School Board Hears Of Concern In Regard To Code Of Conduct Policy

Oskaloosa Community School Administration

Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Oskaloosa School Board met in regular session on Tuesday evening,

Oskaloosa resident Diane Crookham-Johnson took the opportunity to utilize the public comment section of the board meeting to address those in attendance.

“Tonight I ask the Oskaloosa School Board of Education to consider revising the August 2013 Good Conduct Code to reflect the districts intended philosophy and to put into writing what is actually expected of our students and parents.”

Crookham-Johnson addressed two changes that were made in the Code of Conduct. “One, the level of offense violated that results in a student being removed from a team or activity.”

“Two, the new requirement that receipt and signature by the student and parents of the code means that they understand the code, not that they just received it.”

Crookham-Johnson expressed that the code impacts many different students in a wide range of activities beyond athletics.

“So the question I ask, what is the code I’m understanding? I attempted to contact several administrators and school board members and I heard back from three. All agree, All agree that the new code include traffic violations and traffic parking tickets. Each had a different answer on how the code would be enforced when it comes to those violations.”

Crookham-Johnson discussed the different responses she received from the three individuals.

During her conversation with school board president Susan Boxler, Crookham-Johnson stated she was initially informed by Boxler that speeding and parking tickets would be enforced. An email was later sent by Boxler within a few hours stating that she may have been in error with her response.

Crookham-Johnson said of her conversation with Supervisor Russ Reiter, “It’s necessary to have a written policy that includes everything so that the school has the opportunity to enforce when they want to.”

“Activities Director Kevin Pederson was direct and to the point. He said traffic tickets will not be enforced,” said Crookham-Johnson.

“So what is our code? Is it the written language of the code? Is it the code according to school board president Susan Boxler? Is it the code according to Superintendent Russ Reiter? Is it the code according to Activities Director Kevin Pederson? I ask the board to take time tonight to begin the discussion again. I ask you to determine what your intended philosophy was and I ask you to re-write the code to reflect that philosophy. The rule should be understood and the rule should be clear.”

Crookham-Johnson went on to ask the board if they intended that a traffic ticket could remove a student from 25% of their season.

“Your students and the families of this district deserve that openness from this board,” Crookham-Johnson expressed during her closing remarks.

The following is a copy of the code in question:

Previous code, “A student shall not be in violation of statutory law that is of the degree of serious misdemeanor or greater.” (Code of Conduct, Code 503.4 II.B(3), August 2012.)

Current code, “A student shall not be in violation of statutory law that is a chargeable offense.” (Code of Conduct, Code 503.4, II.B(3), August 2013.)

Oskaloosa School Board President Susan Boxler responded by saying, “I have discussed this with Mrs. Crookham-Johnson and when she contacted me, I was in the middle of working on syllabi for class, and I was excited for the school year to start, I made an error. I have apologized. I am behind our administration 100 percent. I was not interpreting the question correctly,” Boxler said. “I do apologize publicly. No, this does not include traffic tickets, and I am well aware of that.”

Oskaloosa Superintended Russ Reiter spoke after the meeting about the code of conduct and the concerns raised.

Reiter said that Mrs. Crookham-Johnson and he had an approximate 45 minute conversation, “from my recollection, I think there were three, maybe four times that I told her that any student athlete who had a speeding ticket would not be getting a good conduct violation. I don’t know how I could have made that any more clear. Now on the other hand, my whole point was, our good conduct policy is too tight and doesn’t allow administrators to do their job, and I think they need some flexibility and not have their hands tied.”

Reiter explained that the good conduct policy is currently 8 pages long. “A school district like Ankeny has only got two.”

“I’m all for giving students the appeal process.” Reiter says that if something happens and a decision is made, “they should have the right to appeal. That due process is important, however, we are not going to give a student a good conduct policy violation if they speed. Now on the other hand, does it make sense to say every single time a person has a violation in a car that it does not get them a good conduct violation. If a student is in a parking lot on school grounds doing donuts, and to the point where they potentially endanger the lives of kids who may be walking through the parking, I don’t know.”

“I can’t sit here and give 50 different examples of what situations would or would not be, because of my 28 years of education, I think just about the time you think you’ve seen it all, something else comes up.”

“We want our student athletes to make sure they understand that if they are going to perform for the Oskaloosa School District, that we hold them to a certain level and there is a expectation of appropriate behavior.”

During the meeting, the portion of the code known as the 500 series was ratified by the board, with two members objecting. This portion of the code contains the good conduct policy.

Reiter explained that current policy will remain in effect until the board agrees to a change.

Also approved at Tuesday’s meeting was the 2013-2015 Oskaloosa Support Staff Association Master Agreement. This agreement included a 3.75% salary increase for the upcoming school year for individuals that help support the operation of the school system such as bus drivers, secretaries and food service to name a few.

Chad Vink was also sworn in again as secretary and treasurer of the board effective until June 30, 2014.