Subcommittee refers updated district handbook and flags student-search language for change

The Fall River City Policy Subcommittee on Jan. 30 voted to refer the district handbook to the full school committee as a first read after a review by outside counsel and an internal line-by-line pass.

Administration said the handbook had not been fully updated on the public website and that a cross‑reference cleanup was needed; staff noted that many policies must be made ADA‑compliant and that materials will be migrated into Diligent to create individual ADA‑compliant links for each policy.

During discussion, a committee member pointed to several non‑substantive errors (inconsistent capitalization and outdated terms such as “headmaster”) and urged cleanup. One substantive edit proposed was to change a line on student searches to make a strip search categorically prohibited: “shall never conduct a strip search of a student.” The group agreed that line should be revised accordingly and included in the first‑read referral.

A member also raised an item about AI use in the handbook and recommended adding a separate AI policy if the handbook references restrictions on student AI use.

The subcommittee voted to refer the handbook as a first read with requested cleanups and cross‑references; staff said they will finalize non‑substantive formatting before the full‑committee packet is circulated.