Carroll schools keep student code of conduct, but a committee will review policy
Some parents worried that language protecting the LGBTQ+ community would be removed from the Carroll school district’s student code of conduct, but trustees Monday voted to keep the current version in place for now.
However, a policy committee that meets in September will review the code of conduct and could recommend changes this fall.
During Monday’s meeting, board president Cam Bryan recommended that the board vote to keep the current code of conduct in place with the understanding that the policy committee will review the code and will recommend changes this fall.
Trustee Hannah Smith made the motion to adopt the code of conduct from the 2021-2022 school year, which passed 5-0.
Smith said the district began reviewing the code of conduct this spring, but the review was put on hold because of staff changes.
“The intent is that we would go through an intense and robust review. That is always something that we wanted to do,” Smith said.
On Monday, several parents spoke during the board meeting stating that they wanted the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” left in the anti-discrimination statement in the code of conduct.
Laura Durant, who organized the group Love Every Dragon to support the LGBTQ+ community, said she was glad to see the district adopt the current code, but she worries about the upcoming review.
“I was very pleased that they made that choice, but I don’t trust them at all,” she said.
She questioned who would serve on the committee.
“I couldn’t believe it. We have five open OCR ( office of civil rights) investigations going on,” she said.
The U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights on July 11 opened investigations into two discrimination complaints filed against the school district. Three other investigations opened in November are ongoing, a spokesperson said Thursday.
Kyle Herin, who said he is a teacher in another school district, said he tells his students that discrimination in any form is wrong.
“I have a wide variety of students conservative and liberal. They know that when they are in my classroom, they need to respect each other.
“Every classroom should be a place where discrimination goes to die.”