2024-02-19 HCS Board Meeting

001all right good evening um it is 6:30 I will call this meeting to order please Rise by the Pledge of Allegiance flag United States all right prior to moving into item 1B I would just like to remind everyone um in the public that this is a meeting and so please do not interrupt um and please use um please conduct yourself in a civil manner um we do have our lovely Deputy chop here today um this is your warning you will not be asked if you choose to start speaking out in the middle of the meeting you will be asked to leave um obviously those who have signed up to give um to speak during call to the public will honor their request as well and respect each and every one of them that that is

002up here speaking moving it to item 1B approval of agenda items it agenda items for discussion I move that the agenda for the February 19th 2024 regular meeting be approved support motion by Mrs Coleman support by Mrs Shaw any discussion uh yes I motion to amend the agenda okay and I would like to uh um have some time reserved right after item C right after the uh consent agenda um for the president um to address the public on a couple of items so you motion to amend the agenda yes okay anyone support that a motion to to amend the agenda support motion by Mr doeski supported by Mrs vonal any discussion as to what the motion for amendment is yes I'd like um to make sure that um we can give you appropriate time to

003address the uh board and the public um explaining the unilat will move to go from board reports to committee and building reports and part two of that is to explain why all Dei committee members are not participating in doj meetings any further discussion I think one of the I I would like to um well the discussion about adding this to the agenda are we there okay so um one of the the first thing I want to address is explaining why we went you know from board or from board reports to committee meetings so I look at that and I think that you know the committee meetings um purposely only have three board members because we don't want it to be a publicly um attended meeting so we have that and but yet if we're not

004in the board meetings in the committee meetings we're not allowed to talk about important business right I got to go to the safety committee meeting and introduce my B and policy but short of that I'm not in the committee meetings so there might be some things that I would like to talk about you know at certain points in time and it feels like with the board reports not being uh not for us not being able to give board reports now or not able to address issues that the you know the community has concerns with or anybody if there if there's any any anybody that comes up to the podium to talk about something that we agree with or you know that we want to expand on we're we can't do that if it's not in

005a committee meeting so we're kind of stifled in how we can respond to the the community so if it was an important topic would be not then would you not request to add the agenda for discussion at in time that discussion would happen in about the business I can use myself as an example two meetings ago when I was trying to discuss the what I said in the safety committee meetings you stopped me from speaking so I wasn't even able to convey everything that I talked about in the safety committee meeting so it didn't even feel like I could express what was in the committee meetings because I was stopped from from speaking was there a recommendation that I guess aside from your request that came to committee um I and Greg has actually submitted

006a request to committee I've never received any other request for committee no but it's more along the lines of like if we can't we're not in a committee meeting and something comes up what if there's not something that is initially pressing but there's something that comes up that we think of in the meeting or that we want to convey during the meeting because that's on topic or you know somebody has brought it up we don't have the freedom of speech to do that it does feel stifling so I wanted to add to to Glenn's sentiment it does feel stifling I know you're for you're you know I know I understand why you're doing what you're doing but it stops us from being able to speak freely and that's part of the the reason why we're

007on on the board is that the community wanted us to speak on their behalfs and I don't feel like we can okay to um so last month I had made a request sort of following the new protocol that we we try to add to the agenda items which we wish to speak about and unfortunately the motion failed so there was really no opportunity to have that discussion so I think that kind of captures a little bit of the spirit I think of what Mr galeski reest it in and also what Mrs blondal just elaborated on so again from our own experience with this new format I think it it's already kind of demonstrating that there is an inability at times to have individual board members speak about issues and and so I do think it's

008a valuable discussion to have and I'd like to add too that there are at least three policies that we have that talk about communication between the board um the uh uh constituents of the district um and by taking a move to somehow restrict that we may very well be uh in violation of our own policies any further discussion I I just want to add like I like my fellow board members have said they understand the purpose behind sticking with committee meetings uh minutes and reports my concern would be if if we're if we just open it up it's not really conversation so from my point of view during the board reports like if I wanted to make a comment about some of there other six of you couldn't couldn't add on to it because it's

