New

policies imposed on schools by the Georgia

General Assembly this spring are now being

examined by the Fayette County School System.

"We're

going to look at the policies we have in place,

and see if they meet the letter of the law. If

not, we will develop policies," Dr. John

DeCotis, Fayette County School Superintendent

said Monday night.

Most

of the state requirements are part of House Bill

1187, also known as the Governor's Education

Plan. By July 1, school systems must have

policies in place regarding nepotism, alternative

education programs, revised teacher evaluations,

non-renewal of teacher contracts, finger printing

and records checks for school employees.

They

also must provide duty-free lunch breaks for

teachers in kindergarten through fifth grade,

have policies for mandatory attendance at

alternative school programs, procedures for

handling chronic discipline problems,

preenrollment for 2-year-olds, school health

nurse program, elimination of teacher tenure,

code of conduct rules regarding pagers, school

district decals for all vehicles, equity in

sports which goes beyong Title 9 requirements,

expulsion of students committing violent acts and

communication devices on all school buses.

The

board is also looking over the district's code of

conduct for students, which is progressive in

nature, and involves parents working with the

student and school personnel to correct behavior

problems. The policy also moves toward removal of

an unruly student by the teacher from class,

DeCotis explained.

Another

policy on the table is designed to involve

parents in policy making through PTA/PTO

participation, community meetings, questionnaires

or parent committees.

Board

member Woody Shelnutt asked DeCotis if there was

a policy for notifying parents if there was a

"big problem" in a school such as

trouble on the buses or weapons violations.

DeCotis said there is no general policy in place

currently, but added that at "certain

levels," parents are informed of serious, or

potentially serious situations. One example was

the fallout at several Fayette schools last

spring from the Columbine shootings. School

administrators did inform parents of what was

happening in their schools and steps that were

being taken to remedy the problem.

In

response to the state's requirement stemming from

Senate Bill 458, which requires communication

devices on all buses, assistant superintendent

Fred Oliver informed the board of a plan to

purchase 13 cell phones. All buses have radios

which allow them to call 911 within a 50-mile

radius of the county and stay in contact with the

transportation office. The cell phones will be

used on buses traveling outside the 50-mile

radius.

Teams

traveling to games and meets would be most likely

to use the cell phones, Oliver explained.

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