DOBSON — The Surry County School Board approved the policy known as the Jessica Lunsford Act during the Monday night meeting because it officially went into effect Dec. 1.

However, the board will continue discussion as to the exact wording of the policy at the February meeting. Policies 5022 and 4260 both deal with the presence of sex offenders on school campuses.

According to policy 4260, which deals with student sex offenders, the school system has two possible courses of action. The first action would be that if the student was subject to compulsory attendance, it is up to the board to determine which educational services he or she can receive. The second option would be to expel the student from school. The second course of action would only be taken if the board feels the student constitutes a threat and there are no alternative programs. The student, while on school campus, must be supervised by school personnel at all times.

Policy 5022 deals with registered sex offenders who are members of the community, and specifically the parents or legal guardians of students. Under the current policy presented by the state, those persons would only be allowed on school property for a required teacher conference, a matter relating to the health or safety of the child, or another approved time that was set up by the superintendent. A final exception dealing with members of the community would be to vote if a school were used as a voting location.

Under all of these circumstances, the person in question would be under the supervision of a school official at all times.

“I think this statute is very restrictive,” said Fred Johnson, board attorney, when speaking to the board about the need to revisit the policy at the next meeting to work on terminology.

The current policy means that parents and legal guardians would not be permitted to attend graduation, athletic events, awards assemblies or school plays without prior consent and constant supervision, something the schools may not be capable of providing at such times. If the person were to show up unannounced, they would be charged with a felony.

“We are required to adopt this policy at some point, but it is incumbent upon the administration how we implement the policy,” he told the board. “I certainly understand the need of the policy and also the right of the parent to attend these things. This is a problem throughout the state.”

Johnson has suggested revisions to the policy that would be less restrictive but still take care of any situation that arises. His concern is that the board reach a consensus, whether to leave the policy as is or make some minor alterations, so that it will have a definitive answer for principals who may face these issues.

“I am in favor of the policy as written,” said Brian Gates, school board vice chair, noting that in a large gathering such as graduation or an athletic event the victim could be in attendance as well. “I can’t allow myself to approve a regulation that would allow them unless they’re requested to do so.”

The board will revisit these policies in February to determine what the specific wording should entail.

The board also approved the technology operational and board use policies which have been on the table for 30 days. One of the issues facing these policies is the use of an e-mail archiving system, which is not currently in place to the extent it needs to be. To rectify this problem, the school system will have to invest in a new back-up system other than the server that is currently being used but quickly becomes full.

“What is communicated by e-mail in the school system is a public document. We have to retain that until the department of archives and history tells us we don’t need it,” said Johnson.

“I do think we have some work that we need to do,” said Jill Reinhardt, director of CTE/media/technology. “I think of all the policies this is the most difficult one. It’s not just us, even the state is having issues.”

Pat Widdowson, assistant superintendent, spoke to the board about core curriculum and specifically the new requirements for the incoming freshman class about the future ready curriculum. The state recommends that students take four elective credits in a concentrated area. This means that they would take level one and two of two electives as opposed to level one of four electives. Widdowson asked the board to approve that the schools require this instead of just recommend it.

“This will give the students a deeper understanding rather than jumping around. We feel it’s better for the students if we require rather than recommend. We just feel like it’s the right thing to do,” said Widdowson.

She also spoke about the new writing test format which has been implemented this year for fourth and seventh graders instead of the traditional on-demand writing test. The new test requires four different writing samples, two on-demand prompts and two content prompts of which the students work on over three days and are able to do research. The first such writing exercise was given in December and focused on science as the topic. The samples are then scored and stored in-house and can be requested at the state level.

“The teachers have had to do some rethinking. The change has caused some angst in the system,” she said, referring to the county’s tendency to score well on the writing assessment because of the teachers’ preparation. “In the system, we’ve decided to try to make this a happy thing. It’s a change, and we have to think through it.”

“The writing skills of children is important. I think writing is a skill that if we’re not careful we’re going to lose it,” said Dr. Ashley Hinson, superintendent.

In other business, Dick Perlmutter, a representative from Little Diversified Architectural Consulting, gave board members an update on the two schools the county intends to build. Little is waiting for the first comments on the plans for the elementary school from the building department. It hopes to have it to the board to get out for bid by the end of this month.

All of the studies are complete as part of the due diligence for the new middle school property. The only matter left is putting the information together to present to the school board. Hinson hopes to have that information to present to the county commissioners at the Jan. 19 meeting and ask them to close. The hope is to get the bid for the middle school project by the beginning of May and have construction begin in June.

Little and the board also hope to have Pilot Mountain Middle School converted into an elementary school set to open at the same time as the new middle school. They want to have a team in the school in the next few weeks to do a complete walk through to determine what work needs to be done.

The board also approved a resolution regarding the fines and forfeitures a court ruled the state government owes the school systems. The total owed across the state comes to $747 million, which would all go towards technology for the schools. Surry County Schools’ portion of that money would be about $505 per student. The resolution asks the North Carolina General Assembly to comply with the court’s ruling and put the money back into the technology fund for the schools.

The school board also recognized many members of the school system for their recent accomplishments. Nine teachers in the system were recognized for achieving National Board Certification, bringing the total number of teachers to 89.

Scharlett Griffin, an exceptional children’s teacher at Franklin Elementary School, was named the Teacher of Excellence for Surry County Schools. She was recognized in a ceremony in November by the Exceptional Children Division of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

Laura Goings and Jennifer Lowe, teachers at Franklin Elementary, were recognized for serving as leaders in the People to People Student Ambassadors Program. They each spent a week in Washington, D.C., leading students in educational and leadership building activities.

Rosa Reyes, a student at Surry Central High School, was recognized as the Mountain Valley Conference champion in cross country and the Women’s Athlete of the Year for the Mountain Valley Conference.

Kristie Combs and Tara Dockery, students at Surry Central High School, were recognized for becoming the Western Regional champions in tennis doubles.

The women’s volleyball team from East Surry High School was recognized for being conference champions. The team was undefeated in conference play, losing the final game of the conference tournament. It has made it to the fourth round of the state play-offs for two consecutive years.

Contact Morgan Wall at mwall@mtairynews.com or 719-1929.