The Habersham County Board of Education is expected to vote tonight on a proposed ban on tobacco use and all the forms of smoking by employees on school grounds. Up until now schools have been allowed to have designated smoking areas.
The new policy states:
Tobacco use on school property shall be prohibited. At no time should any employee of the Habersham County School System use any tobacco product, e-cigarettes, or any similar vaping-type items in the presence or view of students during the employee’s regular work hours or during school-sponsored activities.
The BOE will also hear the first reading of the school system’s new policy regarding student promotion and retention. The policy is being changed to reflect the State’s shift away from the Criterion Referenced-Competency Test (CRCT) to the new Georgia Milestones Assessment Program test which the State developed after it received a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) program.
For the past 14 years student promotions in grades 3, 5 and 8 were based on CRCT scores. Now promotions will be based on the new Milestones criteria. Habersham’s proposed policy states:
The Board hereby authorizes each school to develop procedures or regulations that specify how the state-adopted assessments and what local promotion criteria will be used in making decisions concerning promotion, placement or retention of students in Grades 1, 2, 4, 6, and 7, (and for students in grades 3, 5, and 8 in years when reliance on state-adopted assessments has been waived).
All proposed policy changes are available for public viewing on the Habersham County Schools website.
The Habersham County Board of Education meets in the school administrative offices on Stanford Mill Road in Clarkesville.
A work session will be held at 4pm in the same location prior to tonight’s meeting.