009not opportunity to discuss so I I can appreciate how we are if we're going to add something to the item to the agenda like as we're doing now we all have them talk about where the board reports of Mr Keller wants to make some statement and I've already spoken we we can't we can't talk about and I I I feel discussion is with what's important so I I can understand MCL point of VI on this um can I just get some clarification on that point um Mr cast maybe you and Mrs playback could provide some feedback I'd like to understand that if there's something we want to discuss we would ask to amend the agenda to put it on the agenda and we would all vote on it yeah really why would it um and

010how often do you think certain members of this board would be approved to speak about their suggested topics I have no confidence that that would go through none you have an opportunity to speak up it when you ask for the motion to amend the agenda making those rules so if I bring up a topic we have to vote on it as to whether I can discuss it but then you make your case during that time in discussion oh okay and that would be free time to say whatever I wish time within your own discussion constraints yes and I'm assuming that you know your own con discussion constraints amongst uh being a public member of this board yeah now would that be able to be done after the um call to public well generally we approve

011the agenda prior to called to the public yes we'd approve the agenda but if I had things that I wanted to say prior to the call to public it gets voted down and then during the call the public there are actions and requests that are no longer going to be uh addressed or have U uh or be able to be addressed to the public B directional we could do followup request absolutely any further discussion hearing none we are voting on the motion to amend the agenda as motioned by Mr goleski and supported by Mrs bondil Mr goleski and and the please take the question we are you are voting on the motion to a amend the agenda as supported as motioned by you supported by Mrs bu yes is a shot and this amendment is

012where you will discuss why we are we have changed board reports to committee and building reports um that's my understand I think there were two items right it yes there were there were there were two items that I expressed in this motion to provide and and ensure that um president kach had the time to explain to not only the board but also um to the public uh the first one was the one we just mentioned just talked about and the second one was to explain why the D committee which was uh put together for direct response to doj matters why those members on the DOI Dei committee are not participating in doj meetings let's take them separately very clear all right so let's take the first one are we still in discussion because so so

013to clarify we're we're putting an item on so Mrs glot can speak to two issues as opposed to not just run it out there if we didn't put it on could you not could you not about it during your committee and building reports or informational items at the end or informational at the end I mean I just yeah I'm happy to okay so if this doesn't pass you'll still have an opportunity to do that during your yeah okay so they would be relegated then to the end of the meeting is that what you're saying well you have a question around Dei committee that I can certainly address one up okay but going back to our our board reports to committee and building reports so essentially that time that is reserved directly after the call to

014public it may be um the case where we would not be able to talk on the subject that we wish and respond to certain public questions and comments I don't understand I don't understand the question okay during the cult to public there may be issues and items brought about by the public and having the board reports directly after the cult public would give us the opportunity to address those concerns so are you asking to address your personal views opinions or positions is that what you're asking it may involve personal views and opinions it may involve um uh facts and other items I think as Mr C said it doesn't give us an opportunity to have a discussion right it's not a discussion item so we go one by one and we're not we're not going

015back around the table for us to all provide input to call to the public or what someone else has said after I've already spoken and then it goes to Kristen I don't have an opportunity to speak after Kristen after Megan I think that the issue is you know we don't have it's not a discussion so just to clarify though if the suggestion was well you can speak about it in the board report if it doesn't pass then how does that address the concern that there's no feedback mechanism I guess I'm confused I confus that your board report come that I don't know what you mean so if the concern is get back to the motion though so that we can say because I think we're going up to so let's take each motion separately Mr

016Goki would you mind stating the Motions separately so we can vote on them about you yes I motion that we add specific time in our agenda um after the approval of the consent agenda for the president to address the reasons why we are going from board reports to committee and building reports since this seems to be a pretty large topic and uh item of conversation within the community support oh separately I second that yeah I support so I have a motion to add specific time in the agenda for the president to address the reasons why we went from board reports to building and committee reports which is motioned by Mr aleski and and supported by Mrs fonal any discussion on that motion as we take them separately I guess I do have a question then

