New London Comm School District Packet Summary — 2026-08-17
Meeting: 08/17/2026 - 06:00 PM Board of Directors – Regular Meeting Board Meeting
Scheduled time: 6:00 PM
Location: Middle/High School Success Center
The New London Comm School District Board of Directors is scheduled to consider a mix of operational, facilities, staffing, student-behavior, emergency-planning, athletics, and board-policy items. The packet also includes financial reports and administrative updates as the district prepares for the start of the 2026–2027 school year.
Key Items on the Agenda
The board is scheduled to discuss and act on a new New London Community School District Facilities Handbook governing community access to the district weight room and gymnasiums. The packet recommends approving the handbook and its procedures for community access and use.
Under the proposed handbook:
- Community weight-room access would occur only through approved recurring sessions.
- Two approved Weight Room Supervisors would have to be present throughout each community session.
- Supervisors would apply in pairs, propose a recurring schedule, and commit to that schedule for three months.
- Proposed weight-room hours are 4:30–5:45 a.m. and 6:00–9:30 p.m.
- Weight Room Supervisors would require approval from the superintendent, athletic director, and high school principal.
- Participants would not receive independent weight-room access and could use the facility only during approved supervised sessions.
- Community gymnasium use would be by reservation only.
- District instructional programs, athletics, practices, competitions, and other school activities would have priority over community use.
- Access could be suspended or revoked for violations involving security, unauthorized entry, unsafe behavior, misuse of property, or other handbook requirements.
The handbook also establishes orientation, building-security, equipment-use, supervision, emergency, minor-participation, and facility-care requirements.
Student Discipline and SF 2428 Playbook
The board is scheduled to consider a recommendation to adopt the district's SF 2428 Playbook in support of its disruptive-behavior policy. The guide is intended to implement Iowa Senate File 2428 requirements that took effect July 1, 2026 concerning classroom removals, discipline, parent communication, and student readmission.
The proposed playbook establishes procedures for:
- Nonviolent and violent classroom disruptions.
- Teacher and principal responsibilities when a student is removed.
- Parent or guardian notification.
- Student make-up work and instructional planning following a removal.
- Additional requirements for students with IEPs or Section 504 plans.
- Meetings and documentation associated with repeated removals.
- Student readmission following a classroom removal.
- Behavior documentation, parent meetings, intervention planning, forms, and checklists.
The packet indicates that an IEP team meeting is required when a student with an IEP is removed by a teacher for a nonviolent or violent classroom disruption.
Some readmission details remain identified as questions for an Oversight Review Committee, including when students may return after removals, how repeated disruptions should be handled, and procedures when required parent meetings do not occur.
Emergency Operations Planning
An Emergency Operations Plan 2026–2027 Addendum appears as an action item, supported by an Emergency Response Guide.
The guide covers district procedures for situations including hold-in-place, shelter-in-place, active attacks, tornadoes, fires, bomb threats, and medical emergencies. It establishes response, evacuation, communication, accountability, and emergency-notification procedures for staff.
Maintenance and Custodial Staffing
The packet recommends adding part-time maintenance and custodial capacity following staffing changes.
A full-time maintenance employee retired on June 30, 2026, and the district has a sharing agreement with West Burlington for maintenance services one day per week. The packet states that the age of district facilities makes timely routine maintenance and service work an ongoing need.
The recommendations are to:
- Hire maintenance personnel for up to 30 hours per week.
- Hire custodial personnel for the high school for up to 20 hours per week.
The packet notes that the district reduced custodial staffing by one full-time employee during the previous fiscal year and hired two student custodial employees, who are expected to continue working.
Coaches Handbook for 2026–2027
The board has a 2026–2027 Coaching Handbook listed as an action item. The 25-page handbook establishes expectations and procedures for district coaches and activity programs.
Among its provisions are requirements or guidance covering academic eligibility, good conduct, coaching conduct, student safety, fundraising, transportation, coaching licensure, equipment and inventory, practices, team rules, school attendance, sportsmanship, volunteer coaches, concussions, and communication.
The handbook also addresses a new state provision allowing eighth-grade students to participate in high school sports beginning August 1, 2026. The district's proposed approach treats high-school participation by an eighth grader as an exception rather than an expectation and calls for case-by-case review based on program need, student readiness, safety, developmental considerations, and the effect on junior-high and high-school programs.
Financial and Consent Agenda Items
Claims and Financial Reports
Minutes, claims, and financial reports are included on the consent agenda. The packet includes minutes from the August 10, 2026 Special Session and July 20, 2026 Regular Meeting, along with July financial information and the August claims report.
