Clovis school board to consider band travel approval

CLOVIS — A music-filled bus ride to Utah may be in the works.

The Clovis High School band director is requesting approval from the Clovis Municipal School Board of Education for travel to the Red Rocks Marching Contest and Bands of America Regional Marching Contest in Utah in November at the school board meeting today.

According to Jelayne Curtis, who serves as CMS board clerk, the band has traveled to St. George, Utah for this competition previously, and there’s little reason to believe the board would object so long as it falls within district travel guidelines and hte money is raised for the trip in advance.

If approved, 220 students and 22 chaperones will travel to Utah beginning overnight on Nov. 2 and return late evening Nov. 5, according to the itinerary being presented.

Also in front of the board is an increase of 10 cents to the cost of “paid” school lunches mandated by the United States Department of Agriculture regulations.

This change means elementary students will pay $2.10 for lunch and secondary students will pay $2.35.

Free breakfast and reduced price lunches will remain unchanged under the new regulation.

• A new policy regarding a liaison position in the district for admission of homeless students is being proposed.

The liaison would be responsible to ensure equal opportunity for students within the district as well as ensuring students and famlies to receive educational services such as referrals to health care and other appropriate services.

• According to Curtis, CMS has a policy service which updates the districts’ policies annually to remain in compliance with statewide education policies.

Recommended changes include:

• Changes regarding audits and financial monitoring.

The new entry proposal states that each department and program shall maintain financial records, which shall be accurate and sufficient in order to comply with internal and external audit requirements.

It also says if the district’s expenditure exceeds $750,000 in a fiscal year, a contract with an independent auditor is required.

• The proposed change to the CMS vandalism policy now includes language that states the board will offer monetary rewards to individuals who bring information that leads to arrest and action against offenders in the case of theft, defacement, or destruction of local school district property.

This reward in the proposed policy change is subject to compliance and availability of fund and states the source shall remain anonymous.

According to Curtis, because these proposed changes come from the policy service, they do not reflect events that have previously happened in the CMS district.

• The policy for walkers and riders (student who walk home or ride a school bus) proposes language changes to include use of district vehicles to transport students’ whose residences are “five or more miles from their school(s) of enrollment.”

This policy change is contingent on required proof provided to the superintendent and only applies to school-employed, certified activity drivers.

• A proposed change to the free and reduced lunch policy includes a paragraph on non-discrimination or stigmatization.

This clause states students who cannot pay or have a meal debt shall not be publicly identified or directly communicated with regarding their debt. Neither shall the students be required to do chores or other work to pay for meals.

Students may be required to carry a letter addressed to their parent or guardian.

• The proposed policy for graduation requirements in the district contain few changes from the previous policy held by the district.

The only alteration states that “students entering eighth grade in the 2017-2018 school year and after” a substitution of a computer science course may be applied to a unit of mathematics or science, but not both.