Action of the School Board Action of the School Board 08/25/14 | Page 2

ronment for all students. He also read a letter from a parent whose child was bullied but
preferred to remain anonymous.
Tiffany Strabala said the district honors men and women for their talents and accomplishments, not their sexual behavior. She felt recommendation three of the Anti-bullying/Antiharassment Task Force discriminated against sincerely held religious beliefs.
Stephanie Schroeder said she opposed recommendations one through four of the Anti-bullying/Anti-harassment Task Force. She said bullying should be stopped on the basis that
it’s wrong. She was concerned that many groups would want to be celebrated if the district
began celebrating specific groups.
Beth Hentges shared that her son made comments after graduating from high school about
the difficult experience he had in middle school. She also stated that the Anti-bullying/
Anti-harassment Task Force brought forward the need to address concerns of the bully, the
bullied and the bystander.
Rick Heller spoke about the needs of students who are intellectually gifted but who also
have a form of disability, often referred to as “twice exceptional.” He said the district must
develop guidelines to identify them. He would also like to see early intervention programs
for them. He also asked the district to ensure that its website and other communications are
accessible to individuals with print disabilities as required by law.

Elementary and secondary education

Board accepts recommendations of Anti-bullying/Anti-harassment Task Force

The School Board voted to accept the report of the Anti-bullying/Anti-harassment Task
Force as presented during the June 30 meeting. It referred the report to the district’s Antibullying/Anti-harassment Leadership Team to develop actionable items from the recommendations.
Prior to the vote, Dr. Jennifer Cherry, Title IX/equity coordinator, and Dr. Jinger Gustafson,
associate superintendent for middle schools, briefly reviewed the annual report of the
29-member task force, which includes parents, students, general community members and
staff.
Cherry reminded the board that the task force first convened in Oct. 2012 to advise the
district how to best foster a positive educational climate free of bullying and harassment.
During its first year, the task force developed nine broad, foundational recommendations.
At that time, the board directed an internal leadership team to develop actionable items
from the recommendations.
The leadership team iden tified 21 actionable items, 10 of which had been completed by the
time the team reported progress to the School Board last October. The 11 remaining items
were in progress, either by the task force or the internal leadership team.
During this past school year, the task force met six times before developing recommendations it presented to the School Board June 30. At that time, the board indicated it would
consider community input before taking action on the report.
Dr. Gustafson said the task force would continue through 2017. The board chair will appoint new task force members Sept. 22. It will continue to communicate regularly with the
leadership team.
The complete presentation and report are available on the district website.

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ACTION

Grades seven and eight student participation on high school athletic teams report
presented

Associate Superintendent Jeff McGonigal presented a permanent revision to policy 510.10