017so that's we're talking about it again so is this just gonna be an opportunity for Mrs glay to explain what she did or is this going to be an opportunity for us to then have more conversation on this what what have we envisioned is this just an opportunity for Mrs clay to have the floor to explain to the public yeah that my intent yes okay so it's not going to be discussion it will be discussion it's just theplay box opportunity I think there might be some discussion depending on what is said there could does it impact and that discussion or or um those opinions or comments could be done in the board report so so what did any further discussion so then does it make sense if we want to have as a discussion to

018put it in 3 SE there motion to be added right after I think if it's going to be a discussion item it should be in with the discussion items right if we're going to allow discussion around it if it's just for Mrs clayback they have before and I suppose I'm I'm I would probably be fine with adding it as requested but if it's for discussion I think we need to group it with the discussion item Mr galeski is your request to add it after the consent agenda or within discussion Tings yeah let's let's put it in the discussion LS 3 C or Clarity Mr goleski has motioned to add a discussion item and as item 3 C in regards to moving from board reports to building and committee reports supported by Mrs bondal is that

019correct Mrs bondil yes Rene do have that thank you any further discussion moving forward Mr Goki yes Mrs sha no Mrs man yes Mr C yes Mr yes M yes and I a yes motion pass Mr goes would you like to speak your second motion yes I would um I would like to uh motion that we also make an additional item in three to discuss the matter of Dei committee members being directly involved in doj meetings and discussions can you repeat that are you adding it a read yes I'd like to yeah i' like to make it a discussion item 3D to add the discussion of how we can get committee members or why committee members may or may not be participating in doj meetings and talks with the district [Music] SM any discussion so

020again you're just looking for clarification on why Mrs glabach has has chosen the the people that she did to speak with the Department of Justice is that is that what you're looking for I am looking for an explanation as to why de committee members not all Dei committee members are involved directly with talks with the doj since our Dei committee was set up in direct response to doj requests I'm happy to that I'll cover that in my committee report moving on any further discussion okay we are voting on Mr Go's request to add item 3D to the agenda to add a discussion on why de all Dei committee members were not are not involved in all discussions with doj supported by Mr Keller Mr galeski yes Mrs Shaw yes Mrs colan no Mr yes Mr

021yes night May yes that motion passes we will add that to the agenda Item B I move that the consent agenda for the February 19th 2024 regular meeting to be approved I think we're still my bad sorry it's okay was amended he is amended yeah motion to approve the amended I move that board of education approve the amended agenda for February 19 2024 regular meeting be approved motion for the amended agenda February 19 2024 meeting be approved supported uh motion by Mr Kasa by Mr Shaw any discussion yes I'd like to add some items as well to the agenda for discussion so this would also I guess this would be 3E at this point I would like to add a discussion item around the district foer procedures second support motion to add discussion item around

022District foa procedures seconded by motion by Mr Killer supported by Mrs bondal I did not get anything from this so can you expand up on your request so there was a request from a member of the community um who had foiled some records and the feedback that they received is that there were no such records and I we were made aware of a request I did my own research and I was able to find 28 eight emails from or records from this individual um in in the foyer request so I guess I'm I'm just concerned that we're telling the community we have no records and again just on my own personal search I was able to find 28 of them and ironically one of the so-called records that does not exist was actually to the

023individual who made the foyer requ himself he was told that he could not appeal this foyer because no record exists so again I think it warrants some discussion by the board on how we can tell members of the community that there's no Foya document available when when clearly there is so I think it deserves some additional discussion just a quick question on this motion for discussion so that we can look at process and procedure have you talked with Mr or Mr head that so so I'm sorry no I was to say so we're looking at trying to we're just going to discuss what the process is for a foil is that what you're looking for yeah I think again it would be helpful to understand the process how we actually look for records why we

024can get two different answers and and if it and if the recommendation someone wants to make a recommendation to put it in a community meeting that's fine but again since we can't talk about it as a board report because I'm not in the I don't know what Foya committee would be part of but I'm not in that committee but I think it needs to have some we need have some discussion I guess prior to discussing any like changes or any modifications I want to see the process like I'm thinking my brain goes to video like a video process around what that process looks like any gaps so on and so forth so that then there can be an educated discussion on that so are you willing to I'm willing to help but um perhaps meet

