Lamar School District

The Superintendent shall be responsible for the preparation of the annual operating budget for the District. The Superintendent shall present the budget to the Board for its review, modification, and approval.

The budget shall be prepared in the electronic format as prescribed by the State Board of Education and filed with the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education no later than September 30^th of each year.

The approved budget shall provide for expenditures that are within anticipated revenues and reserves. The District Treasurer shall present monthly reconciliation reports and a statement on the general financial condition of the District monthly to the Board.

Any changes made to the budget shall be in accordance with District policy and state law.

Legal References: A.C.A. § 6-13-701(e)(3)

A.C.A. § 6-20-2202

Line item changes may be made to the budget at any time during the fiscal year upon the approval of the Board. This sentence has been removed from our original policy to match the model policy.

Date Adopted: 7/16/2002

Last Revised: 6/14/2010

7.3—MILLAGE RATE

At least sixty (60) days in advance of the school election when the electors shall determine the annual ad valorem property tax for the District, the Board shall publish at least one time in some newspaper published or having a bona fide circulation in the county¹ where the district’s property, the District’s proposed budget, which shall include a millage rate sufficient to provide the funds necessary for the District’s operation.

Note: ¹ If your district lies in more than one county, you are required to publish the budget in a newspaper that is published or has a general circulation in the county where the district is administered.

Legal References: A.C.A. § 6-13-622

Arkansas Constitution: Article 14 Section 3 (c) as amended by Amendment 74

Removed the first sentence

Date Adopted: 7/16/2002

Last Revised: 7/28/2020

7.4—GRANTS AND SPECIAL FUNDING

GRANTS

Grants are non-repayable funds or products disbursed or given by one party, often a government department, corporation, foundation or trust, to a recipient.

The Superintendent or his/her designee may apply for grants on behalf of the District. Any grant or special funding that requires matching District resources shall receive Board approval prior to the filing of the grant’s or special resource’s application.

Grant funded projects must align with school and district priorities. Grant funded projects may not be conducted on behalf of an individual or an outside party. Staff members must consider whether the materials or equipment provided by or funded by the Grant require storage, installation, ongoing maintenance or any other commitment of district resources.

In addition the following guidelines must be followed:

District employees wishing to apply for grant funding must receive approval on the provided form prior to submitting an application.
If a grant is awarded a printed copy is to be given to the finance director.
All items received/purchased with grant funds are the property of Lamar School District and all inventory procedures apply.
It is the staff member’s responsibility to comply with the agreed upon terms and conditions in the grant.

Grant Applications/Project MAY NOT:

Disparage the District or any of its buildings, programs, students, or employees or paint the District or any of its employees, students, or programs in a negative light;
Contain false or miss-leading information;
Be used for personal gain of any individual other than the District-related benefits associated with the purpose of the project in the application;
Result in funds and/or items being provided or delivered directly to the individual who requested the funds;
Deposit funds into personal bank accounts;
Issue checks in an individual’s name.

SPECIAL FUNDING – CROWDFUNDING

Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or idea by raising donations of money, equipment or supplies from a large number of people, typically via the internet.

Any crowded funding project that requires matching District resources shall receive Board approval prior to the crowdfunding project being posted.

Projects approved for crowdfunding must align with school and district priorities. Crowdfunding projects may not be conducted on behalf of an individual or an outside party. Staff members must consider whether the materials or equipment requested require storage, installation, ongoing maintenance or any other commitment of district resources.

In addition the following guidelines must be followed for any crowdfunding campaign:

District employees wishing to secure crowdfunding must receive approval on the provided form prior to placing on any website.
After the approved project is posted a printed copy is to be given to the finance director.
All items received/purchased through crowdfunding projects are the property of Lamar School District and all inventory procedures apply.
All staff must comply with student privacy and other requirements set out in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Thus, student images, names, and descriptions which would cause students to be identifiable or would allow logical deductions about disabilities or other factors deemed to be within the student sphere or privacy must not be used on such websites or elsewhere, unless written, parental permission is secured in advance.
Verify any terms or conditions agreed to on the website. It is the staff member’s responsibility to comply with the agreed upon terms and conditions.
A report listing cash donations collected on the crowdfunding website must be generated by the staff member and given to the finance director once the project is complete. All packing slips are to be turned in to the finance director for crowdfunding sites that provide materials and equipment instead of monetary donations.
If the project is not fully funded by the set deadline you are to report this to the Finance Director along with any changes to the project due to it not being fully funded.

Crowdfunding Projects MAY NOT:

Disparage the District or any of its buildings, programs, students, or employees or paint the District or any of its employees, students, or programs in a negative light;
Contain false or miss-leading information;
Be used for personal gain of any individual other than the District-related benefits associated with the campaign's purpose;
Result in funds and/or items being provided or delivered directly to the individual who requested the funds;
Deposit funds into personal bank accounts;
Issue checks in an individual’s name;

The Superintendent or designee may require a project to be removed from any website at any time if the project is deemed to be inappropriate or in violation of policy or law.

Date Adopted: 7/16/2002

Last Revised: 7/30/2019

REQUEST FOR CROWDFUNDING FUNDRAISING PROJECT

School: ___________________________________________ Date Submitted: ______________________

Grade/Program/Club:_______________________________________________________________________

Requested by:_____________________________________________________________________________

Website that the project will be placed on:_______________________________________________________

Does the website send money or supplies:______________________________________________________

What percent or flat dollar amount is charged by the website:_______________________________________

Description of Project (Please be specific):______________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________
(more space needed write on back)

Estimated Project Cost: ___________________________________________

I have read, understand and will abide by all Lamar School District’s Policies and procedures.

Requestors Signature: _____________________________________________________________________

Building Administrator’s Signature: ___________________________________________________________

If applicable Technology Coordinator Signature: _________________________________________________

If applicable Maintenance Director Signature: ___________________________________________________

Finance Director’s Signature: _______________________________________________________________

Superintendent’s Signature:_________________________________________________________________

7.5—PURCHASES AND PROCUREMENT

Purchases shall be made in accordance with State laws and procurement procedures governing school purchases that are deemed to be in the best interest of the District and are the result of fair and open competition between qualified bidders and suppliers. No bids shall be taken for professional services.

DEFINITIONS

“Commodities” are all supplies, goods, material, equipment, computers, software, machinery, facilities, personal property, and services, other than personal and professional services, purchased on behalf of the District.

“micro-purchases” are purchases with a value of less than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) when purchased with Federal funds.

“Professional services” are legal, financial advisory, architectural, engineering, construction management, and land surveying professional consultant services.

“Specifications” means a technical description or other description of the physical and/or functional characteristics of a commodity.

Commodities

The superintendent shall develop procedures for the procurement of micro-purchases that provide for the distribution of purchases between eligible vendors to the extent possible.

Purchases of commodities with a purchase price of more than $23,100 require prior Board approval; however, if an emergency exists, the Superintendent may waive this requirement.

The district shall notify in writing all actual or prospective bidders, offerors, or contractors who make a written request to the district for notification of opportunities to bid. The notification shall be made in sufficient time to allow actual or prospective bidders, offerors, or contractors to submit a bid or other appropriate response. The board shall accept bids submitted electronically by email or fax for any and all district purchases, unless specified to be submitted by other means or methods, and except those bids which have been specified to have a designated date upon which the bids shall be opened. The superintendent shall be responsible for ensuring submitted bids, whether written, faxed, or emailed, are retained in accordance with policy 7.15—RECORD RETENTION AND DESTRUCTION.

The district will not solicit bids or otherwise contract for a sum greater than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) with vendors that are on the “excluded parties list” if the contract is to be paid from federal funds.

All purchases for a Federal program with an estimated purchase price between ten thousand dollars ($10,000) and twenty thousand nine hundred ten dollars ($20,910) and all purchases of commodities with an estimated purchase price that equals or exceeds twenty thousand nine hundred ten dollars ($20,910) shall be procured by soliciting bids. Specifications shall be devised for all commodities to be bid that are specific enough to ensure uniformity of the bid and yet not so restrictive that it would prevent competitive bidding. The bid specifications shall not include the name or identity of any specific vendor. The Board reserves the right to reject all bids and to purchase the commodity by negotiating a contract. In such an instance, each responsible bidder who submitted a bid shall be notified and given a reasonable opportunity to negotiate.

Bids shall be awarded after careful examination of the details of the bid to determine the best overall value to the District. In instances where the low bid was not accepted, a statement of the reasons the low bid was not accepted shall be attached to the bid. Bidders submitting written bids shall be notified in writing of the bid award.

Whenever possible, a preference will be given to small and minority businesses; women’s business enterprises; and labor surplus area firms.

The District shall provide a preference to Arkansas residents whenever the District is accepting bids to purchase materials and equipment as part of a construction project if:

One (1) or more Arkansas residents who submitted bids made written claim for a preference at the time they submitted a bid; and
An Arkansas resident’s bid does not exceed the lowest qualified bid from a nonresident by more than five percent (5%).

If the qualifications for the Arkansas resident preference are met, then the District shall take the lowest bid from an Arkansas resident regardless of whether the Arkansas resident was one of the individuals who requested the preference.

The following commodities may be purchased with State funds without soliciting bids provided that the purchasing official determines in writing that it is not practicable to use other than the required or designated commodity or service, and a copy of the written determination is attached to the purchase order:

Commodities in instances of an unforeseen and unavoidable emergency;
Commodities available only from the federal government;
Utility services;
Used equipment and machinery; and
Commodities available only from a single source.

Commodity purchases with Federal funds may be purchased without soliciting bids only when one or more of the following circumstances apply:

The item is available only from a single source;
The public exigency or emergency for the requirement will not permit a delay resulting from competitive solicitation;
The Federal awarding agency or appropriate unit of the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education expressly authorizes the noncompetitive purchase in response to a written request from the District; or
After solicitation of a number of sources, competition is determined inadequate.

The District may purchase a new motor vehicle, other than a school bus, without soliciting bids if, at the time of the purchase, the:

Purchase is from a motor vehicle dealer licensed in Arkansas;
Purchase price of the motor vehicle does not exceed the fleet price awarded by the Office of State Procurement; and
Motor vehicle to be purchased is the same make and model motor vehicle as the make and model the fleet price was awarded for by the Office of State Procurement.

Prospective bidders, offerors, or contractors may appeal to the district’s superintendent if they believe the district failed to follow district bidding and purchasing policy or state law.

Any award of a contract shall be subject to revocation for ten (10) working days from:

The initial awarding of the contract; or
If an appeal is received, resolution of the appeal.

The intent is to provide prospective bidders, offerors, or contractors the opportunity to appeal the bid award if they believe the facts warrant an appeal. Any appeal shall be in writing by certified mail and received by the district office, “attention to the superintendent” within seven (7) calendar days following the initial and revocable award of the contract.

If the district receives an appeal of a bid award, they shall notify, in writing, those prospective bidders, offerors, or contractors who have made a written request to the district for notification of opportunities to bid that an appeal has been submitted. The notification shall state:

that the contract award has been halted pending resolution of the appeal and could be revoked;
the reasons for the appeal;
that the recipient of the letter may respond to the protested issues identified in the appeal;
the date the decision on the appeal will be made and notification sent;
that if the appeal is upheld, the bidding process will be re-opened;
that if the bidding is re-opened, changes will be made to the request for bids as necessary to satisfy the reasons for upholding the appeal.

The sole authority to resolve any appeal made relating to this policy shall rest with the superintendent. The superintendent’s decision shall be final and conclusive. In the event the district upholds an appeal, the sole responsibility of the district to the aggrieved bidder(s) shall be the re-opening of the bidding process.

Except when prohibited by law, the District reserves the right to extend or renew a contract that was previously awarded under the process governed by this policy and law, provided the extension or renewal meet the following criteria:

The equipment and services provided under the extended or renewed contract meets or exceeds the specifications of the original bid.
The extended or renewed contract agreement complies with the state of Arkansas’s documentation requirements.
The cost of the extended or renewed contract is the same or less than the original contract.
The extension or renewal is approved by the local school board.

