The NJSBA Legal Department and Policy Unit have finished the sunset review of the Critical Policy Reference Manual (CPRM). This is the second (and last) of the two update announcements for the changes to the 6000 Instruction series. In total there were 19 updates, so they were posted in two groups. Future policy update postings will be shorter.
With the requirements of the Comprehensive Equity Plan Assessment and the adoption of the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 coinciding with the CPRM sunset schedule, the year was a busy one, with more changes in 2016 and early 2017 than any other year in recent memory. There were no policy content changes in the 7000 and 9000 series.
There is one outstanding policy that is still in legal review: 6171.3 Title 1. This policy will be posted in the coming month.
Critical Policy Reference Manual (School Districts and Charter Schools)
The 6000 Instruction series review is completed and the following policies were revised:
General Update Note – In 2016, the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) updated the curriculum standards and the State Board of Education resolved to change the name of the curriculum standards to the New Jersey Student Learning Standards. When updating all the policies below and in your other policy review work, the terms Core Curriculum Content Standards and the Common Core State Standards may be changed to the New Jersey Student Learning Standards.
6145 Extracurricular Activities – The wording of the nondiscrimination paragraph was edited to be more consistent with the Comprehensive Equity Plan Assessment.
6145.1/6145.2 Intramural and Interscholastic Competition – A section titled Equality and Equity in Athletic Programs was added.
6146 Graduation Requirements – The test titles were changed to a generic term.
6162.5 Research – Social security number was added to the bullet list, and the paragraphs under the bullet list were edited to be more consistent with the Federal Protection of Pupils Rights Amendment. For compliance with PPRA a section was added on Parent/Guardian Notification.
6163.1 Media Center/Library – The introduction was revised to include the provision for required access to computers and instructional materials in N.J.A.C. 6A:13-2.1.
6164.4 Child Study Team – The sections on disruptive and disaffected students were overhauled. These students are now referred to as “students at risk for school failure.”
6171 Special Instructional Programs – The bullet list was edited to refer to students at risk of school failure.
6173 Home Instruction – A sentence on equity was added to the introduction.
6200 Adult/Community Education – This policy only applies if the district has this program. The section on adult high school was overhauled to be more consistent with the current code.
6171.4 Special Education – This policy has been overhauled, restructured and reordered for compliance with the NJDOE requirements and statement of assurance. Because the changes were so extensive, there was no way to produce a meaningful markup copy of the changes. You may strike through everything in your original policy. The NJDOE Statement of Procedural Safeguards is also available as an exhibit at this file code. Other policies that you will need for compliance include 5118.2 Foster Care and Educational Stability (policy and regulation), and 5120 Assessment of Individual Needs (covers dyslexia). Other policies that supplement the content in 6171.4 are 5125 Student Records, and 5114 Suspension and Expulsion (policy and regulation available).
You may directly download these policy updates from the Critical Policy Reference Manual (CPRM) district or charter versions or the Policy Update List on your password protected Policy Resources webpage on NJSBA’s website. You may also contact a policy consultant at (609)278-5268 or email: Jean Harkness, policy consultant, or Steve McGettigan, policy manager.