Moniteau School Board tackled various policy reforms — from transportation to electronic signatures — at its Monday night meeting.

The board heard four second readings on different policies, and was slated to discuss seven other policies in first readings, along with corresponding material.

Moniteau Superintendent Tom Samosky said this is yet another wave of policy changes stemming from an internal audit completed last year.

“We try to review those annually, but we've had to do some catch-up because of the closure of school (at the end of last year),” Samosky said.

Four policies were on the agenda for a second reading. Three included changes to existing policies.

The district amended a policy regarding suspension and expulsion to include compulsory school age requirements for children age 18 and younger.

Also, the district amended a policy to increase the time required for students to be at their bus stop from five minutes to 10 minutes. The change also included removing a requirement that bus incident referrals are to be returned to the driver.

The third policy amended involves the removal of the Cross Country Booster organization, which no longer functions as a booster club.

The fourth policy up for second reading was new and would allow for electronic signatures in some instances, allowing people to sign official documents on the internet without having to enter the schools or their offices.

“With the pandemic, we recognized very quickly how important it is for the district to allow electronic signatures,” Samosky said.

All four policies were approved through second reading. School boards need to have two readings of policy changes before they can approve them through a vote.

Samosky said he expects more discussion on policy updates.

The board also had first readings on seven other policies Monday, with the most notable being two policies about Title IX and sexual harassment, which were tabled because supporting materials needed to be updated and another portion had accidentally been stricken and needed to be reinstated.

Samosky said that change is about updating it to match the standard set by the state and one that has been recommended by the Pennsylvania School Board Association. School boards often take these two sources into consideration when changing policies.

“That's how we update our policies typically,” Samosky said.

The seven policies that had their first readings approved Monday will be forwarded to the next board meeting for a second reading. That meeting is scheduled for Oct. 26.