Professional Services

The District does not use a bidding process when procuring professional services. Instead, when the District needs to procure professional services, the District shall:

Select three (3) qualified firms;
Determine the most qualified firm by considering, at a minimum, the:

Specialized experience and technical competence of the firm with respect to the type of professional services required;
Capacity and capability of the firm to perform the work in question, including specialized services, within the time limitations fixed for the completion of the project;
Past record of performance of the firm with respect to such factors as control of costs, quality of work, and ability to meet schedules and deadlines; and
Firm's proximity to and familiarity with the area in which the project is located;

Negotiate a contract for the project with the most qualified firm.

When negotiating a contract, the District and the selected firm shall jointly prepare a detailed, written description of the scope of the proposed services. If the District is unable to negotiate a satisfactory contract with the firm selected, negotiations with that firm shall be terminated and the District shall negotiate a contract with the next most qualified firm. In the event the District is unable to negotiate a contract with any of the original selected firms, the District shall reevaluate the necessary professional services, including the scope and reasonable fee requirements, and return to step one.

The District encourages firms who provide professional services to submit annual statements of qualifications and performance data to the District. The District shall request any additional information as needed for a particular public project.

Note: This language is required by 2 C.F.R. § 200.321 and the process you will use to provide the preference should be clearly set forth in your purchasing procedures, which must include all of the following:.

Placing qualified small and minority businesses and women's business enterprises on solicitation lists;
Assuring that small and minority businesses, and women's business enterprises are solicited whenever they are potential sources;
Dividing total requirements, when economically feasible, into smaller tasks or quantities to permit maximum participation by small and minority businesses, and women's business enterprises;
Establishing delivery schedules, where the requirement permits, which encourage participation by small and minority businesses, and women's business enterprises;
Using the services and assistance, as appropriate, of such organizations as the Small Business Administration and the Minority Business Development Agency of the Department of Commerce; and
Requiring the prime contractor, if subcontracts are to be let, to take the affirmative steps listed in paragraphs (1) through (5) above.

Legal References: A.C.A. § 6-21-301, 303, 304, 305, 306, 307

A.C.A. § 6-24-101 et seq.

A.C.A. § 15-4-1301 et seq.

A.C.A. § 18-44-503

A.C.A. § 19-11-259

A.C.A. § 19-11-801 et seq.

2 C.F.R. § 200.67

2 C.F.R. § 200.319

2 C.F.R. § 200.320

2 C.F.R. § 200.321

2 C.F.R. § 200.324

48 C.F.R. § 2.101

Date Adopted: 7/16/2002

Last Revised: 6/20/22

7.5—PURCHASES AND PROCUREMENT (Proposed Change

DEFINITIONS

“Micro-purchases” are purchases with a value of less than: ~~ten thousand dollars ($10,000) when purchased with Federal funds.~~

Ten thousand dollars ($10,000) when purchased with Federal funds; or
The State bid purchase threshold for purchases for the District’s child nutrition programs when purchased with Federal funds.

“Professional services” are legal, financial advisory, architectural, engineering, construction management, and land surveying professional consultant services.¹

“Specifications” means a technical description or other description of the physical and/or functional characteristics of a commodity.

“State bid purchase threshold” means the purchase threshold amount set in A.C.A. § 6-21-304 and updated by Commissioner’s Memo that requires District purchases be through the District’s formal purchase procedures, such as sealed bids.

Commodities

The superintendent shall develop procedures for the procurement of micro-purchases that provide for the distribution of purchases between eligible vendors to the extent possible.

Purchases of commodities with a purchase price of more than $23,100² require prior Board³ approval; however, if an emergency exists, the Superintendent may waive this requirement.

The district shall notify in writing all actual or prospective bidders, offerors, or contractors who make a written request to the district for notification of opportunities to bid. The notification shall be made in sufficient time to allow actual or prospective bidders, offerors, or contractors to submit a bid or other appropriate response.⁴ The board shall accept bids submitted electronically by email or fax for any and all district purchases, unless specified to be submitted by other means or methods, and except those bids which have been specified to have a designated date upon which the bids shall be opened. The superintendent shall be responsible for ensuring submitted bids, whether written, faxed, or emailed, are retained in accordance with policy 7.15—RECORD RETENTION AND DESTRUCTION.

The District shall not knowingly enter into any type of transaction with an individual or entity that performs abortions, induces abortions, or provides abortions.

All purchases ~~for a Federal program with an estimated purchase price between ten thousand dollars ($10,000) and twenty-one thousand six hundred four dollars ($21,604) and all purchases~~ of commodities with an estimated purchase price that equals or exceeds ~~twenty-one thousand six hundred four dollars ($21,604)~~ the micro-purchase threshold or the State bid purchase threshold shall be procured by soliciting bids.⁶ Specifications shall be devised for all commodities to be bid that are specific enough to ensure uniformity of the bid and yet not so restrictive that it would prevent competitive bidding. The bid specifications shall not include the name or identity of any specific vendor. The Board reserves the right to reject all bids and to purchase the commodity by negotiating a contract. In such an instance, each responsible bidder who submitted a bid shall be notified and given a reasonable opportunity to negotiate.⁷

Whenever possible, a preference will be given to small and minority businesses; women’s business enterprises; and labor surplus area firms.⁸

The District shall provide a preference to Arkansas residents whenever the District is accepting bids to purchase materials and equipment as part of a construction project if:

One (1) or more Arkansas residents who submitted bids made written claim for a preference at the time they submitted a bid; and
An Arkansas resident’s bid does not exceed the lowest qualified bid from a nonresident by more than five percent (5%).

The following commodities may be purchased with State funds without soliciting bids provided that the purchasing official⁹ determines in writing that it is not practicable to use other than the required or designated commodity or service, and a copy of the written determination is attached to the purchase order:

Commodities in instances of an unforeseen and unavoidable emergency;
Commodities available only from the federal government;
Utility services;
Used equipment and machinery;¹⁰ and
Commodities available only from a single source.¹¹

Commodity purchases with Federal funds may be purchased without soliciting bids only when one or more of the following circumstances apply:

The item is available only from a single source;
The public exigency or emergency for the requirement will not permit a delay resulting from competitive solicitation;
The Federal awarding agency or appropriate unit of the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education expressly authorizes the noncompetitive purchase in response to a written request from the District; or
After solicitation of a number of sources, competition is determined inadequate.

The District may purchase a new motor vehicle, other than a school bus, without soliciting bids if, at the time of the purchase, the:

Purchase is from a motor vehicle dealer licensed in Arkansas;
Purchase price of the motor vehicle does not exceed the fleet price awarded by the Office of State Procurement; and
Motor vehicle to be purchased is the same make and model motor vehicle as the make and model the fleet price was awarded for by the Office of State Procurement.

Prospective bidders, offerors, or contractors may appeal to the district’s superintendent if they believe the district failed to follow district bidding and purchasing policy or state law.

Any award of a contract shall be subject to revocation for ten (10) working days from:

The initial awarding of the contract; or
If an appeal is received, resolution of the appeal.

that the contract award has been halted pending resolution of the appeal and could be revoked;
the reasons for the appeal;
that the recipient of the letter may respond to the protested issues identified in the appeal;
the date the decision on the appeal will be made and notification sent;
that if the appeal is upheld, the bidding process will be re-opened;
that if the bidding is re-opened, changes will be made to the request for bids as necessary to satisfy the reasons for upholding the appeal.¹²

Except when prohibited by law¹³, the District reserves the right to extend or renew a contract that was previously awarded under the process governed by this policy and law, provided the extension or renewal meet the following criteria:

The equipment and services provided under the extended or renewed contract meets or exceeds the specifications of the original bid.
The extended or renewed contract agreement complies with the state of Arkansas’s documentation requirements.
The cost of the extended or renewed contract is the same or less than the original contract.
The extension or renewal is approved by the local school board.

Professional Services

The District does not use a bidding process when procuring professional services. Instead, when the District needs to procure professional services, the District shall:

Select three (3) qualified firms;
Determine the most qualified firm by considering, at a minimum, the:

Specialized experience and technical competence of the firm with respect to the type of professional services required;
Capacity and capability of the firm to perform the work in question, including specialized services, within the time limitations fixed for the completion of the project;
Past record of performance of the firm with respect to such factors as control of costs, quality of work, and ability to meet schedules and deadlines; and
Firm's proximity to and familiarity with the area in which the project is located;

Negotiate a contract for the project with the most qualified firm.

Notes: ¹ The definition of "professional service" contains the entire list of professional services in A.C.A. § 19-11-801 that are automatically removed from the bidding process. The board has the option to add additional professional services to this list with a two-thirds (2/3) vote for each service type to be added. Services that can be added to the list are services that require a firm or individual to hold a valid license specific to perform the type of service in question.

² Insert an amount less than ~~ten thousand dollars ($10,000)~~ the micro-purchase threshold for Federal purchases and ~~twenty-one thousand six hundred four dollars ($21,604)~~ the State bid purchase threshold for purchases without Federal funds if your board determines a lesser amount is appropriate.

³ Your district may elect to employ a “designated agent of the district,” if so, substitute it for “Board.”

⁴ ASBA strongly recommends that each district keep a record of all requests to be a “bidder.”

⁵ Names of vendors on the excluded parties list can be found at www.sam.gov.

⁶ For Federal purchases, be sure that your purchasing procedures include the different procedures for micropurchases, small purchase threshold purchases, and formal bids.

In accordance with A.C.A. § 15-4-3804 and 3805, your procedures will need to address how your district intends to ensure that the state goal of at least twenty percent (20%) of the purchases of food products by entities that receive at least twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) of state funds and have a food service program is spent on local farm or food products. More information on what to include in your procedures may be found on page 38 of the USDA document found at https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/f2s/F2S_Procuring_Local_Foods_Child_Nutrition_Prog_Guide.pdf.

⁷ Any commodities purchased by the district through the TAPS program satisfies the state bidding requirements; however, for purchases with Federal funds, districts are required to demonstrate that an effort was made to determine that the TAPS purchase price is the best price. The verification effort may be demonstrated through an email, fax, letter, or written documentation of a telephone call.

Be aware that A.C.A. § 18-44-503 requires a district or education coop to receive a payment bond in the amount of the contract from a contractor for projects to repair, alter, or erect a public building, structure, or improvement that is in excess of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000).

⁸ This language is required by 2 C.F.R. § 200.321 and the process you will use to provide the preference should be clearly set forth in your purchasing procedures, which must include all of the following:

Placing qualified small and minority businesses and women's business enterprises on solicitation lists;
Assuring that small and minority businesses, and women's business enterprises are solicited whenever they are potential sources;
Dividing total requirements, when economically feasible, into smaller tasks or quantities to permit maximum participation by small and minority businesses, and women's business enterprises;
Establishing delivery schedules, where the requirement permits, which encourage participation by small and minority businesses, and women's business enterprises;
Using the services and assistance, as appropriate, of such organizations as the Small Business Administration and the Minority Business Development Agency of the Department of Commerce; and
Requiring the prime contractor, if subcontracts are to be let, to take the affirmative steps listed in paragraphs (1) through (5) above.

⁹ This is the school board if specified in this policy (see #³ above) as the body to approve the purchase of commodities.

¹⁰ Used school buses, over two years old as defined in A.C.A. § 6-21-306(a), are exempt from bidding requirements.

¹¹ A “sole source justification document” should be attached to the purchase order and maintained in the audit file for all commodities purchased as such. DESE stipulates the following seven (7) criteria that the justification must meet:

Why the service or product is needed;
The methods used to determine that a lack of responsible/responsive competition exists for the service or product;
How it was determined that the provider possesses exclusive capabilities;
Why the service or product is unique;
Whether or not there are patent or property rights which make the required service or product unavailable from other sources;
What the district would do if the provider/service product were no longer available;
Any program considerations which make the use of a “sole source” critical to the successful completion of the district’s task.

