Carroll County school board approves policy changes, renews employee health care [Carroll County Times, Westminster, Md.]

Jul. 17—The Board of Education has unanimously approved a health care provider for employees of Carroll County Public Schools and revisions to policies concerning violent incidents and student health.

At its monthly meeting Wednesday night, the board approved the renewal of employee health care through Aetna. As the provider of Medicaid, prescription drugs, stop loss insurance and Medicare Advantage plans, Aetna coverage costs just under $19 million. Superintendent Cynthia McCabe said a price reduction from the provider will result in around $4 million in savings in 2024.

A bundle of medical plan benefits and stop loss insurance will cost around $2.4 million, the Medicare Advantage plan will cost over $3.3 million, and the prescription drug plan will cost nearly $13 million in 2024.

Benefits are an important tool for employee retention, Board of Education President Marsha Herbert said, and most employees like having Aetna as a provider.

"We don't have the biggest raises," Herbert said, "but they love our health insurance. That's a biggie. If we can provide that, that is that's a win for us."

Herbert said she received good health care from Aetna when she was an educator, and that staff prefer continuity in a health care provider so that they can continue to see the same doctor.

"Employee satisfaction generally has been has been very comfortable and happy with the current provider," Assistant Superintendent of Operations Jonathan O'Neal said

Three revised policies were submitted by the school system's Director of Student Services, Karl Streaker, and each update was approved individually by unanimous vote.

The updated Threats, Violent Acts, and Weapons Prohibited policy — which adds definitions for terms such as "assault," "look-alike firearm," "targeted violence" and "leakage" — was approved without revision.

A "look-alike firearm/other gun" is defined in the policy revisions as, "any gun other than a firearm, loaded or unloaded, operable or inoperable ... such as a BB gun, starter pistol, or pellet gun, which resembles a firearm."

The proposed language defining look-alike firearms comes after the Manchester Police Department issued a statement in May warning of the dangers of a high school senior tradition game played outside of school using realistic-looking water guns. The policy notes that with the written approval of a principal, look-alike weapons may be used in school-sponsored events, such as drama productions or marching band performances and JROTC activities.

Also in the revisions, "leakage" is defined as when "an individual intentionally or unintentionally reveals clues to feelings, thoughts, fantasies, attitudes, or intentions that may signal an impending violent act." The policy now states that all members of the school community should immediately report any leakage or information related to leakage in order to avoid threats of violence to schools.

The school system's policy on in-school threats and violence, firearms and weapons is based on Maryland's Model Policy for Behavioral Threat Assessment, which was developed as a result of the Safe to Learn Act of 2018, according to the agenda item. Suggested updates would align the county's policy with the Maryland Center for School Safety's Behavioral Threat Assessment Implementation Guide, a supplement to the state threat assessment policy.

The policy was first implemented in December 1995 and has been updated multiple times, with the most recent revisions being approved Aug. 12, 2020.

Revisions to the health and wellness policy, last visited in March 2020, update the scope of the policy to include employees as well as students, and alter the roles of several staff positions.

While a school nurse was always responsible for contributing to classroom instruction in hand-washing and related topics, the revisions add CPR and overdose response training to the responsibilities of the position.

School psychologists now work with postsecondary students and would now offer psychological assessment services.

The position of licensed mental health professional was added, to counsel students, provide professional development training for staff and "regularly intervene in crises and take preventive actions."

"I would like to see some sort of language that mandates that parents be notified of any kind of treatment that is prescribed or done by a staff member, that parents ... concur with any kind of counseling efforts or treatment efforts," said board member Steve Whisler.

Streaker said school psychologists are limited to observing a student before collaborating with parents.

"Families are very informed," Streaker said, "and there's lots of progress monitoring that goes with that."

An additional update changes descriptions of counseling, psychological and social services to include "program initiatives that support student learning in ... self-regulation, relationship skills, conflict resolution, executive functioning skills and problem-solving. Services are provided in a collaborative manner with the student's families and community."

The word "student's" was changed from "school's" by an amendment proposed by board member Donna Sivigny. The school board unanimously approved the amendment and the revised policy, as amended.

"The families don't belong to the schools," Sivigny said, "the families belong to the students, so it was a little bit vague on what we actually mean there."

A "student dignity" section was added to the Student Searches and Seizures Policy to clarify that searches should not humiliate students or disrupt instruction more than necessary. Whenever a student is searched, a third party is required to be present under the current policy. The third-party observer and student being searched must be of the same gender, and it is preferable for the searcher to be of the same gender as the student as well. Streaker said the new policy endeavors to clarify this requirement by changing the rule's wording.

Policy revisions also expand the circumstances under which a student can be searched. While a student can currently be searched for suspected possession of unlawful items, the updated language expands this rule to any item that violates a school policy.

In the case of a drug investigation occurring when students would be released from classes, students will be held in class until the search is completed, under the new policy. The previous policy would end the search in the event that students are released into the halls.

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The policy was unanimously approved, and a revision of the regulation on police searches also was suggested.

The policy on police searches indicates that staff are to cooperate with police, but may not perform a search unless a police officer has a search warrant. School board member Patricia Dorsey said the language could be improved.

"It's a little conflicting," Dorsey said. "It's saying that we are going to cooperate, but then it's letting us know that we cannot conduct the searches."

"If a search warrant has been issued, why would we do the search? The officer can do the search," legal counsel Edmund O'Meally said.

The language, "[a] school official may not conduct the search of a student at the request of a police officer unless a warrant has been issued," will be changed to something that conveys that, "school officials shall not conduct searches as directed by police officers. School officials should cooperate with police officers if they need to initiate a search," Streaker said.

Streaker said he will ensure the policy is communicated clearly to school principals by Chief of School Security Curtis Pierce and Coordinator of School Security Brandon Elliot.

School board meetings are open to the public and livestreamed on the Carroll County Public Schools YouTube channel and viewable on the right side of the Board of Education's website at carrollk12.org/board-of-education/meeting-information, under CETV Livestream. Meetings are also broadcast live throughout the month on Carroll Educational Television, Ch. 21.

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