12/10/2012 Madison School Board approves policy changes By: CHUCK CLEMENT, Staff Reporter The Madison School Board approved 10 policy changes on Monday including one policy outlining the points on how homework is used within the Madison Central School District. Three parts of the homework policy were struck including a phrase saying that homework was an opportunity to fix learning difficulties. The other two points that were eliminated were consideration for Wednesday religious activities in assigning homework and striking a direction that homework should be clearly assigned and its product carefully evaluated. Another policy change eliminated in-service training for substitute teachers, because Superintendent Vince Schaefer said the Madison schools have the same substitute teachers for many years. The changes included eliminating a job definition for a curriculum leader with Schaefer explaining that the district's position was eliminated years ago. Deadlines for making transfer requests were added, saying they could only take place before the last Friday in September during fall semesters and before the last Friday in January during the spring semester. The board members also approved a written prohibition that K-8 student should not perform any door-to-door fund-raising without being accompanied by a parent or guardian. Schaefer said he wasn't aware of any door-to-door fundraising done by students and school staff would have advised against it in the past. The board members approved declaring some furniture as surplus property -- 198 student desks, 34 chairs, 12 six-foot tables, and eight trapezoid tables. Schaefer and Mitchell Brooks, school district business manager, asked the board members for approval during the high school renovation and construction project to sell some school equipment, such as desks and cabinets that the teachers wouldn't need or use in their new classrooms. Schaefer said the school didn't have enough storage space for keeping all of the items for a large auction and the construction crews would need to build to a schedule. "We really can't hold up programs for somebody to come in and salvage a $5 cabinet," Schaefer said about selling the surplus items. "It's going to be difficult to have any guaranteed window of opportunity, but we want to do what we can." According to Schaefer, workers will immediately start installing the exterior walls for the new gym after the supplier delivers the material. He said the wall material would arrive in sections that stretch from the ground to the roof in length.

©Madison Daily Leader 2013