¹² A.C.A. § 6-21-304 specifically states the parameters required within the appeal process. Your district could choose to alter the paragraph and how it intends to deal with the appeal and its resolution. An example would be to award a financial settlement to the appellant if the appeal is upheld. Another example would be to state, by policy, the length of time for the resolution of the appeal process.

¹³ An example of when simply extending a contract without going through the bid process is prohibited includes certain purchase contracts for the child nutrition programs.

Legal References: A.C.A. § 6-18-2201 et seq.

A.C.A. § 6-21-301, 303, 304, 305, 306, 307

A.C.A. § 6-24-101 et seq.

A.C.A. § 15-4-3801 et seq.

A.C.A. § 18-44-503

A.C.A. § 19-11-259

A.C.A. § 19-11-801 et seq.

A.C.A. § 22-9-203

DESE rules Governing the Student Protection Act

2 C.F.R. § 200.67

2 C.F.R. § 200.319

2 C.F.R. § 200.320

2 C.F.R. § 200.321

2 C.F.R. § 200.324

48 C.F.R. § 2.101

Date Adopted:

Last Revised:

7.5F—COMMODITIES BIDDER AFFIDAVIT

LAMAR SCHOOL DISTRICT

JOHNSON COUNTY

I, ________________________________________, hereby state:

(1) I am the duly authorized agent of _______________________________, the bidder submitting the competitive bid which is attached to this statement. I certify the facts as detailed below pertaining to the non-existence of collusion among and between bidders and state officials, as well as to the facts pertaining to the giving or offering of things of value to government personnel in return for special consideration in the awarding of any contract pursuant to the bid to which this statement is attached.

(2) I am fully aware of the facts and circumstances surrounding the making of the bid to which this statement is attached and have been personally and directly involved in the proceedings leading to the submission of the bid.

(3) Neither the bidder nor anyone subject to the bidder's direction or control has been a party:

(A) To any collusion among bidders in restraint of freedom of competition by agreement to bid at a fixed price or to refrain from bidding;

(B) To any collusion with any state official or employee as to quantity, quality, or price in the prospective contract, or as to any other terms of the prospective contract; or

(C) In any discussions between bidders and any state official concerning exchange of money or other thing of value for special consideration in the awarding of a contract.

(4) I hereby guarantee that the specifications outlined in the bid shall be followed as specified and that deviations from the specifications shall occur only as part of a formal change process approved by the Board of Directors of the school district.

__________________________________________

Signature

Subscribed and sworn to before me this _____ day of ___________, 20__.

________________________________

Notary Public

Adopted: 11/10/2008

7.5F2— FOOD SERVICE COMMODITIES BIDDER AFFIDAVIT

NAME OF SCHOOL DISTRICT NAME OF COUNTY

I, ________________________________________, hereby state:

(3) Neither the bidder nor anyone subject to the bidder's direction or control has been a party:

(A) To any collusion among bidders in restraint of freedom of competition by agreement to bid at a fixed price or to refrain from bidding;

(B) To any collusion with any state official or employee as to quantity, quality, or price in the prospective contract, or as to any other terms of the prospective contract; or

(C) In any discussions between bidders and any state official concerning exchange of money or other thing of value for special consideration in the awarding of a contract.

(5) I hereby certify that the bid, unless specifically exempted by the USDA, is for agricultural commodities that have been produced in the U.S. or if the bid contains food products that at least 51% of food in the product was produced in the U.S. I understand that the district shall not accept any product that does not meet this requirement and is not liable for any loss I may incur as a result of such refusal to accept.

__________________________________________

Signature

Subscribed and sworn to before me this _____ day of ___________, 20__.

________________________________

Notary Public

7.6—ACTIVITY ACCOUNT

The District shall maintain an account of activity funds. The funds for the account are those revenues derived from the sale of tickets to athletic contests or other school sponsored activities; the sale of food other than that sold in the cafeteria; the sale of soft drinks, school supplies, and books; and fees charged by clubs and organizations.

Activity funds are considered “school funds” and as such may only be spent for school related purposes.¹

The Superintendent shall be the custodian of all activity funds and shall be responsible and accountable for the funds. The Superintendent may appoint a co-custodian for each school in the District who shall also be responsible for the activity funds he/she maintains.

Note: ¹ “School related purposes” has been narrowly interpreted by the courts under Article 14 of the Arkansas Constitution to require the expenditures to be for a legitimate public purpose closely related to the provision of K-12 education.

Legal References: A.C.A. § 6-13-701(g)

A.C.A. § 6-20-417

Date Adopted: 7/16/2002

Last Revised: 7/30/2019

7.7—CASH IN CLASSROOMS

Teachers shall deposit daily to the principal’s office all activity funds collected in their classrooms. No cash or checks are to be left in any classroom overnight.

Date Adopted: 7/16/2002

Last Revised: 7/16/2002

7.8—PERSONAL PROPERTY

To avoid confusion and the potential for misunderstandings, District staff who bring personal property to school to use in the performance of their jobs should label the items with their names. Any such items should be removed from the school at the close of school each year. The District assumes no responsibility for damage to, or the loss of, personal property brought to District facilities by District staff.

Date Adopted: 7/16/2002

Last Revised: 7/16/2002

7.9—PROPERTY INSURANCE

The Superintendent shall be responsible, with approval of the Board, for maintaining adequate insurance coverage for all District properties. At a minimum, the District will purchase insurance coverage sufficient to meet the requirements by the Arkansas Commission for Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation.

Legal References: A.C.A. § 6-21-114(d)

Arkansas Commission for Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation Rules Governing Property Insurance Requirements

This information is missing from our current policy and should probably be added.

Date Adopted: 7/16/2002

Last Revised: 7/16/2002

7.10—PUBLIC USE OF SCHOOL BUILDINGS

It is the policy of the Board that District school buildings may be used by citizens of the District to conduct lawful meetings for social, civic, or recreational purposes provided such meetings do not interfere with the regular school work and proper protection is afforded the district against the potential costs of such use. The Superintendent shall be responsible, with Board approval, for establishing procedures governing such use of school buildings. The governing procedures shall be viewpoint neutral. Building principals shall be consulted to determine if there exists any conflict with planned school activities prior to other groups being allowed to use school facilities.

The District shall establish a fee schedule for the school facilities

Organizations using school facilities assume full and complete responsibility for the conduct of all persons, regardless of age, associated with their use of the facility while they are in or about the facility. Smoking or the use of tobacco or products containing tobacco in any form or the use of drugs or intoxicants is prohibited. Firearms of any kind are not allowed on school property unless the person carrying the firearm is permitted to do so by law as defined in A.C.A. § 5-73-120

Legal References: A.C.A. § 5-73-119

A.C.A. § 5-73-120

A.C.A. § 6-10-132

A.C.A. § 6-21-101

Arkansas Constitution Article 14, § 2

Date Adopted: 7/16/2002

Date Revised:

7.11—USE OF SCHOOL FUNDS FOR NON-SCHOOL RELATED PURPOSES

School funds shall not be used for political, charitable, or humanitarian purposes.

No employee of the District shall use school time, school property, school personnel, or school equipment for the purpose of furthering the interests of any political party, the campaign of any political candidate or the advocacy of any political issue or ballot issue whether partisan or non-partisan. School employees may participate as part of a community organization that is renting a school facility for a political purpose

Legal References: Arkansas Constitution Article 14 § 2

Date Adopted: 7/16/2002

Last Revised: 11/19/2008

7.13—MANAGEMENT AND DISPOSAL OF DISTRICT PROPERTY

Definitions

For the purposes of this policy, the following definitions apply:

“Commodities” are all supplies, goods, material, computers, software, machinery and other equipment purchased on behalf of the district having a useful life of more than one (1) year and an acquisition cost of one thousand dollars ($1,000) or more per unit.

“Fair market value” means the amount a reasonable buyer would be willing to pay for a particular piece of property based on an objective set of criteria, which may include, but are not limited to: any improvements or damage to the property; the demand for similar property; the selling price for the property by the producer of the property or re-sale outlets; and the value of the property as determined by an independent appraiser.¹

“Real property” is land and whatever is erected or affixed to land, such as structures or buildings.

“Surplus commodities” are those commodities that are no longer needed, obsolete, irreparable, or worn out.

“Surplus real property” is real property that is not presently needed or foreseen to be needed by the District, and that has been authorized for sale as surplus real property by vote of the School Board. Surplus real property may include unused or underutilized facilities.

“Trash” are those items that would otherwise belong to another category of goods or property defined in this policy, but which, due to the property’s age or an act of God, have less value than it would cost to repair the item. Examples could include, but are not limited to, fire damage, vehicle accidents, extreme age, and/or decline in value of the item.

General Policy

The District’s purchases of commodities shall be in accordance with Policy 7.5—PURCHASES AND PROCUREMENT and, to the extent applicable, the procurement requirements of any granting source of funding used to purchase the commodity. The Superintendent shall develop procedures governing the use, management, and dispersal of commodities. At a minimum, the procedures will cover the following topics:

labeling all commodities²;
establishing adequate controls to account for their location, custody, and security;
annually auditing the inventory of commodities and updating a listing of such commodities to reconcile the audit with the district’s inventory records. The audit will be documented and account for any transfer and/or disposal of a commodity.
Disposing of surplus commodities and surplus real property, whether purchased in whole or in part with federal grant funds or with local funds.

The disposal of school property must be for the benefit of the school district and consistent with good business principles.

Disposal of Surplus Commodities

The Board of Directors recognizes that commodities sometimes become of no use to the District and thus meet this policy’s definition of surplus commodities.

The Superintendent or designee(s) will determine the objective fair market value (FMV) of surplus commodities. The District will strive to dispose of surplus commodities at or near their FMV.³

The Superintendent may declare surplus any commodity with an FMV of less than one thousand dollars ($1,000). Surplus commodities with an FMV of less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) will be periodically sold by the most efficient, cost effective means that is likely to result in sales at or near FMV.

The Superintendent may submit a list of surplus commodities deemed to have a FMV of one thousand dollars ($1,000) or greater to the Board of Directors for authorization to sell such surplus commodities. Once the Board of Directors has authorized the sale of such surplus commodities, the Superintendent or designee(s) may sell that surplus commodity as the need arises. Items with a FMV of one thousand dollars ($1,000) or greater will be sold by the most efficient, cost effective means that is likely to result in sales at or near FMV. If the Superintendent chooses to dispose of the surplus items by bid, the Superintendent or designee may set a minimum or reserve price on any item, and may reject all bids. The Superintendent or designee is authorized to accept the high bid provided the high bid is at or near FMV without further Board action unless the high bid comes under the jurisdiction of Arkansas ethics legislation, in which case the provisions of A.C.A. §§ 6-24-101–107 would apply.

If attempts at public sales fail to produce any interested buyers or bidders, such remaining unsold commodities may then, at the discretion of the Superintendent, be disposed of as scrap or junk or be donated to appropriate charitable or education related entities. Computer or technology equipment will be cleansed of data prior to disposal.

Disposal of Surplus Real Property

The Board of Directors recognizes that real property it owns sometimes becomes no longer of use to the District and thus meets this policy’s definition of surplus real property.

The Superintendent may submit a request to the Board of Directors for authorization to sell surplus real property. Once the Board of Directors has authorized the sale of such surplus real property, the Superintendent or designated individual(s) may sell that surplus real property as the need arises and this policy allows. The Superintendent or designee(s) shall be responsible for getting a determination of the objective FMV of surplus real property⁵. The district will strive to dispose of surplus items at or near their FMV. The real property may be listed for sale with a real estate broker, and the Superintendent or designated individual may contract on behalf of the district to pay the usual and customary sales commission for such transactions, upon sale of the property.

If attempts at public sales fail to produce any interested buyers or bidders, such remaining unsold real property may then, if agreed to by the Superintendent and Board of Directors, be donated to appropriate education related entities, not-for-profit organizations, the county, city, or incorporated town in accordance with the provisions of state law.⁸

Items obtained with federal funds shall be handled in accordance with applicable federal regulations, if any.