025with the individual parties and understand that out for the rest of the board so what that look like a committee meeting no this doesn't fall you would do it so you'd like to table it to a March discussion is that what your request you can certainly do that you can move forward with that that's fine but I don't how can we give input on something that we can visually see I guess you know maybe it's a request or to the district to explain the process and then we can see where it goes so that would just be the discussion so are you asking for like the the computer seeking like who's who's searching this how they search out and things like that is that what you're asking not just reading the procedure but like what

026what do they do when a foet comes in in is that what you're asking yes step a fo what all is involved with a Foya including the actual record search I mean is that Mr Hughes is that something that anyone here is prepared to answer I mean I I don't know who physically doesn't but if you could give us an idea of to be prepared to give a a correct and factual answer yes please yep absolutely so I was made aware of one email that supped L was not caught in a search um obviously Mr Keller did not share the other emails with me so I could work with Mr Usher or technology director to figure out what exactly might have happened when we searched for that foyer request I talked with Mr Usher about

027the one that I was made aware of and he indicated that we made a good face search based on the parameters of the search and he doesn't understand why one was missed so he certainly is looking for examples of the ones that were missed so he can follow the process back to see what was happening but unfortunately Mr Keller again failed to contact me and ask me what was going on and provide me the documents so I could give them to Mr um user to take a look at thank you so much and then we could have been at this meeting or certainly I could have met with Mr Peller and let him know what happened but um it it does take a two a communication but I can tell you for absolutely uh certainty

028that Mr Usher did the best he could with a good faith effort to fulfill that foer all that he' found was included in that foer and that's what I knew at the time period any further discussion I just I guess I'll add you know because I'm aware of this as well is that for quick search from me which I can barely search for anything online that's not my I I found many as well that and I think that's why you bringing up I I do agree that this is not the time or place we need to come back to this and allow you the opportunity but you know it it did it did come across um that there was something because it was very easy to find them that's the only reason I think that

029it was brought up now and really we're not in the committee with boas so that's why you know I think that it was appropriate to bring it up but you're not ready to answer so I think that it's okay to wait in my opinion as board member but you're the one asking for explanation so you say what you want so would the request then be to meet that I guess I'm trying to understand what if we don't talk about it here what would be Mr Hughes your recommendation on how to move forward my recommendation is always when you have a concern as a board member that you reach out to me sit down with me share information with me so I can can follow up on that so I can give you a straight answer

030so that there's not a surprise here at the board table on something that we could have dealed with prior to coming in but unfortunately once again there it's a surprise got you kind of thing that's not feeling quite right so I'd be happy to to give me a week to work with Mr Usher to find out what happened we can schedule a time for you and I to meet and so then there will be a followup with the community guess that's the other part two of what I'd like to understand just to just so the community can understand the process I don't know that it needs a committee meeting if we sit down and figure out what happened sorry Community not committee could be I could make copies of this and give them to that

031person right now and be say we're done with it I don't know I had to look at them and see what's going on so we can find out backtrack backtrack what happened first give me a week to do that but again there would be some type of feedback to the community not requesting the foyer for the individual requesting the foyer yeah sure I'm I'm speaking specific to the process the process be added into the superintend like the overall process be added into the superintendent report start you know individual Foy start sharing with community I'm not talking about submitting the answer to the individual Community member who answer asked for the information I'm talking about how are we going to feed back to the community our process Mr that superintendent as long as that happens I'm

032okay with it would probably be frent then to revise a policy to ensure that that happens guys what policy to ensure he covers that we don't know what policy need to Bei we can create a policy what what type of policy a policy to ensure that there is a process for correcting any kind of Foy search issues if there's a discrepancy between let's say the uh person requesting the Foya information and there's a discrepancy between the uh uh people in charge of looking for that information that we have something written that states that we will go through this process of coming up with a solution that satisfies both parties I think I guess what I'm hearing is once Mr color meet with Mr Hughes then we'll understand what that proc we don't know because we

