Meeting: 08/20/2026 - 07:00 AM Work Session Board Meeting
Location: Administrative Offices Board Room, 1301 East Second Avenue, Indianola, Iowa
The Indianola Community School District Board is scheduled for a work session focused on the opening of the 2026–27 school year, implementation of new state requirements concerning classroom disruptions and student discipline, and district facilities projects. The agenda is primarily informational and does not identify proposed votes or formal action items.
Key Items on the Agenda
Opening Week and Professional Development
District administrators are scheduled to review opening-week activities with teaching staff. Supporting materials outline professional development and operational priorities for elementary, middle, and high school employees as the 2026–27 school year begins.
The elementary-level work includes foundational preparation for updating standards and reviewing literacy curriculum, along with technology work involving the SAMR framework, artificial intelligence and screen time. Middle school plans include Character Strong training for all staff, technology work involving SAMR and AI, new math and social studies materials, and policy and procedure updates.
At the high school, opening work includes settling into and setting up the new building, adjusting to new administration and processes, reviewing SAMR and AI, setting up Schoology and PowerSchool, and addressing policy and procedure matters. Across grade levels, the materials emphasize updates to policies and procedures, with clarity and consistency identified as goals.
Student Behavior and Classroom Removal Requirements
SF 2428 Implementation
District administration is scheduled to present an overview of SF 2428 and explain how the district is implementing its new requirements, including challenges encountered during implementation. Packet materials describe the legislation as establishing new requirements involving violent and nonviolent classroom disruptions, student removal and readmission, staff training, special education considerations, reporting, and related district procedures.
The Iowa Department of Education FAQ included with the packet states that the new provisions took effect July 1, 2026. Among the requirements highlighted in the district's professional development materials:
- Teachers may remove students from classrooms for qualifying nonviolent disruptions and are required to remove students for violent disruptions.
- For grades K–5, the district presentation describes a minimum 30-minute removal period.
- For grades 6–12, the presentation states that a removed student does not return to that classroom until at least the next school day.
- A teacher and administrator must meet before a student is readmitted to the classroom from which the student was removed.
- Multiple removals can trigger development of a behavioral plan and additional disciplinary procedures.
- Additional requirements apply when students have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or Section 504 plan.
The Department's guidance makes clear that SF 2428 operates alongside existing federal protections for students with disabilities rather than replacing them. IDEA and Section 504 requirements, including rules governing educational placement, manifestation determinations and least restrictive environment, continue to apply.
New Staff and District Responsibilities
The packet identifies several implementation responsibilities that extend beyond individual classroom incidents. Each attendance center must establish an oversight review committee responsible for developing a policy, consistent with Iowa law, addressing when students removed for violent or nonviolent disruptions may be readmitted.
The supporting legislative checklist also identifies several district actions associated with SF 2428:
- Establish an oversight committee to review procedures and policy for returning students to classrooms following behavioral removals.
- Provide staff with special education professional development developed and distributed by the Iowa Department of Education.
- Ensure teachers are aware of IEP and Section 504 requirements for students they serve.
- Require staff responsible for implementing IEPs or 504 plans to review applicable accommodations and requirements.
- Review state guidance concerning suspension and expulsion definitions and adjust reporting practices as needed.
District professional development materials specifically identify training concerning least restrictive environment (LRE), free appropriate public education (FAPE) and FAPE special requests.
Procedures Following Classroom Removal
The state guidance included in the packet describes detailed procedures that may apply after a classroom disruption. For a nonviolent disruption, a teacher may remove a student and place the student under the supervision of the principal or designee for at least 30 minutes. When a student is removed more than once for nonviolent disruptions, a team that includes school personnel, the student and the student's parent or guardian must meet to establish a behavioral plan and course of discipline.
For students removed two or more times during a semester or equivalent academic period for violent or nonviolent disruptions, the guidance provides for in-school or out-of-school suspension and/or a recommendation to the superintendent for placement in an approved alternative learning environment, subject to applicable state, federal and local requirements.
The law also requires documentation and notification in specified circumstances. Classroom removals must be documented for reporting purposes, and additional notification requirements apply when incidents involve threats or violence resulting in injury, property damage or assault.
Special Education and Section 504 Considerations
The packet devotes substantial attention to how the new classroom-removal requirements interact with protections for students with disabilities. When a student with an IEP is removed because of a violent or nonviolent disruption, the guidance calls for an IEP team meeting immediately following the student's first removal, with specified participants and issues for consideration.
Topics for that meeting can include:
- Whether the student's current educational programming remains appropriate.
- Whether the IEP should be adjusted to address behavior.
- Whether the student's current placement or an alternative learning environment would best provide a free appropriate public education.
- What accommodations, modifications, adaptations and staff supports are needed.
- How special education services in the general education environment affect the student and other students.
The guidance states that SF 2428 does not change federal least-restrictive-environment requirements or replace manifestation determination procedures under IDEA and Section 504. Decisions about an individual student's IEP services, supports or placement remain matters for the IEP team rather than the attendance center's oversight review committee.
Facilities Update
District administration is also scheduled to provide updated information on the high school building project and upcoming projects. The agenda does not provide additional details about the projects, costs, schedules or proposed actions, so the packet supports describing this portion of the work session only as a facilities update.
What to Watch at the Meeting
The work session provides an early look at how several operational changes are being incorporated into the 2026–27 school year. Key points to watch include:
- How opening-week professional development translates new curriculum, technology, building and policy priorities into staff preparation.
- How the district is implementing SF 2428's classroom-removal, readmission and documentation requirements.
- What implementation challenges administrators have encountered under the new student-behavior law.
- How the district is handling the law's additional requirements for students with IEPs and Section 504 plans.
- How oversight committees, staff training and documentation procedures are being established at the district and building levels.
- What new information is presented about the high school building project and other upcoming facilities work.
This packet summary is based on publicly available meeting materials from Indianola Community School District.
Civic Translator summarized publicly available meeting materials.