The District may not make a part of the disposal of District real property a covenant that prohibits the sale or lease of former District facilities or other real property to a charter that is located within the District’s geographic boundaries.

Disposal of Surplus Real Property After Consolidation

Except as otherwise prohibited by this policy, real property of a consolidated school district that is no longer being used for educational purposes and has not been sold, preserved, leased, or donated two (2) years after the effective date of consolidation shall be made available for use by a publicly supported institution of higher education, a technical institute, a community college, a not-for-profit organization, a county, a city, or incorporated town by the Board of Directors for the following purposes:

Having the real property preserved, improved, upgraded, rehabilitated, or enlarged by the donee;
Holding of classes by statutorily authorized education related entities; or
Providing community programs and beneficial educational services, social enrichment programs, or after-school programs.

Notes: ¹ One option when determining FMV is to see what the property’s value is if the property is sold for salvage or scrap instead of putting the property up for general sale, which may even result in a higher FMV depending on the property in question.

² Due to federal monitoring and disposal requirements, we suggest differentiating the labeling of items purchased with federal funds from non-federal fund items.

³ The FMV of items must be established prior to their disposal. The determination of the surplus commodity’s FMV will determine whether the superintendent has to submit it to the board. You need to document how you reached FMV; Digital photos can be very useful, particularly if you decide FMV seems low.

The disposal of items purchased with federal grant funds is governed by the following requirements, which are located at 2 C.F.R. § 200.313(e):

(e) Disposition. When original or replacement equipment acquired under a Federal award is no longer needed for the original project or program or for other activities currently or previously supported by a Federal awarding agency, except as otherwise provided in Federal statutes, regulations, or Federal awarding agency disposition instructions, the non–Federal entity must request disposition instructions from the Federal awarding agency if required by the terms and conditions of the Federal award. Disposition of the equipment will be made as follows, in accordance with Federal awarding agency disposition instructions:

(1) Items of equipment with a current per unit fair market value of $5,000 or less may be retained, sold or otherwise disposed of with no further obligation to the Federal awarding agency.

(2) Except as provided in § 200.312 Federally-owned and exempt property, paragraph (b), or if the Federal awarding agency fails to provide requested disposition instructions within 120 days, items of equipment with a current per-unit fair-market value in excess of $5,000 may be retained by the non–Federal entity or sold. The Federal awarding agency is entitled to an amount calculated by multiplying the current market value or proceeds from sale by the Federal awarding agency’s percentage of participation in the cost of the original purchase. If the equipment is sold, the Federal awarding agency may permit the non–Federal entity to deduct and retain from the Federal share $500 or ten percent of the proceeds, whichever is less, for its selling and handling expenses.

(3) The non–Federal entity may transfer title to the property to the Federal Government or to an eligible third party provided that, in such cases, the non–Federal entity must be entitled to compensation for its attributable percentage of the current fair market value of the property.

(4) In cases where a non–Federal entity fails to take appropriate disposition actions, the Federal awarding agency may direct the non–Federal entity to take disposition actions.

⁴ A.C.A. § 6-21-815(c)(1) states “a school district shall make unused or underutilized public school facilities available for lease or purchase”. We have elected to only include a requirement for the district to enter into a lease of the unused or underutilized property in the policy because A.C.A. § 6-21-815(c)(3)(A) allows the charter to petition the Commission to force a lease of the property but does not allow a similar forced sale of the property; this is a separate issue from the charter’s right of first refusal if you decide to sell the property.

⁵ The FMV of items must be established prior to their disposal. In the case of real property, this should be established by means of a survey and real estate appraisal by a licensed surveyor and appraiser performed within the preceding six (6) months.

The disposal of real property purchased with federal grant funds is governed by the requirements contained in 2 C.F.R. § 200.311, which states in part:

(c) Disposition. When real property is no longer needed for the originally authorized purpose, the non–Federal entity must obtain disposition instructions from the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity. The instructions must provide for one of the following alternatives:

(1) Retain title after compensating the Federal awarding agency. The amount paid to the Federal awarding agency will be computed by applying the Federal awarding agency’s percentage of participation in the cost of the original purchase (and costs of any improvements) to the fair market value of the property. However, in those situations where the non–Federal entity is disposing of real property acquired or improved with a Federal award and acquiring replacement real property under the same Federal award, the net proceeds from the disposition may be used as an offset to the cost of the replacement property.

(2) Sell the property and compensate the Federal awarding agency. The amount due to the Federal awarding agency will be calculated by applying the Federal awarding agency’s percentage of participation in the cost of the original purchase (and cost of any improvements) to the proceeds of the sale after deduction of any actual and reasonable selling and fixing-up expenses. If the Federal award has not been closed out, the net proceeds from sale may be offset against the original cost of the property. When the non–Federal entity is directed to sell property, sales procedures must be followed that provide for competition to the extent practicable and result in the highest possible return.

(3) Transfer title to the Federal awarding agency or to a third party designated/approved by the Federal awarding agency. The non–Federal entity is entitled to be paid an amount calculated by applying the non–Federal entity’s percentage of participation in the purchase of the real property (and cost of any improvements) to the current fair market value of the property.

⁶ If there is more than one (1) charter located within the geographic boundaries of a school district, the charter authorizing panel will determine the charter that will have the right of first refusal.

⁷ If a charter has a right of first refusal on the property to be sold and the charter was not the entity who made the high bid, the charter must be provided an opportunity to match the high bid. If the charter agrees to match the high bid, the charter’s offer to match the high bid must be the bid that is accepted.

⁸ A.C.A. § 6-13-111 and A.C.A. § 6-21-108 are the statutes that cover donating District property. Please keep in mind that selling below FMV has the same legal connotation as donating. A.C.A. § 6-13-111(c) and (d) establish a system for selling district owned real property that fails to draw a buyer at a previously established Fair Market Price. We suggest consulting the statute for assistance in such a situation. A.C.A. § 6-21-108 sets forth additional requirements for consolidated school districts that is included as a separate section later in the policy.

Legal References: A.C.A. § 6-13-111

A.C.A. § 6-13-620

A.C.A. § 6-21-108

A.C.A. § 6-21-110

A.C.A. § 6-21-803

A.C.A. § 6-21-806

A.C.A. § 6-21-815

A.C.A. § 6-21-816

A.C.A. § 6-24-101–107

2 C.F.R. § 200.311

2 C.F.R. § 200.313

Date Adopted: 11/10/2008

Last Revised: 7/14/2016

7.14—USE OF DISTRICT CELL PHONES AND COMPUTERS

Board members, staff, and students shall not be given cell phones or computers for any purpose other than their specific use associated with school business. School employees who use a school issued cell phone and/or computers for non-school purposes, except as permitted by District policy, shall be subject to discipline, up to and including termination. School employees may be issued District cell phones if their position requires the employee be available at all times for work related emergencies or the employee be available to speak with others on school related business when the employee is away from the office. Employees issued cell phones for such purposes may use the phone for personal use on an “as needed” basis.¹

Students who use school-issued cell phones and/or computers for non-school purposes, except as permitted by Policy 4.47— POSSESSION AND USE OF CELL PHONES AND OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES, shall be subject to discipline, up to and including suspension or expulsion.

Except when authorized in the SCHOOL BUS DRIVER’S USE OF MOBILE COMMUNICATION DEVICES policies of 3.51 and 8.24, all employees and students are forbidden from using school-issued cell phones while driving any vehicle at any time. Violation may result in disciplinary action up to and including: ²

Suspension for students; and
Termination for employees.

Except when authorized in the SCHOOL BUS DRIVER’S USE OF MOBILE COMMUNICATION DEVICES policies of 3.51 and 8.24, no employee or student shall use any device for the purposes of browsing the internet; composing or reading emails and text messages; or making or answering phone calls while driving a motor vehicle which is in motion and on school property. Violations may result in disciplinary action up to and including:³

Suspension for students; and
Termination for employees.

Notes: ¹ The IRS has changed its position regarding the use of district issued cell phones for personal use for those employees who have a genuine need for a cell phone due to their job’s duties. Cell phones cannot be issued as a fringe benefit, but only as a “legitimate” need related to their job’s responsibilities. There is no longer a need to keep track of personal calls and claim their value as income. The district has the option of supplying the phone directly to the employee or of reimbursing the employee for the cost of his/her personal phone that is used for both District and personal purposes. Any such reimbursement can only be for the specific employee and not any other individuals associated with that employee’s cell phone plan. There has been no change to the use of school computers for personal purposes. Use of school issued cell phones and/or computers by board members or employees who do not meet the policy’s definition of eligibility for non-school purposes is considered income by the Internal Revenue Service. “Income” in this sense means the fair market value that the individual would have had to pay for the use of the cell phone or computer on the open market. Any board member, or employees who do not meet the policy’s definition of eligibility, who uses school-issued cell phones and/or computers for non-school purposes should be issued the appropriate IRS form (1099) stating the amount of income they have been paid by the district.

Please be aware that telephone records for both personal and school business calls of any school employee’s district-provided cell phone can be requested and must be disclosed by the school district under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

² This sentence is included because insurance companies have ruled that injuries occurring while driving and talking on school issued cell phones are subject to workers comp awards.

³ This sentence was added due to the dangers involved for both drivers and pedestrians associated with distracted driving. A.C.A. § 27-51-1609 prohibits the use of a “wireless handheld telephone” while in a school zone for any purpose when that use is not hands free. While the policy language exceeds the statutory language, we believe the expanded language is important for the protection of students and employees alike.

Cross References: 3.34— LICENSED PERSONNEL CELL PHONE USE

3.51—SCHOOL BUS DRIVER’S USE OF MOBILE COMMUNICATION DEVICES

4.47— POSSESSION AND USE OF CELL PHONES, OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES

8.24—SCHOOL BUS DRIVER’S USE OF MOBILE COMMUNICATION DEVICES

8.25— CLASSIFIED PERSONNEL CELL PHONE USE

Legal References: IRC § 132(d)

IRC § 274(d)

IRC § 280F(d)(4)

IRS Publication 15 B

A.C.A. § 6-19-120

A.C.A. § 27-51-1504

A.C.A. § 27-51-1609

Date Adopted: 11/10/2008

Last Revised: 7/30/2019

7.15—RECORD RETENTION AND DESTRUCTION

It is necessary to maintain district records in a manner that provides for efficient document storage and retrieval and is conducive to eliminating unnecessary record retention. Due to the variety of records that may need to be retained and accessed, the superintendent shall ensure that all staff receive appropriate training to understand this policy. Staff shall also understand the possible ramifications to the district and/or themselves for failure to properly maintain records and follow the requirements contained in this policy.

Definitions

“Directly or directly interested” (“directly”) means receiving compensation or other benefits personally or to an individual’s household from the person, business, or entity contracting with the District.

“Indirectly or indirectly interested” (“indirectly”) means that a family member, business, or other entity in which the individual or a family member has a financial interest will receive compensation or benefits.

“Record” is defined for the purposes of this policy, as an item or items, whether electronic or material, that are created by, at the request of, or received by and purposefully retained by a board member, administrator, or employee in the ordinary course of District business. Examples include, but are not limited to:

Any kind of correspondence;
Calendars;
Computer files and documents (which may include drafts);
Telephone logs;
Expense records;
Audio or video recordings that are created for the purpose of monitoring the security of District property, the safety of District students, or open public meetings;
Documentation related to transactions or contracts for:¹
- Services with Board members, administrators, employees, or members of their families covered under the statutorily defined ethical restrictions associated with a contract for services provided for the District involving a Board member, administrator, or employee who "directly or indirectly" benefits from the contract;
- An exemption granted by the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) from the statutorily defined ethical restrictions associated with a contract for employment or for services provided for the District that involves a District administrator, board member, or employee.