033don't yeah the policy may be the output of of that discussion so I'm thinking like RCA like smaller terms aot C analysis oh all right so do you would you like to move forward with your original motion add item and Mr Hughes will talk about it in his next superintendent report I think then that's then that's acceptable to me to cancel it Mr Hughes I can talk about for process at my during my superintendent report but I can also tell you that our foury process our spye process is online it's very clear on what the process is in that foyer process I think he was set meeting to RCA this month yeah absolutely that's done yes but give me a week to figure out what's going on that's fine okay so I need an answer

034whether or not un I can resend my item to sorry three what is it e okay but we still there's still a couple other items would like to add okay so M Mr balesi had emailed the board a copy of a resolution on freedom of expression I would like to add that to action item to D I second that motion by Mr Keller to add action item 2D in the resolution freedom of expression resolution supported by Mr Goki so adding it as an action item yes to be voted on that was the request correct yes any discussions I guess I can talk yes we've talked about it already I think with Mr goal's request to have some explanation on board reports but I think we would officially like to document to the community are how

035the board feels about freedom of expression from board members so I did oh sorry oh so so for me again I look back at when I was doing the board reports for the committee meeting safety committee meeting and I was stopped from speaking about what I was saying the committee meeting and I think it's important I think it's important like for people to understand where why we're voting the way that we are which is discussion points but if we if we didn't say it in the committee meeting we can't say it here like that you know there's there's just no freedom of expression and we owe the community who voted within these seats to be able to hear what we have to say and you know how we feel about things and there may be

036something that I didn't say in the safety committee meeting that you know somebody didn't hear so if I was saying it I was talking off topic or not off topic but I was off script and so I'm not allowed to add live anything so it does feel very stifling I'm not saying that we need to do the gotcha moments or what you know Mr Hughes was just saying like you know it's not that it's more along the lines of like if there's something that we want to say that may not be on the agenda or just talk about things that we're concerned about or you know not even just whatever we want to talk about we're not allowed to do that and so it's just you know it's something that I feel freedom of speech

037you know should be allowed on a board that's you know we're elected officials that's that's how I feel about it so board um obviously this is the uh resolution that was emailed um I have some issues with this resolution around it really viewing one way and so we talk about um in the bounds of Law and code of contact but we don't talk about when we violate the code of contuct or policy um we don't talk about representation or who's interpreting the law uh we also don't talk about the case law that members are entitled to their own First Amendment rights and speech rights um but in their private capacities and there's a ton of case law that I've had the pleasure of reading um that indicates that you can't express your personal VI opinions

038and positions you can't use your official position to promote those views and so I think by conducting it as board business it's it's less it's not your personal views your your your utilizing that as a discussion by means of of leveraging into a vote well let me u i i take issue with that let's say for example I have a concern that I'd like to see the pursuit of uh greater awareness of some of our academic Achievers and I bring that up during a board meeting that's not anything that would go against any kind of uh law rule policy it's simply a uh statement that does apply to our students it does apply to the board um I don't really see the uh issue of of what you're talking about in terms of First Amendment

039rights this is sticking with board business no one is going to be up here talking about sports scores so I think it's um the uh um resolution is very simple and straightforward any further discussion um I just also like to add that several districts around us allow boorder reports so it's not unheard of not line to request that not only districts but also other government bodies that have boards I think it's it would be more uncom not was we are but they all go hand in hand right because part of the reason we need this resolution is because of the change so I have a motion motioned by Mr Keller to add action item 2D on the resolution supported by Mr goleski hearing no further discussion Mr keski yes Mr sha no Mrs Coleman no

040Mr pasta no Mr K yes Mrs vonal yes n a no that motion fails so just to recap we have four board members here that are against free speech is that what I'm hearing I think what you have is a handful of board members who aren't comfortable with voting on this tonight and this was brought forward as an action item well there was plenty of time to look at this I I'm surprised I Mr balesi did you receive any questions since you email it out I received none to put words in our mouth that were against First Amendment our Free Speech didn't vote on this is absurd this has nothing to do with educating children why this board is here to educate children in this District this does not do it has everything to do

