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Rules and policies were the hot topics of discussion during Monday night’s Albert Lea school board meeting.

Nicky Severtson, principal at Sibley Elementary School, shared changes related to the student handbook at all four elementary schools.

“For our cell phones, smart watches and electronic devices, we’re being more proactive and be more detailed of what would happen if a student is on their device during the day in the elementaries,” she said.

Students will be allowed to bring devices to school, but will be asked to have them turned off and placed in either their lockers, backpacks or handed to the classroom teacher for the entire school day.

Smart watches will be permitted, but only as watches.

A first offense will result in the device being taken away with students permitted to pick them up at the end of the day. Parents/guardians will also be contacted. A second or third offense will result in a meeting with parents/guardians. Parents would also be responsible for picking up their student’s device at the end of the day

She also stressed if it was an emergency, students should follow the protocol of first talking to their teacher or going to the office.

“It’s not really a change,” she said, referring to the handbook update. “It’s just being more specific as devices have become more and more common.”

In his presentation, Tyler Johnson, Southwest Middle School principal, noted an addition to the middle school’s handbook: Students weren’t allowed to have food, candy or gum in a classroom unless given permission by the class teacher.

The school will still operate under the 90/10 grading policy, meaning 90% of a student’s grade was based off assessment, with the other 10% from homework. Students will have one week from an assessment to turn in any late work that went with that assessment.

He also asked that students leave water bottles in lockers during the school day.

“My teachers have said it just becomes too much of a distraction spraying, [and] not all liquids in the bottles are water so that creates a mess for our custodians as well,” he said. “Students will still be able to leave during class to get a drink of water, they will still be able to get drinks of water in between classes as well.”

Students will not be allowed to be on cell phones or other electronic devices during the school day either.

Chris Dibble, principal at the high school, presented a video to the board related to the school’s Cell Phone Responsible Use protocol. There will be zoned systems throughout the building, stoplight systems in each classroom and a tiered system of intervention for any violations.

Red lights mean electronics be put away, green lights mean electronics are allowed, and yellow lights mean students can use their school-issued device. 

There will be a three-tiered system of interventions, the first being a classroom intervention with the teacher. The second will include bringing in the administrative team, and the third will involve a family intervention. Any refusal to turn in a device to a teacher will result in tier two interventions. 

Also at the high school, students and staff are required to register their car, with permits displayed in the front window. Non-registered or incorrectly parked cars may be ticketed and towed. The school is also eliminating Absence by Tardy.

“We used to have three levels of absence,” he said. “We had ‘Present,’ we had ‘Absent,’ and we had the magical ‘Absent by Tardy,’ which is a student that arrives to class more than five minutes late.”

At the Albert Lea Learning Center, devices will not be used in restrooms. Creating TikToks or other non-educational videos or pictures will not be permitted. Students must also put away devices when asked by staff.

Interventions include a three-tiered system, with classroom intervention, administrative intervention and finally family intervention.

According to Johanna Thomas, principal at the Area Learning Center, the following guidelines would lead to appropriate use: Following directions from any staff member, leaving other students’ devices alone, using the phone appropriately, consideration before posting on social media and not taking pictures/videos without prior permission.

Counselors were no longer working with the online academy.

“We partner with Owatonna online, and they are working with that counselor as we’re working through student schedules and the other academic needs towards graduation,” she said.

The board approved Policy 612.2, which related to education of homeless children, after Kathy Niebuhr read a third and final reading. Under the policy, the board intends all children and youth experiencing homelessness to have the same opportunity to meet the state and district standards for all students.

Niebuhr then presented a second reading of Policy 516.6, related to overdose medication. With her was Jill Pryor, a licensed school nurse in the district. Under the policy, the district is now obligated to maintain a supply of opiate antagonists, in this case referring to Naloxone, referred to by its brand name Narcan, on site. This was the second policy reading, meaning no action could be taken.

According to Pryor, the statute requires each school building to have two doses of nasal Naloxone and be available on-site.

“It’s the same dose for everyone, from tiny children to adults,” Pryor said, adding they wanted to keep storage locations secure to prevent potential tampering or stealing.

For Pryor, the best locations were in places associated with health offices, but Pryor said they would like to have two doses at Hammer Field, meaning there would be nine locations within the district: the four elementary schools, Southwest Middle School, Albert Lea High School, the Area Learning Center, Brookside Education Center and Hammer Field.

According to Pryor, the cost would be $540, and the medication would be good for up to three years.

She also noted at some point the medication would become available over-the-counter, though it currently wasn’t, meaning the district would need a standing order to get it.

While the statute didn’t define who would be trained other than stating anyone administering it must be trained, for her it made sense to train district first aid providers. Training would also involve individuals working at Hammer Field and potentially administrators.

The board approved hiring 39 people to fill various roles, and approved leaves of absence for Kassondra Wamre, Tyler Johnson, Renae Sandsmark, Robyn Maxey and Rebecca Orfei. They also approved resignations/retirements/terminations for Rodney Lund, Linda Willaby, Amalia Paschke Olson, Jason Davis, Lina Laskowske, Gabrielle Wagner, Robert Kirsch, Carmen McColley, Leah Kluender, Abigail Weidner, Kasey Roskos, Madyson Yost and Becky Krohnberg.

The district spent $4.438 million through Aug. 21, and accepted over $24,500 in donations, with almost $10,000 coming from Freeborn County.

The district also celebrated a student trip to the Dominican Republic, which was led by Mary Schoppers and Wilson Bohada, both Spanish teachers.The trip was held June 3-10, with 12 students participating.

“Eight days, It was an amazing time,” Schoppers said.