The superintendent shall be responsible for establishing a schedule for the routine destruction of district records that accommodates the needs of the district. The schedule shall specify the length of retention for any records not specifically delineated by this policy and be distributed to staff on a need-to-know basis according to their respective employment duties and responsibilities. The schedule should accommodate the need for records to be stored as a blend of printed, bound and electronically recorded (e.g., audio tape, video tape, micro-fiche, computer disk) material. The superintendent or designee shall ensure the effective and efficient securing, cataloging, storing, and appropriate scheduled destruction of all records.

The following records categories shall be retained for the time specified.

Board of Education Minutes – forever
Personnel files – forever
Student files – until the student receives a high school diploma or its equivalent, or is beyond the age of compulsory school attendance²
Student records of attendance/graduation – forever³
Financial Records – five (5) years⁴
Documentation, including letters of approval, related to transactions or contracts for services covered by this policy and Arkansas statutes for Board members or members of their families or for waivers granted to District employees - thirteen years⁵
Documentation relating to payments or reimbursements made by a vendor on behalf of a board member, administrator, or employee for travel, lodging, food, registration, entertainment, or other expenses⁶ – Three (3) years
Employment applications, including applicant lists, applicant interview evaluations, documentation in response to requests for reasons for a failure to be interviewed and/or hired, and hiring determinations - five (5) years⁷
Expenditures made with federal grant monies⁸ – governed by the terms of each grant
Video Surveillance Recordings – the timeline established in Policy 4.48—VIDEO SURVEILLANCE AND OTHER STUDENT MONITORING
Emails – The length of time set in the District’s Information Technology Security procedures⁹
Documents filed with the IRS, including those required in Policy 7.23‑Health Care Coverage and the Affordable Care Act – four (4) years
Statewide assessment security agreement – Three (3) years
Recordings of open public meetings – One (1) year
Reports and related documentation filed with the Auditor of State on abandoned property – Ten (10) years
Record of each query made of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Commercial Driver's License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse and the results of each query – Three (3) years
Employee consent to query the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Commercial Driver's License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse – Three (3) Years from the latest query
Reports from the Commercial Driver Alcohol and Drug Testing Database of the Office of Driver Services of the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration – Three (3) years
Records required by the District’s sexual harassment policies – seven (7) years

The superintendent or designee shall be responsible for determining when there is a need to interrupt the routine destruction of records.¹⁰ When the superintendent or designee makes the decision to cease the routine disposal of records, staff affected by the decision shall be promptly informed of the decision and of the nature of records that are to be retained; such records shall be retained until the superintendent or designee has authorized their destruction. Employee training on the district’s records retention schedule shall specifically include information on the records that may need to be retained due to pending disciplinary or legal actions that otherwise would be subject to routine disposal. If an employee has doubt about the need to retain any record otherwise scheduled for destruction, he/she shall consult with the superintendent or designee prior to destroying such records.¹¹

The records’ storage system devised by the superintendent and designee(s) shall be organized in a manner that enables the efficient retrieval of data and documents. The district shall have adequate backup of electronically stored critical data.¹² The system shall be communicated to employees in a manner that enables them to understand and follow the system’s requirements.

In retaining and destroying records, no employee shall:

Destroy, alter, mutilate, conceal, cover up, falsify, or make a false entry in any record that may be connected to a disciplinary matter or lawsuit or to a matter within the jurisdiction of a federal or state agency, in violation of federal law and regulations or state law and rules.
Alter, destroy or conceal a document, or attempt to do so, with the intent to impair the document’s availability for use in a disciplinary matter, lawsuit or an official proceeding or otherwise obstruct, influence or impede any lawsuit or official proceeding, in violation of federal law and regulations or state law and rules.
Retaliate or discriminate against an employee who refuses to violate this policy or to coerce or threaten an employee to violate this policy.

Failure to follow the requirements set forth in this policy may result in disciplinary action against the employee(s), up to and including termination. The district’s board of directors prohibits and will not tolerate any form of reprisal, retaliation or discrimination against any employee who, in good faith, has attempted to comply with this policy.

Notes: ¹ While A.C.A. § 6-24-105(b)(1)(A)(i) permits a district to employ a Board member's family member for up to $5,000, and (c)(2)(A)(i) permits a district to enter into a non-employment contract with a board member’s family member for up to a $10,000 limit, during the total tenure of the Board member without the District having to receive waivers for such employment, the need to retain documentation for all compensation exists if for no other reason than to establish when the limit may be reached.

² These are the records required to be maintained during a student’s attendance at your district and must be aligned with Policy 4.38—PERMANENT RECORDS.

³ This is limited to the dates a student attended school in your district and if the student earned a diploma. This is information students and adults need from time to time to prove they lived somewhere or to enroll in a college, for security clearances, or for background checks.

⁴ This is a suggested length of time. The minimum time your district must keep financial records (specifically original receipts of district expenditures) is until the records have been audited. In setting up your retention schedule, you might consider the warrantee and/or depreciation schedule of the items purchased and keep all financial records until, at a minimum, the warranty has expired or the item has been fully depreciated. As with all other retention schedules, relevant data must be retained if there is pending litigation or the likelihood of litigation until the matter is resolved.

⁵ A.C.A. § 6-24-115 makes it a criminal act to violate the statutes governing Board member and District employees' ethical behavior. A.C.A. § 5-1-109(c)(2) allows for a public servant to be charged for felonious conduct for up to ten years after the officer leaves office or the violation should have been discovered (whichever comes first), but this can be extended by an additional three years if the individual is out of state for a continuous period under A.C.A. § 5-1-109(g). Employees are included in the definition of public servants so the same retention requirements apply to both Board members and employees.

⁶ DESE’s rules only require all documentation to be retained for an individual if the total amount of the payments or reimbursements from vendors the individual receives during the fiscal year amount to three hundred dollars ($300) or more. We recommend retaining the documentation on all individuals regardless of whether the dollar amount was reached.

⁷ The requirements contained within A.C.A. § 21-3-302 and 303 necessitate the addition of this record retention category. The five (5) year retention length is not required by statute but is recommended. Any civil suit that would require the documents included in the employment application would be barred after five (5) years by A.C.A. § 16-56-115. Retention for the five years would assure you had the necessary records if a suit was filed during that time.

⁸ We suggest making this determination on a case-by-case basis using the latest of: the terms required by the grant, any related litigation is concluded, the records have been audited, or the 5 year statute of limitations for contracts has expired.

⁹ Routine deletion of records, email or other records, is not a problem so long as prompt action is taken to stop the deletion relating to matters that common sense and/or previous experience indicates could result in legal and/or disciplinary action. In districts that have routine deletion settings for electronic devices, the person responsible for halting the routine destruction of district records will need to inform the district’s Network Administrator (or equivalent) when events trigger the need to retain information that would otherwise be routinely deleted.

¹⁰ Due to the potential adverse repercussions for the failure to cease the destruction of such records, the person responsible for making a “cessation” decision should be close to the source of the cause precipitating the cessation. When an incident occurs that common sense and/or previous experience indicate could result in legal and/or disciplinary action, the routine destruction of district records relating to the incident must be suspended until such time as the legal or disciplinary action, or the likelihood of such action, has concluded. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FCRP) as amended in December of 2006 specifically require litigants to be able to produce pertinent electronically stored information (ESI). FCRP’s Rule 37(f) specifically acknowledges the need for routine deletion of records. The issue becomes one of a “good faith” effort to stop record destruction when necessary. The committee’s (responsible for developing the rules) notes on this matter state:

When a party is under a duty to preserve information because of pending or reasonably anticipated litigation, intervention in the routine operation of an information system is one aspect of what is often called a ‘litigation hold.’ Among the factors that bear on a party’s good faith in the routine operation of an information system are the steps the party took to comply with a court order in the case or party agreement requiring preservation of specific electronically stored information.

Records that cannot be produced in a timely manner and/or have been destroyed when common sense and/or previous experience indicated legal and/or disciplinary action could result can cause the district unnecessary and expensive trouble. Besides the inevitable bad public relations of having destroyed records that, the press will be sure to point out, obviously should have been retained, there can also be significant financial costs and/or penalties for the process of attempting to retrieve the records. ASBA would like to stress that deleting electronic records doesn’t really get rid of them until they have been overwritten several times by new entries. The process of getting to the supposedly deleted records can be a costly one.

¹¹ If there is any doubt concerning the need to retain, prudence would dictate retention.

¹² While there is a need and/or a place for different formats of document storage/retention (paper, audio tape, video tape, micro-fiche, computer disk), the space required for records storage quickly tilts the equation in favor of electronic methods to the maximum extent possible. The vast majority of documents can be transferred electronically (if created electronically) or scanned into a digital format (if created on paper) and stored on external hard drives, firewalls, servers, tape drives, CDs or DVDs. While this method/process is not free, it can be relatively inexpensive and quite possibly save the district money in the long run when stored records are needed. Consult with your district’s technology person to devise the system that will best meet your district’s needs, but here are a few points to consider. 1) When scanning, store the documents as PDFs which uses little memory space. If you do the scanning in an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) format, the final documents can be stored in a data base and searched which can save you many hours and much frustration when you need to retrieve something (which is, after all, the reason for the storage). 2) Make multiple copies of the stored documents on separate external storage devices and store the duplicate devices at separate locations to ensure the survival of at least one copy if there is a fire or natural disaster that destroys one of the storage sites. This should be included as part of the district’s Disaster Recovery Plan. 3) It is important to remember that technology gets old and obsolete. This necessitates that you establish a schedule or a trigger for the updating of the stored data/documents that are to be retained for more than 10 years. For example, CDs and external hard drives are being replaced with storage servers or cloud-based storage. In short, you need to include file format update/upgrades as part of your district’s technology plans.

Cross References 1.22—RECORDING OF BOARD MEETINGS

3.19—LICENSED PERSONNEL EMPLOYMENT

3.26—LICENSED PERSONNEL SEXUAL HARASSMENT

4.27—STUDENT SEXUAL HARASSMENT

4.48—VIDEO SURVEILLANCE AND OTHER STUDENT MONITORING

7.16—INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SECURITY

7.18—DISPOSAL OF NON-NEGOTIATED CHECKS OR UNCLAIMED PROPERTY

8.13—CLASSIFIED EMPLOYMENT

8.20—CLASSIFIED PERSONNEL SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Legal References: A.C.A. § 5-1-102

A.C.A. § 5-1-109(c)(2), (g)

A.C.A. § 6-13-619

A.C.A. § 6-17-104

A.C.A. § 6-17-2301

A.C.A. § 6-18-901

A.C.A. § 6-24-102(8)(15)

A.C.A. § 6-24-105(d)

A.C.A. § 6-24-106(c)(6)

A.C.A. § 6-24-107(c)

A.C.A. § 6-24-115

A.C.A. § 18-28-211

A.C.A. § 21-3-302, 303

A.C.A. § 25-19-106

A.C.A. § 27-23-207

DESE Rules Governing Ethical Guidelines and Prohibitions for Educational Administrators, Employees, Board Members, and Other Parties

DESE Rules Governing the Arkansas Educational Support and Accountability Act

26 C.F.R. § 31.6001-1

34 C.F.R. § 99.2

34 C.F.R. § 106.45

49 C.F.R. § 382.701

49 C.F.R. § 382.703

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Numbers 16, 26, 33, 34, 37, and 45

Date Adopted: 11/10/2008

Last Revised: 7/12/2021

7.16—INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SECURITY

The superintendent shall be responsible for ensuring the district has the necessary components in place to meet the district’s needs and the state’s requirements for information technology (IT) security. To aid the superintendent in creating, monitoring, and updating the District’s IT Security system, the superintendent shall appoint an information security officer (ISO). The ISO shall be responsible for:

Overseeing the District-wide IT security system;
Development of District IT policies and procedures;
Development and leading of employee training on the IT Security requirements;
Ensuring compliance with the adherence to the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) IT Security standards.