041with educating children we're moving on any additional items Mr col yeah sorry one more item I would like to add a discussion on policy 144 expenses for board members on 144 yeah correct so that would be three E I guess because the you'd like to see in the policy I just want to have a discussion on the policy okay and we can talk about whether folks want to make a change or not I have a motion by Mr ker to add item 3E regarding policy 144 to the agenda motion by Mr K supported by Mrs fondal any discussion yeah sorry let me read this please um so this is sorry 1441 named compensation I was made aware that in the past the board has not been following its policies surrounding expenses from board members and

042it there's some language that says a voucher detailing the amount and nature of each expense must be submitted to the board for approval at a board meeting after the expenses have been incurred and prior to reimbursement so it's my understanding that we have not as a board been doing that so I guess the discussion I would like to have is whether or not since it's not been our practice do we continue to do that or do we not is there an expense that that's sticking out to Mr Keller because I'm confused I mean this is the person I've heard of you bringing up4 so I I just I need a little more information before we put this on to discuss like what what item is that be described so actually in the committee meeting which

043you and I attended a few days ago we were made aware of an expense from Mr goleski pertaining to some fingerprinting due to the district's or sorry the board's request actually to to have background checks for all board members and in the process of becoming compliant with the board policy Mr goleski submitted a request for re imbursement and it would found out that uh it has to be approved by the board so again just since not everyone participates in these committee meetings I felt it's important for the rest of the board to be aware that the board hasn't been following its its policy surrounding reimbursement then that technically we should be voting on whether or not Mr goleski can get his $45 for his fingerprinting which we requested him to do so is there other

044expenses for I'm I'm sure there's some in the past because personally when I did the same thing I didn't have you know we didn't vote on it I don't know if you've I think Kristen recently had fingerprinting as well Michelle also perhaps and in the year that we that I've been up here we've not voted on any reimbursement expenses for any board member so again just trying to make sure that as a board following our own policies yes and I have had an experience um early uh in 2023 where I put in a request to be reimbursed for a $15 book it it had to do with Robert's Rules of Order um and never heard anything from the administrative staff that I gave it to until I finally inquired a couple months later then I

045was instructed I have to give it to the president and at that time Mr C was president and I did hand um a receipt now I I am not worried about the $15 that whatever but I think because we don't have a clear process other items like this can happen so I agree with Mr Keller that uh we should put it on on the agenda any further discussion well real quick I Mr go you did receive your your money for your R Rules book correct no just we never reers you for that no and I'm not I'm not I'm not here to blame anyone for that that's not a big deal that's not what I'm what my concern is is that if something like that can get mixed up perhaps we need to have more

046of a stringent process and follow along our process so it doesn't happen in the future that's all I'm saying the $15 is irrelevant I whatever with that but I would like to see us clearly have a policy that we do follow maybe I the policy I didn't know about this but is it relative to um I know Mr go is going through a process right now is it relevant to employee nonemployee or no again policy is it relevant to employed versus not employed in which process you follow because I believe this came up as he's following a process um currently that no one else has followed so I just want to understand if it's an employeed process versus non employ process did you want to say something Mr oh okay yeah as far as I'm

047concerned it's a board process right and it's a board member asking so I guess the point of bringing it up is we're not following our own processes than we need to and so that's why I think we need to have a discussion as to whether or not it's still relevant to have the board approve a board expense or and and if it still is then we need to make sure we follow it that's that's the point of having this discussion again as Mr GOI said no one's blaming anybody here but it's it's we found something we need to make sure we're course correcting there is a need for process Improv in this reimbursement um area again I don't have a policy in front of but it okay is it anything along the lines where it's

048the expectation that the board member oh because this is specific 01 44.1 is for compensation so this is okay so this is in regards to board members being PID $30 per meeting and the expectation is that they they obviously have to have F rights so my understanding and take on this would be where board members are for anything they submit a request to the president the president then approves or disapproves it I've never disapproved when I was President I can't I don't know have you disapproved of it no I haven't disapproved of expenses came forward um as Mr meski is going through a process to be reimbursed and he needed those speaker prints that's why asked employed empy do you technically have to become employe you have to be employed it to proce it right

