Silver Lake school board decides security policies fine

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Jun 16, 1999 by HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH

The Silver Lake Board of Education on Monday decided existing policies adequately address student threats that are made away from school.

The discussion followed an incident in early May in which two Silver Lake High School male students threatened physical harm to several other students. The students who issued the threats didn't specify where the other students would be harmed. The students who were threatened notified school administrators. Community service but no suspensions were assigned to the boys who made the threats.

"There wasn't a whole lot of discussion," Dr. Bob Albers said of Monday's meeting. Albers is superintendent of Silver Lake Unified School District 372. "They (board members) didn't think the schools could write a policy to cover every incident." In other business, the board:n Tabled a proposal to renew the Kaw Valley In-service agreement in the 2000-01 school year. Silver Lake voted in January to renew its 1999-2000 membership in the Kaw Valley In-service despite a controversial course offering last fall that advocated tolerance toward gay and lesbian students. The questionable course, "The Silent and Invisible Minority: Addressing the Needs of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth in Our Schools," set off a string of heated discussions among teachers, eventually leading to the school board. At one point, the board considered discontinuing its membership with Kaw Valley in- service in favor of other teacher training options in the community. The continued offering of the controversial course would heavily influence whether the district renews its membership with the Kaw Valley In-service, Albers said. "The concern of the board of education was (whether the course was) promoting those lifestyles," Albers said. - Discussed alternative ways to determine athletic eligibility. The Kansas State High School Activities Association requires students to pass at least five classes with a "D." The current Silver Lake High School policy requires students to pass at least six classes with a "D." And the board discussed a third option in which students would be required to pass at least five classes with a "C." The Board directed administration to present all three policies in writing at a future meeting. Albers said the policy couldn't be changed for the fall semester because eligibility is determined from the previous semesters grades, and students would need advance notice of any changes. - Discussed increasing the local option budget to about 10 percent from 8.3 percent. The LOB increase the board is considering wouldn't require voter approval. The Legislature allows districts with small LOBs or no LOBs to increase LOB spending every year for five years, starting in the 1997-98 school year, until they match the average per-pupil expenditures of like-sized districts. If approved, the 1999-2000 school year would mark the third consecutive year the district would have increased LOB funds. The state policy permits Silver Lake to increase LOB spending up to 12.9 percent. The board will vote in July to approve budget publication, then approve the final budget in August, Albers said. - Voted to have the Senne Corporation in Topeka construct a prefabricated bus building and restroom on the east side of the football stadium and north of the high school. - Approved a 3 percent raise for administrators. Raises of 2.9 percent for teachers and 5 percent for non-teaching classified staff were approved at earlier meetings. - Approved teacher and elementary student handbooks. A key change included an item explaining the district is required by law to cooperate with any child abuse or neglect investigation. The addition follows a highly publicized trial in January in which a principal was found guilty in Osage County District Court for failing to report suspected child abuse, as required by law. Michael Dougherty, who is principal of Marais des Cygnes Valley elementary and high schools in Melvern, argued there wasn't sufficient evidence to reasonably warrant calling in social workers, and the case is being appealed.