Cape school board approves policy changes

The Cape Henlopen school board held its monthly meeting Dec. 11 at Frederick Thomas Middle School, where members heard presentations from district officials regarding a number of proposed amended board policies related to budget preparation, a tax levy, payroll authorization and deductions, special-purpose funds, property insurance and student fundraising.

Most of the proposed changes were minor verbiage changes, such as changing “shall” to “will” and “board” to “Cape Henlopen School District Board of Education.” Some aimed to bring the policies’ language into alignment with the current language used by the district – for example, using the phrase “non-discretionary funding” instead of “restricted funding.”

Additionally, the amended tax levy policy, Policy 605, changes “senior citizens and handicapped” to “state-approved tax exemptions/programs” in reference to those individuals with tax exemptions.

A change to Policy 603, which relates to budget preparation, would make it so all district audit reports would be made available on the district’s website. Under the current policy, the audits are made available to any member of the public, but only upon request. 

The board will take action on these policies at a later date, as it was members’ first look.

They did, however, approve a few other amended board policies, including an updated smoke-free and substance-free policy, and policies related to food service and the use of fleet vehicles. These policies were first presented to the board at a prior meeting.

The smoke-free and substance-free policy was rewritten to bring the board up to date with current state regulations, as it had not been updated since 2017.

It now explicitly defines electronic smoking device – any device that delivers nicotine or another substance in aerosol or vapor form, including e-cigarettes and vape pens, whether or not they contain nicotine – and specifies that the prohibition applies not only to tobacco products, but also to marijuana smoke and the use of marijuana in an electronic smoking device, consistent with state law. 

The change to Policy 706, regarding the use of fleet vehicles, solidifies the importance of reporting accidents in a timely manner. 

Policy 808, regarding food service, was completely rewritten to update the verbiage and to bring it into line with the language, requirements and procedures of the National School Lunch Program and Delaware’s Child Nutrition Programs.