049okay yeah and that's kind of the point of the discussion Chris is we've not been following it so is our policy need to be revised because it's not been a practice or or do we need to say hey look we've there's been an oversight for 10 years or however long it's been and and we need to make sure that we're following it going forward yeah I don't I mean in my opinion I mean because I think it's been 10 plus years since board members has been compensated for meetings that I think this was just something that I guess I mean Mrs glb were you aware that Mr goas he was seeking compensation I mean like I don't know like you're right I guess there's more of a the policy say compensation or reimbursement the policy

05001441 is compensation then further down is a voucher detailing the amount of nature of each expense submitted and in this case of you I don't want be GL but it's for his fingerprints so I need read policy and I'm not going to I think you're TR POS and and again it's not over the dollar amount it is the fact that I was totally unclear that you know it's it's a process issue that's all it is policy and process issue so okay because we're all being deeps motion to add item three e on policy 1441 motion by Mr Keller supported by Mrs B heing no further discussion Mr Goki yes s sha yes Mrs Coleman yes I'm a yes Mr CA yes M yes Mrs B yes that motion passes we need to add item three

051e policy correct okay someone want a read motion for the amended agenda we make two Amendments have do we have any more amendments motion okay uh I move that the amended agenda for the February 19th 20124 regular meeting be approved right what with amendments Mo Costa support by Mrs sha for the amended agenda Mr goleski yes Mrs sha yes Mrs Coleman yes Mr Costa yes Mr K yes Mrs B yes and I may ask that motion passes moving on to item 1 C consent agenda I move that the consent agenda for the February 19th 2024 regular meeting be approved motion by Mrs pulman support by Mr Mrs Shaw any discussion I just want to make a quick comment I don't want to pull anything out but just as a point of inquiry for future conversation

052to understand in the notes whether or not a failed MO motion should exist in notes so at the 18 minute Mark of last month's board meeting I had made a motion to have a discussion on Personnel or in the Personnel committee around administrative credentialing and that process the motion was 3 to three so it didn't pass but it's not reflected in the notes so I would like to get clarification as to whether or not that's the correct process you can look into that because I I'm certain I've seen previous notes that have failed motions and that I'll address that um you may have however um with this process we're always learning things new and it's my understanding uh that Renee did a course and in that course of study um when it comes to the

053minutes of meetings it do does not reflect anything that wasn't adopted as part of the agenda so if your motion to for instance today you had a motion that would not appear in the minutes because it failed it didn't make the agenda so therefore it's not part of the minutes of the meeting so that's a legal issue that it doesn't belong there because it did not get approved thank you um somewhat related I just wanted to point out that there was one change that you'll see um in the minutes um we had mistakenly included um the capture of a vote that didn't actually take place and it was when Mr Keller had requested to remove the approval of the agenda from the consent agenda um there was no vote that took place in the original

054version of our minutes or in the original version of the board packet the minutes reflected a vote but the vote didn't happen so we've taken that out but so that what you have in front of you is the current version and the corrected one I just want to point that up any other discussion heing on Mr goleski Mr sh yes Mrs colan yes Mr Costa yes Mr K yes Mrs L yes may yes that motion passes item 1D superintendence report tonight and all right moving forward to item 1e call to the public this portion of the agenda for citizens to address um the board attendees um obviously have registered with their cards the board will listen um you're asked to request to express yourself in a civil manner with due respect for the dignity and

055privacy of others who may be affected by your comments each speaker is limited to three minutes and no participant may speak more than once I will hold up my yellow yellow folder at 2 minutes and 30 seconds um just so you know you have 30 seconds left um and then you will be asked to um end your comments up Mrs Barbara tankovich back of the sun hi all back from Florida it was cold there too just like here okay uh start second Peter 2 but there were also false prophets among the people just as there will be false teachers among you they will secretly introduce destru Ive heresies even denying The Sovereign Lord who bought them bringing Swift destruction on themselves many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of Truth into

056disrepute in their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories their condemnation has long been hanging over them and their Destruction has not been sleeping God did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people but Noah a preacher of righteousness and seven others if God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly and if God rescued lot a righteous man who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the Lawless if this is so then the Lord knows how to rescue The Godly from trials and to hold unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment this is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the Flesh and despise

