In their upcoming meeting on Monday, Feb. 5 the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education will discuss a proposed revision to its policy on visitors in schools. If passed, the new proposition would require guests to prearrange their school visits with the classroom teacher or the principal of the school they wish to attend.
The new policy would not impact certain visitor or community-related events that have wide dissemination in the community, like open houses, specific volunteer roles, and other special events. According to the proposition, it is through these events that the School Board encourages parents and guardians or interested members of the community to visit the schools and learn about, or partner in education and extracurricular programs.
The policy, as presented in the Feb. 5 meeting agenda, stipulates that “The Superintendent or designee will establish procedures to facilitate visits during regular school days and register all
visitors at the school office when entering school grounds. Procedures for school visits will be posted in readily available locations such as the district website and parent newsletters.” So, while the Board is considering changing the visitation policy to one that is more restrictive, it also maintains a desire to keep parents and guardians informed of how they may gain access to schools as visitors.
The proposed policy change aims to “ensure minimum interruption of the instructional program” by restricting visits during school hours to a prearranged basis, i.e. by request only. If the new policy passes, parents and guardians would be required to submit a request to either the teacher of the classroom they need to visit or the principal of that school before they would be permitted access to the school. Or, if the parent would like to have a conference with a school staff member, they would need to prearrange an appointment during a “non-instructional time.”
The Board of Education will meet at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 5 at the Kenai Peninsula Borough Building in the Betty Glick Assembly Chambers.