There are a great number of western Wisconsin school districts that either have or are getting Neola policies in place to manage and direct their daily operations and interactions with students and parents. Neola Policies could already be in or coming to a school near you! On the surface, Neola has been contracted by school districts upon approval of local boards of education to create and write policies for school districts.

So, who or what is Neola? Searching on line, this Neola is not the small town in Utah or Iowa. Neola is not an acronym for North East Oklahoma Lamb Association. According to the website https://Neola.com “Neola is your partner in educational excellence”. Neola is an acronym for the former North East Ohio Learning Associates which was an educational consulting firm for many years before transforming to Neola with the sole focus on school board policies.

Part of the appeal of a contractor to write school policies is the business can stay up to date with any changes coming out of Washington, D.C. or Madison. At that, I have to ask where are all the “experts” at the Department of Public Instruction in Madison? And, with all the administrators and all their advance degrees in every school district, can no one write a policy? The rest of the appeal is the legal concerns involved. Apparently the contractor assures legal correctness and will stand with the school districts if there are legal challenges, as long as the published policy is adopted without significant change.

Specifically, consider Neola Policy “5310 – HEALTH SERVICES”. In comparing six examples found on line, they each start “The Board of Education may require students (of the District) to submit to periodic health examinations to…” but then there were significant differences. Four of the six examples had this paragraph;

The term “invasive physical examination” means any medical examination that involves the exposure of private body parts, or any act during such examination that includes incision, insertion, or injection into the body, but does not include a hearing, vision, or scoliosis screening.

The fifth one had the term “injection clinic” and the sixth totally omitted the topic. Four of the six addressed a concussion protocol. Five of the six addressed parental notification. So much for strict standardization for legal purposes!

Neola Policy 5310 has been presented as a “notification” policy rather than an “authorization” policy. Why do parents need to be notified about medical examinations provided at school that may include “incision, insertion, or injection” and “exposure of private body parts” if such treatment is not otherwise authorized? Maybe an “opt in” policy needs to be implemented for this? If this is driven by federal or state policy, then it is the parents’ right to change it! It is time to contact your federal and state legislators, share this information, and ask why schools may do these types of medical examinations.

Parents or guardians need to be cautioned not to blindly sign school policies “en masse” without a careful reading page by page. Do not sign a cover sheet with a “I have read and understand…” statement unless you have read and understand what has been presented. Parents, guardians, grandparents, and other tax paying citizens, if you haven’t already, now is the time to join the thousands of other concerned citizens across America and find out what is happening at your children’s schools!

Parents: Be Aware!