New laws affect school policy

New state legislation prompted a few changes to Columbia County school policies.

House Bill 984 granted Georgia students with parents or legal guardians in the military five excused absences to visit with family members on leave or close to deployment for overseas duty.

"The military leave is an additional inclusion in the policy as an excused absence," said Karen Ribble, the special events coordinator for the school system.

Senate Bill 413 gave parents the right to forbid their child from joining a school club.

"The way I understand that one is that we had to put in our code of conduct the types of school-sponsored clubs available at the school and we have to get parent permission for the participation of a student in those clubs," Ribble said.

The bill covers school-sponsored clubs, extracurricular clubs that meet at the school and athletic teams.

"Any new clubs would require parental permission as well," Ribble said.

Also, Senate Bill 442 mandates the reporting of suspected child abuse by educators to the proper legal authority no later than 24 hours after the suspicion arose.