FILE:  IFA

Cf:  DC, IFAB

 

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

 

 

The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board strongly encourages the utilization of a wide variety of materials and equipment in the instructional program.  Instructional personnel shall keep abreast of the types of materials and equipment which can contribute toward meeting the goals and objectives of courses.  Instructional personnel shall also assist the administration in the selection and purchase of such materials and equipment for the school.

 

The School Board believes that appropriate personnel and materials must be available for each student.  It shall be the policy of the School Board that available system resources be allocated in a manner to ensure equivalence among schools of a similar type and enrollment in:  (1) teachers, administrators and auxiliary personnel; and (2) curriculum materials and instructional supplies.

 

PARENTAL ACCESS TO INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

 

A parent of a child attending a public elementary or secondary school shall be entitled to access to instructional materials as provided by law.  A parent shall be entitled to:

 

  1. Review instructional materials used by or administered to the parent's child.

  2.  Review any survey before the survey is administered or distributed by a school to a student.

 

The Superintendent and/or his/her designee shall develop and maintain pertinent administrative regulations and procedures governing parental access to instructional materials.  At a minimum, such regulations and procedures shall specify reasonable hours for review, that instructional materials shall be provided upon reasonable request of the parent, and reasonable and customary fees for copying of material(s) requested.  Nothing shall prohibit or interfere with the parent making his/her own copies on school premises using any mobile or other device.

 

For the purpose of this policy:

 

Instructional materials means content that conveys the knowledge or skills of a subject in the school curriculum through a medium or a combination of media for conveying information to a student.  It also includes any nonsecure test, nonsecure assessment, or survey administered to a student.  The term also includes books, supplementary materials, teaching aids, computer software, magnetic media, DVD, CD-ROM, computer courseware, online material, information, or services, or an electronic medium or other means of conveying information to the student or otherwise contributing to the learning process.

 

Parent means the parent or legal guardian of a child.

 

Survey means any evaluative instrument or questionnaire that is not an assessment of academic knowledge, skills, or abilities, administered as part of a state, national, or international assessment or by itself.

 

RESPONSIBILITY FOR SELECTION

 

Responsibility for the purchase of library and instructional materials is vested legally in the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board.  The School Board delegates to the appropriate instructional staff the responsibility of developing final recommendations for purchase.

 

The actual selection of materials shall be the responsibility of professionally trained personnel who are familiar with the courses of study, the methods of teaching, and the individual needs of students.  The appropriate instructional staff, aided by suggestions from the school administrators, the school faculties, students and parents, make the final selection.  The individual school faculty shall be responsible for the final evaluation and selection of materials based on the needs of the school.  The selection of media shall be determined by the objectives of the course and the experiences and activities to be provided to meet such objectives, in accordance with the School Board's Guidelines for Selection of Books and Other Materials of Instruction.

 

PROCEDURE FOR REEVALUATION OF MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION

 

Criticism or objection to information presented in textbooks, library books, and other materials of instruction shall be handled as follows:

 

  1.  Materials or texts to which objection has been raised may not be withdrawn officially or removed at the school level without prior approval from the Office of the Superintendent indicated in item #3 below.

  2. Criticisms of, or objections to, instructional materials shall be taken up, initially, with the principal of the school involved and with the teacher using the materials.  The principal may handle the complaint in one of two methods, as follows:

 

    1. If, after proper study of instructional material or book in question, the principal in his/her opinion determines there may be grounds for reevaluation of instructional materials, the principal shall forward the material or book in question and the appropriate form to the Superintendent and/or his/her designee for consideration for reevaluation.

    2. Should the principal find, in his/her opinion, material or book in question is not in violation of School Board policy, he/she may then recommend that the complaining party fill out the form Request for Reevaluation of Materials of Instruction, to be processed according to the guidelines herein.

 

  1. The completed form shall be directed to the Office of the Superintendent for referral to the committee designated by the Superintendent to review such requests.  At the same time, the teacher shall submit a written statement explaining the rationale for using the material in question.

  2. Members of the Committee for Reevaluation of Books and Other Materials of Instruction shall be appointed by the Superintendent and composed of the following members, with the chairperson designated by the Superintendent:

 

    1. the supervisor in the academic area concerned

    2. a teacher in the academic area concerned

    3. a school librarian from the East Baton Rouge Parish public school system

    4. an assistant principal for instruction

    5. a faculty member from Southern University in the academic area concerned

    6. a faculty member from Louisiana State University in the academic area concerned

    7. a citizen of the community at large

    8. a parent with a child or children in the East Baton Rouge Parish public school system

    9. a maximum of three (3) people appointed by the School Board

 

  1.  The reevaluation shall be handled within a twenty-one (21) day period and the Superintendent and/or his/her designee shall notify the interested citizen, in writing, of the disposition of the request.

  2. All meetings of the committee shall be held in public, with the date and time of each meeting published at least twenty-four (24) hours in advance of such meeting.

  3. If not satisfied with the decision, the citizen may appeal to the School Board for a review of the matter and a final decision, by submitting a request in writing to the Superintendent for a place on the agenda of the next School Board meeting, in accordance with School Board policy.

 

Revised:  November 20, 2014

 

 

Ref:    Constitution of Louisiana, Art. VIII, Sec.13

La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§17:81, 17:355

Board minutes, 11-20-14

 

East Baton Rouge Parish School Board