The claims report shows a $180,406.40 checking-account total across the listed funds, including:
- $160,096.88 — General Fund
- $2,086.64 — Student Activity Fund
- $8,658.56 — Local Option Sales and Services Tax Fund
- $7,356.90 — Physical Plant & Equipment Levy
- $2,207.42 — School Nutrition Fund
The July cash report lists $4,690,908.51 in total cash as of July 31, 2026 and a $4,312,932.35 balance per books after outstanding checks.
Personnel
The consent-agenda materials include recommended appointments and resignations. The packet identifies appointments for transportation, special education associate, substitute, coaching, and extended-contract positions, along with resignations from a special education associate position and a golf co-assistant coaching position.
Facilities and Equipment
Weight-Room Equipment Disposition
The board agenda includes a Disposition of Equipment item. Supporting material identifies weight-room equipment proposed for removal, including:
- Leg press/hip sled machine
- Hack squat machine
- Horizontal/vertical press
- Leg curl/leg extension machine
- Pec deck/rear delt machine
- Cable machine
The packet does not provide additional terms for the disposition in the extracted material.
Facilities and Maintenance Focus
The superintendent's August report identifies facilities, maintenance, grounds, building needs, and clearer maintenance schedules as continuing district priorities. It also notes ongoing review of weight-room access, safety, supervision, and student use.
Board Policy
Second Reading — 200 Series
The agenda includes a second reading of multiple policies in the board-governance and meeting series. The packet identifies policies covering subjects including:
- Powers and responsibilities of the Board of Directors.
- Board code of ethics.
- President and vice-president roles.
- Secretary-treasurer.
- Board legal counsel.
- Annual, regular, and special meetings.
- Work sessions and meeting notices.
- Quorum requirements.
- Open meetings and closed sessions.
- Public participation in board meetings.
Draft versions are specifically identified for Policy 206.02: Vice-President and Policy 213: Public Participation in Board Meetings.
First Reading — Disruptive Behavior and Community Facility Use
The board is also scheduled for a first reading of policies and regulations connected to two major operational items elsewhere on the agenda:
- Draft Policy 503.11: Disruptive Behavior
- Draft Regulation 503.11-R(1): Disruptive Behavior — Building Level Policy Procedure
- Draft Policy 905.01: Community Use of School District Buildings & Sites & Equipment
- Draft Regulation 905.01-R(1): Community Use of School District Buildings & Sites & Equipment — Regulation
These policy items align with the proposed SF 2428 behavior playbook and the proposed community facilities handbook.
Fundraising Requests
The agenda includes fundraising items for student and activity programs, including:
- Student Council Homecoming activities involving student kickball shirts, a high school dance, and spirit items.
- Student Council sales of snacks and beverages through the snack store and pop machines during the year.
- Work at professional or state-sponsored events to support the all-activities fund.
- Cheer apparel through Anywhere Apparel.
Administrative Reports and Start of School
The superintendent, elementary principal, and secondary principal are scheduled to provide reports. Across those materials, administrators describe preparations for the beginning of the 2026–2027 school year, including work with new staff, building preparation, student schedules, facilities, instruction, and implementation of SF 2428.
Upcoming dates identified in the packet include:
- August 18: PLC leaders
- August 19: All staff return
- August 20: Elementary Meet the Teacher Night and other staff instructional work
- August 24: First day of school
- August 31: Preschool begins
- September 13–18: Homecoming
The superintendent's report also highlights continued work on instructional priorities, staff-survey themes, building visibility, maintenance routines, and leadership collaboration.
What to Watch at the Meeting
Several agenda items connect directly to district operations for the new school year. The board is expected to consider how community access to the weight room and gymnasiums should be supervised and secured, whether to adopt the district's implementation playbook for new classroom-removal requirements, and whether to add part-time maintenance and custodial staffing.
The meeting also brings related policy work into the same agenda: disruptive-behavior policies are at first reading while the SF 2428 playbook is presented for adoption, and community-use policies are at first reading while the facilities-access handbook is presented for discussion and action. The packet's SF 2428 materials also leave several student-readmission questions for further development through the Oversight Review Committee.
The official public-body packet source is the Simbli meeting page supplied for the New London Comm School District meeting.
Provider: Simbli
Provider Meeting ID: simbli-32747
Official Meeting Source URL: https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/SB_Meetings/ViewMeeting.aspx?S=36031091&MID=32747
Public body's meeting/document listing page: https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/SB_Meetings/SB_MeetingListing.aspx?S=36031091
Civic Translator summarized publicly available meeting materials.