The ISO shall work with other IT staff, the superintendent, and district management appointed by the superintendent to develop a District IT Security system necessary to meet the requirements of this policy and DESE’s standards. The IT security system shall contain the necessary components designed to accomplish the following:

The District IT security system shall contain mechanisms, policies, procedures, and technologies necessary to prevent disclosure, modification, or denial of sensitive information.

For the purposes of the IT Security system, “sensitive data” is any and all student and employee data that is either personally identifiable information (PII) or any non PII information that, if assembled together, would allow a reasonable person to identify an individual. Sensitive data includes, but is not limited to:

Student personally identifiable information, except as allowed by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA);¹ and
Employee personally identifiable information, except as required by Ark. Code Ann. § 6-11-129.

All District employees having access to sensitive information shall receive annual IT security training, which shall emphasize the employee’s personal responsibility for protecting student and employee information.

Physical access to computer facilities, data rooms, systems, networks and data will be limited to those authorized personnel who require access to perform assigned duties.

User workstations shall not be left unattended when logged into sensitive systems or data that includes student or employee information. Workstation settings shall be set for automatic log off and require a password for the system to restore from screensavers.

All equipment that contains sensitive information shall be secured to deter theft. No sensitive data shall be retained on laptops and/or remote devices (home computer, thumb drives, cell phones, CDs, etc.) unless it is encrypted in accordance with the Arkansas State Security Office’s Best Practices.

Server rooms and telecommunication rooms/closets shall be protected by appropriate access control. The rooms shall be segregated from general school or District office areas to restrict access. Server room access control shall be enforced using keys² to allow unescorted access only to IT or management staff who require the access to perform their job functions.

Network perimeter controls will be implemented to regulate traffic moving between trusted internal (District) resources and external, untrusted (internet) entities. All network transmission of sensitive data shall enforce encryption where technologically feasible.

The District shall maintain a network configuration management program that includes at a minimum:

A network diagram identifying all connections, addresses, and purpose of each connection including management approval of all high risk internet facing ports such as mail (SMTP/25), file transport protocol (FTP/20-21), etc.
All public facing (internet) servers and workstations segmented on a demilitarized zone (DMZ) that keeps them separate from the internal District network. Segmentation shall be through Cisco Filter, Firewalls, Router,Vlan³.

All wireless access shall require authentication. The DISTRICT wireless networks will deploy network authentication and encryption in compliance with the Arkansas State Security Office’s Best Practices. Scans for rogue wireless devices will be conducted at a minimum monthly. Any Rogue wireless device shall be disabled.

Remote access with connectivity to the District internal network shall be achieved using encryption.

Appropriate WARNING BANNERS shall be implemented for all access points to the District internal network.

Cisco Anywhere Connected

System and application access will be granted based upon the least amount of access to data and programs required by the user in accordance with a business need-to-have requirement.

The District shall enforce strong password management for:

Employees and contractors as specified in Arkansas State Security Office Password Management Standard.
Students as specified in Arkansas State Security Office K-12 Student Password Management Best Practice.

User access shall be limited to only those specific access requirements necessary for an employee to perform his/her job functions. Where possible, segregation of duties shall be utilized to control authorization access.

User access shall be granted and terminated upon timely receipt of a documented access request/termination. All access requests shall require approval by the ISO or designee. Ongoing access shall be reviewed for all users at a minimum annually.

Audit and log files shall be generated and maintained for at least ninety (90) days for all critical security-relevant events, including but not limited to:

Invalid logon attempts;
Changes to the security policy/procedures; and
Failed attempts to access objects by unauthorized users.

IT administrator privileges for operating system(s), database(s), and applications shall be limited to the minimum number of staff required to perform these sensitive duties.

Application development and maintenance for in-house developed student or financial applications will adhere to industry processes for segregating programs and deploying software only after appropriate testing and management approvals.

Any custom-built student or financial applications or supporting applications that interface, integrate with, or provide queries and reporting to/from student or financial systems shall be developed using a system development life cycle approach that incorporates at a minimum:

Planning, requirements, and design;
User acceptance testing (UAT);
Code reviews; and
Controlled migration to production.

Any changes to core or supporting applications that provide student or financial processing or reporting shall be implemented in a controlled manner that includes at a minimum:

Documentation of any change, including changes to both infrastructure and application;
Management approval of all changes; and
Controlled migration to production, including testing as appropriate.

6. Monitoring and responding to IT related incidents will be designed to provide early notification of events and rapid response and recovery from internal or external network or system attacks.

The District shall develop and maintain an incident response plan to be used in the event of system compromise that shall include:

Emergency contacts;⁴
Incident containment procedures; and
Incident response and escalation procedures.

To ensure continuous critical IT services, the District ISO will develop a business continuity/disaster recovery plan appropriate for the size and complexity of the District IT operations.

The district-wide business continuity plan shall include at a minimum:

Procedures for performing routine backups at least weekly and the storage of backup media at a secured location other than the server room or adjacent facilities. Backup media shall be stored off-site a reasonably safe distance from the primary server room and retained in a fire resistant receptacle.
A secondary backup processing location, such as another School or District building, shall be identified.
A documented calling tree with emergency actions to include: (Guy Fenter Coop)
- Recovery of backup data;
- Restoration of processing at the secondary location; and
- Generation of student and employee listings to ensure an accurate head count.

Server and workstation protection software will be deployed to identify and eradicate malicious software attacks such as viruses, spyware, and malware.

Spyware and virus protection software shall be installed, distributed, and maintained on all production platforms, including:

File/print servers;
Workstations;
Email servers;
Web servers; and
Application and database servers.

Malicious software protection shall include:

Weekly update downloads;
Weekly scanning;
The malicious software protection to be in active state (realtime) on all operating servers/workstations.

All security-relevant software patches shall be applied within thirty (30) days and critical patches shall be applied as soon as possible.⁵

Notes: ¹ More information on FERPA may be found in Policy 4.13—PRIVACY OF STUDENTS’ RECORDS/ DIRECTORY INFORMATION.

More information, including a copy of DESE’s IT Security Policy, may be found at https://adedata.arkansas.gov/security.

² Insert the method used to restrict access. The types of methods suggested are keys, electronic card readers, or a similar method.

³ Insert your method for segmentation of the network. The recommended methods are firewall, router, virtual local area network (VLAN), or a similar network access control device that does not allow internet traffic to access any internal system without first passing through a DMZ or network device rule set.

⁴ The list of recommended emergency contacts contains:

Vendors;
DIS;
DESE/APSCN;
Law enforcement; and
District employees.

In addition to other notifications, A.C.A. § 10-4-429 requires the submission of a written initial report of the known facts of the compromise of the security, confidentiality, or integrity of an information system maintained by a public entity, which includes schools, to Arkansas Legislative Audit within five (5) business days after learning of the security incident. Regular updates must be provided to Arkansas Legislative Audit until the investigation of the security incident is closed.

⁵ DESE recommends that districts consider implementing enterprise servers for required updates to conserve network resources.

Legal References: Commissioner’s Memo RT-15-010

A.C.A. § 4-110-101 et seq.

A.C.A. § 10-4-429

Date Adopted:

Last Revised: 6/20/22

7.17—FOOD SERVICE PREPAYMENT

Meal Charges

The district does not provide credit for staff or students to charge for meals, a la carte, or other food and beverage items available for purchase in the school food service areas. Meals, a la carte, or other food and beverage items may be purchased by either providing payment for the items at the time of receipt or by having a prepaid account with the District that may be charged for the items. Staff and parents, or students choosing to do so, may pay in advance for meals, a la carte, or other food and beverage items through any of the following methods:

Submitting cash or check payment at _____;

A student’s parents will be contacted by authorized District personnel regarding a student’s prepaid account balance at the following times :

Unpaid Meal Access

In accordance with Arkansas law, the District allows students whose accounts do not have enough funds to purchase a meal to receive an unpaid reimbursable meal at no charge. The District will notify a student’s parents:⁷

When the student’s prepaid account balance has dropped to the point that the student will begin receiving unpaid meals; Each time the student receives the first unpaid meal after money has been deposited into the student’s prepaid account; and
After the student has received five (5) unpaid meals.

Students who have submitted proper documentation to receive a meal modification in accordance with Policy 4.50—SCHOOL MEAL MODIFICATIONS shall receive the same type of modification for an unpaid meal.

Legal References: Commissioner’s Memo CNU-17-003

Commissioner’s Memo CNU-17-024

A.C.A. § 6-18-715

Date Adopted: 7/30/2019

7.17.1—EXCESS FOOD

Definition

“Excess food” means any food that remains after the serving of breakfast and lunch to students during the school day; however, “excess food” does not include any food that has expired, been opened, or been consumed.

Excess food shall be handled in accordance with U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations and Arkansas Department of Health rules.

Excess Food Sold a la carte¹

Exess food may be sold a la carte no later than the day immediately following the day the excess food was served in the District’s school meal service.

Donation of Excess Food

When it is not feasible for the District to reuse excess food, excess food may be donated to a non-profit organization, such as a community food bank, homeless shelter, or other nonprofit charitable organization.

The District’s Child Nutrition Director (Director), after consultation with and approval by the superintendent, may identify a nonprofit “partner” that will accept the District’s excess food. Before the District may donate food to the nonprofit partner, the Director shall obtain a copy of the nonprofit partner’s 501(c)(3) documentation and contact information for use when excess food is available for donation.

Whenever excess food is donated, the Director shall document all of the following on the form provided by the Child Nutrition Unit:

What, how much and when excess food donations are made;
Who picks up the excess food for the nonprofit partner, including a signature along with the date and time of the pick up; and
Signature of the child nutrition staff when excess food is donated to the nonprofit partner.

Following the donation of excess food, the Director shall:

Monitor excess food donations;
Report excess food cost to administration; and
Revise planned production and menus to minimize excess food.

The nonprofit partner shall agree to provide the District’s students the first opportunity to receive the donated excess food. The superintendent, Director, and nonprofit partner shall work together to adopt procedures² for the providing of excess food to the District’s students.

Notes: ¹ If your district does not have an a la carte program, delete this portion of the policy.

² When developing the procedures, one item to consider would be to have the district (not the school food authority) either provide space the nonprofit partner may use to provide a refrigerator or the district could provide space and a refrigerator for the nonprofit partner to use to store the donated food until the completion of the distribution of the donated food to the district’s students; this would reduce the amount of time that the excess food is outside of a temperature controlled environment between when the food is donated and the food is distributed.

In reviewing the procedures with the partner non-profit, one factor to consider is if space and time will be provided for students to consume the donated food on campus, if students will be provided the food to take home, or both.

Legal References: A.C.A. § 6-18-716

Commissioner’s Memo CNU-16-033

7 C.F.R. § 210.10

7 C.F.R. § 210.11

Date Adopted:

Last Revised: 7/12/2021

7.17.2—NON-DISCRIMINATION IN FOOD SERVICE PROGRAMS

In accordance with Federal law and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations, the Lamar School District shall not exclude from participation in, deny the benefits of, or subject to discrimination any individual as part of any of the District’s food service programs on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, or disability. The District shall not allow reprisal or retaliation against any individual for prior civil rights activity.

Food service program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain food service program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the District, Child Nutrition Unit of the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education of the Arkansas Department of Education, or the USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

To file a food service program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should:

Complete a USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form (Form AD-3027), which can be obtained:

Online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USDA-OASCR%20P-Complaint-Form-0508-0002-508-11-28-17Fax2Mail.pdf;
Calling any USDA office at (866) 632-9992; or

Writing a letter addressed to USDA that:

Contains:
1. The complainant’s name, address, and telephone number; and
2. A written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation; and
Submitted to USDA by:

Mail:

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights

1400 Independence Avenue, SW

Washington, D.C. 20250-9410;

Fax at either:

(833) 256-1665; or
(202) 690-7442; or

Email:

program.intake@usda.gov

The Lamar School District is an equal opportunity provider.

Note: A copy of this non-discrimination notification must be included on all print and non-print food service program materials, including, but not limited to, audio, video, website, brochures, newsletters, and by-laws.

