North Clay Athletic Policy Again Revised

North Clay school board members Thursday again revised their athletic policy.

The policy has been the source of much discussion recently and changes in the policy led to the resignation of a board member.

During Thursday's meeting, the North Clay board voted to specify punishments for first and second violations of the code.  Effective immediately on the first infraction, the student will be required to attend all practices and to sit on the bench in street clothes for one-third of the scheduled events for each sport in which they participate for 365 days.  If a second offense occurs, the student will be suspended from all athletics for 365 days.  The change also deletes the North Clay Athletic Council from the policy.

The changes were approved 5-1 with board member Simmons voting No.

Board members also voted to appoint Jenny McKinney of Larkinsburg Township to fill the vacancy created by Darrell McKnelly's resignation from the Board.  McKinney was the one person who applied for the position.  The motion was approved 6-0.

The North Clay Board heard again this month from Athena Van Dyke regarding the Board acting on information she presented at the September meeting regarding PTO and field trips. 

The PTO issue concerned Van Dyke's request to allow her to create a Facebook page for the North Clay PTO.  After deliberating, the concerns were geared toward not allowing the site to grant any users to "comment" there. 

There was also discussion about the North Clay Sports Boosters Facebook page.  The logo for North Clay is used and there was no permission given by the Board for that site. 

The discussion ended with Van Dyke given permission to proceed with the PTO Facebook page, but the school district actually had no affiliation with the page and that Van Dyke was not to use the North Clay logo or other copied materials from North Clay.

Van Dyke's other issue concerned field trips, specifically for first through fourth graders.  Van Dyke said her child did not want to go to Ballard Nature Center and that she knew of other parents that would pay money in order to share the transportation costs with the district to go a further distance on field trips.

Board members asked who would pay for the kids whose parents couldn't pay for the longer distance trips, and there were concerns voiced over liability issues for younger children who went on longer trips such as to St. Louis.  After much discussion, the Board agreed to leave the trips as they are for this school year.  Administrators and teachers had gotten together before the school year began and had planned particular trips according to the Board's guidelines previously set.

Also Thursday, the North Clay board named Cara Rinehart the Board's secretary for the remainder of the term with Rinehart abstaining on the vote; Joni Cooper was granted two personal days and one unpaid leave day during next March; agreed to proceed with a School Maintenance Grant and an Energy Efficiency Grant Program; and approved a three-year contract with Lifetouch for student photos.

The North Clay Board also hired Stephanie Simmons as paraprofessional for the balance of the school year with Simmons, who is a board member, abstaining from the vote; hired Dennis Arnold as high school JV boys basketball coach; accepted the resignation of Dave Tolliver as substitute bus driver; and hired a custodian recommended by the administration at the high school.