ACPS Policy Revisions: Oct. 5 2023

At the Alexandria City School Board meeting on October 5, 2023, the School Board amended six policies and the Superintendent approved revisions to one regulation and retired one regulation. The following is a summary of the key changes, details are available on Electronic School Board.

GBE - Staff Health

GBE-R2 - Staff COVID Procedures

• Revision reason: code change

• Revised the COVID language in the policy to reflect that COVID related precautions would be posted on the ACPS website rather than in a regulation and retired GBE-R2 Staff COVID Procedures

• Replaced ‘nurse practitioner’ with ‘advanced practice registered nurse’ per the amendment of the Code of Virginia § 54.1-2957.02.

IGAD - Career and Technical Education

• Revision reason: 5-year review and code change

• Minor wording adjustments to align with the VSBA model policy

• Added a Board belief statement about the importance of CTE

• Changed ‘guidance counselors’ to ‘school counselors’ and added a provision that school counselors must spend at least 80 percent of their time during normal school hours in the direct counseling of individual students or groups of students per the amendment of the Code of Virginia § 22.1-227.1.

• Added a provision permitting ACPS to enter College and Career Access Pathways Partnerships (Partnerships) with institutions of higher education per the amendment of the Code of Virginia § 22.1-253.13:1.

• Added a provision requiring ACPS provide students with a Virginia Department of Education published list of the top 100 professions in the Commonwealth by median pay and the top 10 degree programs at institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth by median pay of program graduates per the amendment of the Code of Virginia § 22.1-253.13:1

JECA - Admission of Children Experiencing Homelessness

• Revision reason: code change

• Retitled the policy to Admission of Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness

• Expanded the definition of “student experiencing homelessness” to include individuals who are fleeing violence, including sexual violence per the amendment of 42 U.S.C. § 11302.

JHCA - Physical Examinations of Students

• Revision reason: code change

• Replaced various instances of the terms "handicap," "handicapped," and similar variations with alternative terms, as appropriate in the statutory context, such as "disability" and "impairment." per the amendment of the Code of Virginia § 22.1-270.

JHCB - Student Immunizations

JHCB-R - ACPS Health Requirements for Registration

• Revision reason: code change

• Replaced ‘nurse practitioner’ with ‘advanced practice registered nurse’ per the amendment of the Code of Virginia § 54.1-2957.02.

JHCC - Communicable Diseases

• Revision reason: code change

• Minor rewording to align with the VSBA model policy

• Replaced ‘nurse practitioner’ with ‘advanced practice registered nurse’ per the amendment of the Code of Virginia § 54.1-2957.02.

ACPS has over 400 policies and regulations which are systematically revised prior to being presented to the School Board for information. The revision process includes alignment with the associated VSBA model policy, alignment with the Code of Virginia, an equity review, a legal review, revisions by a team of staff members, a Senior Leadership Team review, and a School Board Policy Committee review. Public input on proposed revisions is taken at School Board Policy Committee meetings and regular School Board meetings.