Cross References: 4.50—SCHOOL MEAL MODIFICATIONS

4.51—FOOD SERVICE PREPAYMENT

4.58—FOOD SHARING AND ITS REMOVAL FROM FOOD SERVICE AREA

7.17—FOOD SERVICE PREPAYMENT

7.17.1—EXCESS FOOD

Legal References: Commissioner’s Memo CNU-22-028

7 C.F.R. Parts 15, 15a, and 15b

7 C.F.R. § 210.23

20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.

29 U.S.C. 794 et seq.

42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.),

42 U.S.C. 6101 et seq.

42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.

Date Adopted: 6/20/22

Last Revised:

7.18—DISPOSAL OF NON-NEGOTIATED CHECKS OR UNCLAIMED PROPERTY

State law specifies how the district is to dispose of retained funds in the form of issued but non-negotiated checks that have not been presented for payment within one (1) calendar year. The district shall dispose of these retained funds in accordance with the law and remit the amount of all non-negotiated checks to the Unclaimed Property Division of the Arkansas Auditor’s Office.

The district shall make a good faith effort to return physical items that have been left on district property to their rightful owners. When contact information is known for the owner of an item of a non-perishable nature left at the district, the district shall use the information to attempt to contact the owner to inform him/her of the location of the item. Owners of such items shall be given at least three (3) weeks¹ to pick up the item he/she left at the district. If the owner fails to pick up the item within the time allotted, the district may dispose of the item in a manner of its choosing.

The district is under no obligation to retain an abandoned, perishable item left on district property.

Notes: The first paragraph of this policy is short, but it has great importance especially if your district has not been submitting reports as the law requires. Checks are considered to be non-negotiated when they have not been paid by the bank from the school district’s checking account and shown as cleared on the school district’s bank statement. Funds are considered “unclaimed” after a check has been issued and mailed, but is not presented for payment at the bank or appear on the bank statement in the twelve (12) month period after it has been issued. Districts are required to file annual reports by October 31.

The state auditor’s website, .auditor.ar.gov, has a section that does a good job of explaining the requirements.

¹ You may choose the time period that works for your district. Enforcing the time limit may depend on the item that has been left behind and possible circumstances surrounding how the item was left at the district.

Legal References: A.C.A. § 18-28-201

A.C.A. § 18-28-202(a)(11), (c), (d)

A.C.A. § 18-28-204

A.C.A. § 18-28-206

A.C.A. § 18-28-207

A.C.A. § 18-28-208(a)

A.C.A. § 18-28-210(b)(c)

A.C.A. § 18-28-217

A.C.A. § 18-28-221(a)

A.C.A. § 18-28-224

Date Adopted: 6/14/2010

Last Revised: 7/28/2020

7.19—SERVICE ANIMALS IN DISTRICT FACILITIES

In accordance with the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Arkansas statutes, service dogs and trained miniature horses¹ (service animals) are permitted for use by individuals with disabilities on district property and in district facilities provided the individuals and their animals meet the requirements and responsibilities covered in this policy.

When an individual with a disability seeks to bring a service animal into a district facility, the district is entitled to ask the individual: If the animal is required because of a disability; and

What work or task has the animal been trained to perform.²

While the district is not entitled to ask for documentation that the animal has been properly trained, the individual bringing the animal into a district facility will be held accountable for the animal’s behavior.

Any service animal brought into a district facility by an individual with a disability must have been trained to do work or perform tasks for the individual. The work or tasks performed by the service animal must be directly related to the handler’s disability. Examples of work or tasks include, but are not limited to, assisting individuals who are blind or have low vision with navigation and other tasks, alerting individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing to the presence of people or sounds, providing non-violent protection, pulling a wheelchair, assisting an individual during a seizure, alerting individuals to the presence of allergens, retrieving items such as medicine, providing physical support and assistance with balance and stability to individuals with mobility disabilities, and helping persons with psychiatric and neurological disabilities by preventing or interrupting impulsive or destructive behaviors.

The crime deterrent effects of an animal’s presence and the provision of emotional support, well-being, comfort, or companionship do not constitute work or tasks for the purposes of this policy; no animal brought solely for any of these reasons shall be permitted on school grounds.³

Individuals with disabilities shall be permitted to be accompanied by their service animals in all areas of a public entity’s facilities where members of the public, participants in services, programs or activities, or invitees, as relevant, are allowed to go.

A service animal shall be under the control of its handler. A service animal shall have a harness, leash, or other tether, unless either the handler is unable because of a disability to use a harness, leash, or other tether, or the use of a harness, leash, or other tether would interfere with the service animal’s safe, effective performance of work or tasks, in which case the service animal must be otherwise under the handler’s control by means of voice control, signals, or other effective means.

A service animal shall be groomed to prevent shedding and dander and shall be kept clean of fleas and ticks.

District staff may ask an individual with a disability to remove a service animal from the premises if:

The animal is out of control and the animal’s handler does not take effective action to control it;
The animal is not housebroken; or
Making reasonable accommodations for the service animal’s presence would fundamentally alter the nature of the service, program, or activity.

If the district excludes a service animal due to the reasons listed above, the district shall give the individual with a disability the opportunity to participate in the service, program, or activity without having the service animal on the premises.

The District and its staff are not responsible for the care or supervision of a service animal brought onto district property or into district facilities by an individual with a disability. Students with service animals are expected to care for and supervise their animal. In the case of a young child or a student with disabilities who is unable to care for or supervise the service animal, the parent is responsible for providing care and supervision of the animal. Prior to working in the school, any person responsible for providing care and supervision of the animal must go through the same process for background checks as required of all employees of the school system.

The District shall not ask or require an individual with a disability to pay a surcharge, even if people accompanied by pets are required to pay fees, or to comply with other requirements generally not applicable to people without pets.⁴

Individuals should be aware that under Arkansas law the misrepresentation of an animal as a service animal or a service animal in training to a person or entity operating a public accommodation may subject the individual to a civil penalty.

Notes: The Department of Justice has published an FAQ on service animals. A copy may be found on the Policy Resources Page at https://arsba.org/policyresources.

¹ A service dog may be any breed even if the breed is restricted by a local ordinance. A miniature horse is not one specific breed, but may be one of several breeds, with distinct characteristics that produce animals suited to service animal work. The animals generally range in height from 24 inches to 34 inches measured to the withers, or shoulders, and generally weigh between 70 and 100 pounds. There is a bit more flexibility for Districts in determining if a facility can accommodate a horse than for a dog. Miniature horses are less flexible than dogs and therefore may not fit into smaller spaces as well as a dog. In specific instances when the horse’s size poses a legitimate safety hazard, the horse could be prohibited from that specific event or facility. Keep in mind, however, that if a facility could reasonably accommodate a 24” dog, it could likely accommodate a 24” horse.

² Districts are not allowed to ask about the nature or extent of a person’s disability.

³ This paragraph is optional. The school is not required to allow an individual to bring an animal that is only for crime deterrence, emotional support, or comfort onto school grounds but may do so if it wishes.

⁴ The District can only charge an individual with a disability for damage caused by his or her service animal if it charges other individuals for damages they cause.

Legal References: 28 CFR § 35.104

28 CFR § 35.136

28 C.F.R. § 36.302

A.C.A. § 20-14-304

A.C.A. § 20-14-308

A.C.A. § 20-14-314

Date Adopted: 7/30/2019

Last Revised: 7/12/2021

7.20—ELECTRONIC FUND TRANSFERS

District funds shall only be disbursed by the district treasurer upon the receipt of checks or warrants signed by the District Board of Directors' Disbursing Officer and the Superintendent or through the electronic transfer of funds. Any electronic transfer of funds must be initiated by the District and authorized in writing by both the Disbursing Officer of the school district Board of Directors and the Superintendent.

For the purposes of this policy, “initiated by the District” means the District controls both the timing and the amount of the funds transfer.

The district treasurer shall maintain evidence of authority for the disbursement in the form of invoices, payrolls that conform with written contracts on file in his/her office, or other appropriate documentation indicating an authority to disburse District funds.

“Other appropriate documentation” includes one-time, signed authorization for recurring transactions. The Board of Directors Disbursing Officer must pre-authorize the electronic transfer of funds for non-recurring transactions, which can be accomplished by a signed authorization or an email authorizing such a disbursement of funds. ¹

Notes: ¹ Commissioner's Memo Com-12-036 suggests the use of email as a way to obtain pre-authorization for non-recurring transactions. You may add to or change this language to reflect district practice provided adequate internal control is maintained for such transactions.

The Commissioner's Memo strongly discourages use of district debit cards. While we did not include any language to that effect in this policy, we agree with both the ADESE and Legislative Audit that districts would be wise to avoid their use. The occasional use of District credit cards is unavoidable, but Legislative Audit urges stringent internal controls to help ensure such use is not abused.

Cross Reference: 1.16 —DUTIES OF BOARD DISBURSING OFFICER

Legal References: A.C.A. § 6-13-701(e)

Commissioner's Memo Com-12-036

Date Adopted:

Last Revised: 7/30/2019

7.23—HEALTH CARE COVERAGE AND THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

Definitions

“Dependent”, for purposes of this policy, means an employee’s child(ren) and/or spouse who are enrolled by the employee in health care coverage through the District’s health care plans.

“Full-time school bus driver” means a person employed by the District to drive regular routes during the annual school year:

Who contracts with the District to operate a school bus for at least seven hundred twenty (720) hours during the school year;
Whose primary source of income during the school year is obtained by operating a school bus for the District; or
Who contracts with the District to operate a school bus and is designated by the superintendent as a full-time school bus driver, regardless of the number of hours for which the person is contracted.

“Full-time employee”, for purposes of this policy, means an employee who is:.

In a position¹ requiring on average thirty (30) hours of actual performance per week during the annual school year; or
A full-time school bus driver.

“Responsible individual” means a primary insured employee who, as a parent or spouse, enrolls one or more individual(s) in health care coverage through the District’s health care plans.

“Variable hour employee”, for the purposes of this policy, means an individual, other than a full-time school bus driver, who has no base minimum number of hours of performance required per week.

Health Insurance Enrollment

All full time District employees are eligible to enroll themselves; their spouse, so long as the spouse is not otherwise eligible for insurance through his/her employer's sponsored plan;² and their child(ren) in one of the insurance plans through the Public School Employee Life and Health Insurance Program (PSELHIP). Variable hour employees are not eligible to enroll in a PSELHIP plan. If a variable hour employee’s measurement period finds that the employee averaged thirty (30) or more hours per week, then the employee is treated as a full time employee rather than a variable hour employee and is eligible for health insurance.³ New full time employees have sixty (60) days following the start date of the employee’s contract to elect to enroll in a PSELHIP plan; all new employees shall be informed in writing of the start date of the employee’s contract and that the employee has sixty (60) days from that date to elect PSELHIP coverage.⁴ Coverage for new employees who choose to enroll in a PSELHIP plan shall take effect on the first of the month following the date on the enrollment application. Coverage shall be in effect until the end of the calendar year. Employees who experience a Qualifying Status Change Event⁵ have sixty (60) days from the date of the Qualifying Status Change Event to file an application to change coverage information. All employees who continue to be eligible may elect to continue coverage and make changes to their PSELHIP plan for the following plan year during the yearly open enrollment period.

The District shall ensure all employees are provided education annually on the advantages and disadvantages of a consumer-driven health plan option and effective strategies of using a Health Savings Account (HSA).⁶

District Contribution to Premiums

At a minimum, the District shall distribute the statutorily required contribution rate to all employees who are enrolled in one of the PSELHIP plans, which shall include any mandatory increases to the contribution rate due to increases to the salary schedule.⁷ In accordance with the State Health Insurance Portability Rules (SHIP), the District shall continue to pay the premium contribution for an employee who transfers to another Arkansas school district that also participates in the SHIP through August 31 of the calendar year the employee leaves the district so long as the employee:⁸

Completes his/her contract with the District;
Provides the District with notice that the employee is transferring to another district by no later than the Friday following the last student contact day⁹;
Provides the District with proof of employment at another Arkansas district; and
Has the employee portion of the premium deducted from his/her end-of-year checks or pays the District business office the employee’s portion of the premium by the 15th¹⁰ of both July and August.

