Lee County School Board approves new student code of conduct

After nearly four hours of discussion on Tuesday, Lee County School Board approved next school year’s student code of conduct.

It has been a controversial discussion for weeks, one that saw debate among the community and board members.

The board took out the controversial poster that discussed treatment of LGBTQ students in schools, and the new code of conduct will be adopted Wednesday.

That didn’t stop dozens of people from speaking up either in favor of the poster or saying the board overstepped its bounds by adding it in the first place.

The school board says the new code of conduct went through multiple drafts. Many of the pronouns in the code of conduct were changed from he, him, she and her to they and them.

Some speakers believe the controversial poster should be added, or at the very least, some bullet points should be added about the LGBTQ community in the anti-bullying and harassment sections of the code of conduct.

Others said LGBTQ matters should be left to parents to teach at home.

During a meeting a few weeks ago, the school board staff announced it will create a guidebook about how to address LGBTQ matters but will seek public input first, and staff continues to work on it.