, due to a residency requirement. A replacement not yet named, which was to be voted on at the board meeting Sept. 21, will serve the remainder of Webber’s term (through January 2021 for the BASDA and through January 2023 for the BAVTSA).

The board also heard from Gober about some service agreements – with Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit 20 (IU20), Colonial IU21, Communities in Schools, and United Way AmeriCorps VISTA – to be voted on at the Sept. 21 meeting. Gober noted that there is a larger than normal increase in tuition for IU20, but this increase is the result of demand for support services for students with autism, and was already included in the budget. Dr. Roy noted that IU20 has not raised the tuition rates this year. The VISTA agreement allows Freemansburg ES and Thomas Jefferson ES to offer support services for at-risk students; these types of services are typically provided through the Communities in Schools program, but Freemansburg and Thomas Jefferson have not been designated “community schools.”