Measurement Method of Employee Hours³

Option 1: The District uses the look-back method for determining if an employee qualifies as a full-time employee.³

Option 2: The District uses the monthly measurement method for determining if an employee qualifies as a full-time employee.³

W-2

For all full-time employees who are enrolled in a PSELHIP plan, the District shall indicate in box twelve (12) of the employee’s Form W-2 the cost of the employee’s health care coverage by using code “DD”.¹¹

IRS Returns

The District will electronically file with the IRS by March 31 of each year the forms¹² required by the IRS on the health insurance coverage of each full-time employee for the previous calendar year, whether or not the full-time employee participates in a health insurance plan through the PSELHIP.

Statement of Return

The District shall send to each full-time employee a Statement of Return (Statement) regarding the IRS Return¹³ filed on the employee. The Statement shall contain: The District’s name, address, and Employer Identification Number (EIN) as well as a copy of the IRS Return filed on the employee. The District shall send a copy of the Statement to the employee on or before January 31 of the calendar year following the calendar year the information in the Statement covers. The District shall send only one Statement to the household of an employee who meets the definition of a responsible individual that will include all requisite information for both the responsible individual and the responsible individual’s dependent(s). The Statement will be mailed to the employee’s address on record.

Record Retention

The District shall maintain copies of the Statements sent to employees in accordance with the requirements for documents transmitted to the IRS in Policy 7.15—RECORD RETENTION AND DESTRUCTION.

Notes: This Policy is not intended to provide information on the specifics of the differences between the available PSELHIP plans; such information may be requested from the Employee Benefits Division (EBD).

¹ Although Arkansas's statutory language is “a position”, the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Affordable Care Act both state that the determination of total number of hours is based on the specific employee rather than the number of contracts/positions an employee has with the same employer. We believe that the Federal laws allow you to have an employee under separate contracts so long as you combine the number of hours from each contract to reach a total number of hours for that employee.

Example: An employee has two contracts with your district: one for a bus driver and one for a custodian. The bus driver contract is for twenty (20) hours each week and the custodian contract is for fifteen (15) hours each week. The employee is treated as providing thirty-five (35) hours for your district and would be eligible.

² EBD permits an employee to insure his/her spouse through the PSELHIP when the employee’s spouse is a state employee or a public school employee.

³ The Missouri School Boards Association has an excellent document containing more information on variable hour employees, selecting a measurement method, and setting up procedures for calculating hours. The document can be found at https:arsba.org/policy-resources.

⁴ The start date of the employment contract is important because it triggers the start of the sixty (60) days the employee has to elect coverage. Our understanding is that EBD will use the date the employee is entered into APSCN to determine the start and end dates of the sixty (60) day period. The date an employee should be entered into APSCN as having been hired is the first date the employee’s contract covers rather than the date the board voted to employ the individual; for example:

The employee has a 190 day contract with a first day of duty of Aug.7^th and runs through May 29^th. The start date is August 7^th.

⁵ Qualifying Status Change Events include: change in number of dependents due to birth, adoption, death, or loss of eligibility due to age; change in marital status due to marriage, death, divorce, legal separation, or annulment; change in employment status; and loss or gain of group coverage. EBD requires supporting documentation of the qualifying status change event be attached to the application for a change in coverage.

⁶ A consumer-driven health plan option is a health insurance plan that qualifies as a high deductible health plan. Currently, the PSELHIP plans that qualify as consumer-driven health plans are the Classic and Basic Plans. Districts may satisfy the training requirement by allowing a representative from the EBD's list of approved vendors to speak with the district’s employees.

⁷ The amount for the minimum contribution rate is set forth in A.C.A. § 6-17-1117(a)(1). Districts may be required to pay above the minimum contribution amount if the district gives a raise to the base minimum bachelor’s level teacher salary schedule. The district would then have to increase the contribution rate by the same percentage as the increase to the base minimum bachelor’s level teacher salary schedule; the exceptions to this are:

The increase to the base bachelor’s level salary schedule was to bring the district into compliance with the statutory minimum teacher salary schedule;
Seventy-five percent (75%) or more of the district’s eligible employees participate in health insurance through the PSELHIP; or
The district’s contribution is one hundred twenty-five percent (125%) or more above the minimum contribution amount.

When a district employee has elected the employee and spouse plan or the family plan and the employee’s spouse also works for the district, the employee who is the primary insured individual is the only individual considered to have “elected to participate”; thus, the district is only responsible to pay a contribution rate for one employee rather than for both the employee and spouse.

⁸ This is optional language from the SHIP Rules, which has the intent to provide some uniformity across the state on how to handle the summer contract gap period and provide increased certainty for personnel. If your district elected not to participate in the program, replace this language with “The District does not participate in the State Health Insurance Portability program” and renumber the remaining footnotes. Participation in the program provides that personnel who are transferring from one participating Arkansas district to another participating Arkansas district have two options:

Legally, each school district is a separate employer; as a result, employees who transfer from another district have the option to be treated as a new employee for health insurance. As a new employee, the employee has the option to select a different level of insurance (Move from the Basic Plan to the Premium Plan or vice versa), add or drop dependents, and be eligible to receive the wellness discount. However, the employee will have all deductibles reset. Transferred employees who wish to be treated as a new employee are required to timely inform the district he/she is transferring from that the employee desires a break in coverage and to not have payments made on health insurance for July and August; these employees will be required to submit a new election form to EBD in order to have their health insurance reinstated.
The transferred employee may elect to continue existing coverage through the new district. An employee who chooses this option may not change plan types, add or drop dependents, and will only receive the wellness discount if the employee had qualified for the discount prior to transferring to the new district. Employees who wish to be treated as a transferring employee instead of a new employee will need to have the district the employee is transferring from indicate in the EBD task for employee termination that the reason for their termination is due to a transfer and have their new district submit a Notice of Public School Employee Transfer Form to EBD. For an employee to be eligible for this option, both the employee’s former district and the new district must participate in the SHIP program.

A copy of the SHIP Rules may be found at https://arsba.org/policy-resources and more information on procedures may be found in EBD’s Public School Employee Benefits Administration Manual.

⁹ We have put in a floating date for when employees have to notify that they are transferring that allows the policy to automatically take into account any extensions due to school being closed.

¹⁰ The 15^th is only a recommended date. The date must be set to allow a reasonable amount of time for collection from the employee but still allow the district to make a timely payment for health insurance premiums to EBD.

¹¹ This information has no impact on the employee’s taxes as the employee portion of the health coverage premium is still excluded from earned income. The inclusion on the Form W-2 is for informational purposes only.

¹² The two forms districts will be required to complete are Form 1094C and Form 1095C. Form 1095C, like a W2, is specific to each full time employee. Form 1094C, like a W3, is a transmittal form that covers all the 1095C submitted to the IRS as well as some additional information.

¹³ The IRS Return that will be sent to each full-time employee is a copy of the Form 1095C the district submits to the IRS on the employee.

Cross Reference: 7.15—RECORD RETENTION AND DESTRUCTION

Legal References: A.C.A. § 6-17-1117

A.C.A. § 21-5-401 et seq.

26 C.F.R. § 54.4980h-0 et seq.

26 C.F.R. § 31.6001-1

26 C.F.R. § 301.6056-1

Date Adopted:

Last Revised: 7/30/2019

7.23—HEALTH CARE COVERAGE AND THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

Definitions

“Dependent”, for purposes of this policy, means an employee’s child(ren) and/or spouse who are enrolled by the employee in health care coverage through the District’s health care plans.

“Full-time school bus driver” means a person employed by the District to drive regular routes during the annual school year:

Who contracts with the District to operate a school bus for at least seven hundred twenty (720) hours during the school year;
Whose primary source of income during the school year is obtained by operating a school bus for the District; or
Who contracts with the District to operate a school bus and is designated by the superintendent as a full-time school bus driver, regardless of the number of hours for which the person is contracted.

“Full-time employee”, for purposes of this policy, means an employee who is:

In a position¹ requiring on average thirty (30) hours of actual performance per week during the annual school year; or
A full-time school bus driver.

“Responsible individual” means a primary insured employee who, as a parent or spouse, enrolls one or more individual(s) in health care coverage through the District’s health care plans.

“Variable hour employee”, for the purposes of this policy, means an individual, other than a full-time school bus driver, who has no base minimum number of hours of performance required per week.

Health Insurance Enrollment

District Contribution to Premiums

At a minimum, the District shall distribute the established contribution rate to all employees who are enrolled in one of the PSELHIP plans, ⁷ In accordance with the State Health Insurance Portability Rules (SHIP), the District shall continue to pay the premium contribution for an employee who transfers to another Arkansas school district that also participates in the SHIP through August 31 of the calendar year the employee leaves the district so long as the employee:⁸

Completes his/her contract with the District;
Provides the District with notice that the employee is transferring to another district by no later than the Friday following the last student contact day⁹;
Provides the District with proof of employment at another Arkansas district; and
Has the employee portion of the premium deducted from his/her end-of-year checks or pays the District business office the employee’s portion of the premium by the 15th¹⁰ of both July and August.

Measurement Method of Employee Hours³

Option 1: The District uses the look-back method for determining if an employee qualifies as a full-time employee.³

Option 2: The District uses the monthly measurement method for determining if an employee qualifies as a full-time employee.³

W-2

IRS Returns

Statement of Return

Record Retention

The District shall maintain copies of the Statements sent to employees in accordance with the requirements for documents transmitted to the IRS in Policy 7.15—RECORD RETENTION AND DESTRUCTION.

² EBD permits an employee to insure his/her spouse through the PSELHIP when the employee’s spouse is a state employee or a public school employee.

The employee has a 190 day contract with a first day of duty of Aug.7^th and runs through May 29^th. The start date is August 7^th.

⁷ The amount for the minimum contribution rate is established by the House and Senate Education Committees as part of the adequacy review process

Legally, each school district is a separate employer; as a result, employees who transfer from another district have the option to be treated as a new employee for health insurance. As a new employee, the employee has the option to select a different level of insurance (Move from the Basic Plan to the Premium Plan or vice versa), add or drop dependents, and be eligible to receive the wellness discount. However, the employee will have all deductibles reset. Transferred employees who wish to be treated as a new employee are required to timely inform the district he/she is transferring from that the employee desires a break in coverage and to not have payments made on health insurance for July and August; these employees will be required to submit a new election form to EBD in order to have their health insurance reinstated.
The transferred employee may elect to continue existing coverage through the new district. An employee who chooses this option may not change plan types, add or drop dependents, and will only receive the wellness discount if the employee had qualified for the discount prior to transferring to the new district. Employees who wish to be treated as a transferring employee instead of a new employee will need to have the district the employee is transferring from indicate in the EBD task for employee termination that the reason for their termination is due to a transfer and have their new district submit a Notice of Public School Employee Transfer Form to EBD. For an employee to be eligible for this option, both the employee’s former district and the new district must participate in the SHIP program.

A copy of the SHIP Rules may be found at https://arsba.org/policy-resources and more information on procedures may be found in EBD’s Public School Employee Benefits Administration Manual.

⁹ We have put in a floating date for when employees have to notify that they are transferring that allows the policy to automatically take into account any extensions due to school being closed.

¹³ The IRS Return that will be sent to each full-time employee is a copy of the Form 1095C the district submits to the IRS on the employee.

Cross Reference: 7.15—RECORD RETENTION AND DESTRUCTION

Legal References: A.C.A. § 6-17-1117

A.C.A. § 21-5-401 et seq.

26 C.F.R. § 54.4980h-0 et seq.

26 C.F.R. § 31.6001-1

26 C.F.R. § 301.6056-1

Date Adopted:

Last Revised: 6/20/22

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