057Authority but these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand they are like unreasoning animals creatures of instinct born only to be caught and destroyed and like animals they too will perish they will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done their idea of pleasure is to Coral in broad daylight they are blots and blemishes reveling in their Pleasures while they Feast with you for they empty boastful words and by appearing to the lustful desires of the flesh they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error they promise them Freedom while they themselves are slaves of depravity for people are slaves to whatever has mastered them Titus SE 2 verse 11 for the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men instructing us to deny ungodliness

058and worldly desires and and to live sensibly righteously and godly in the present age the grace of God is Jesus Christ and he's the only one that can change the hearts of every single individual teacher parent and the children they need to be taught our founding fathers created this school system to teach the Bible to teach what God expects this was a Christian Nation thank you up next we have Janine Goki good evening I'd like to thank the board for all you do it's a thankless job and you get paid so much for it well I'm here to talk tonight about the uh choman library and the great uh scholarships that we have available there's two scholarships for the deadline is being March 15th of this year uh the first one would be the uh

0592024 Genie Smith teen Library volunteer scholarship it's for $500 it's a it's available for any graduating senior of this year uh to apply for that and this particular one is for volunteering at the croman library the other scholarship that's available is the hartland's croman District Library postsecondary education scholarship this one in particular kind of goes along with the history it's been established by libraries original Founders Jay Robert Krauss and Henry Tain uh this scholarship as well is for $500 uh with an essay coming along with it and the deadline for this is March 15 encourage if you know any students that are interested in applying please apply thanks up next we have Tim pet hello my name is Tim pilac I am a resident of Hartland Township and my two daughters attend school district here

060back in December 2023 my daughter was accused of being in possession of a th vape pen she was searched they did not find anything but a nicotine Vape no THC vape was found at this at the time I was contacted by president principal Howton who stated that my daughter would receive a 10-day suspension and a class infraction a class 4 infraction means alcohol use or possession drug use or possession physical assault weapons possession and extreme misconduct I immediately subjected my daughter to multiple drug test to confirm that she was using the tests were all negative concern confirming my daughter does not use THC and had not in the last 30 days my daughter takes full respons responsibility for the nicotine VAP and that has been dealt with accordingly my issue is that the school tried

061to convict her with a class four infraction based on here say the school had no physical evidence of of a drug test proving that my daughter does use THC at this point I felt the class 4 infraction should be reduced to a class three infraction for the nicotine possession on school premises Vans would not budge on reducing the class 4 infraction to the class three INF infraction this was very troubling for me I filed an appeal in went before the expulsion expulsion board meeting to address my grievances on how it was handled Mr van EPS was very condescending and told me I was very difficult to work with his lack of Common Sense made no sense at all again no physical evidence and a drug tested confirming my daughter does not use THC at this

062point Mr Hughes stepped in and agreed to drop to a level three inactions thank you Mr Hughes for seeing it what it was Mr Vans can do better your lack of common sense for all parents of Heartland students thank you next up I have Jeff Scott good evening everybody my name is Jeff Scott and uh some of the things you talked about on the agenda here through a little wrench and what I want to talk about tonight so I'll try and get to it and hopefully help with some of the foyer questions if if anybody couldn't guess it was me who submitted the foyer request that you guys are talking about tonight and essentially what I requested was correspondence between Mr Costa and Mr Hughes the first three months of last year I asked for

063all text messages and all email correspondents and I received just a tiny little fraction of what I requested despite the fact that I paid for it all even though was more than estimated as usual um so I would like to know where the rest is uh I received zero emails that originated from Mr Costa meaning that apparently somebody thinks the president of the board in 90 days or 75 days never once had an email which had the superintendent on it is just asinine and the fact that it hasn't been caught it hasn't been addressed at this point is silly uh it didn't jump up today I made this request in November of 2023 I've been emailing back and forth with Miss Braden Mr Hughes president gach trying to get this resolve for the last few

064weeks uh with with no response to follow up on some of the questions that were asked earlier about what the process is and what should happen yes somebody should do an email search uh does it need to be the highest employed uh person in the technology no absolutely not right you're just trying to make us pay for it and obviously he's incapable of doing it on the fact that he found nothing uh second your policy actually dictates that the foyer coordinator is to reach out to the individuals mentioned in the foyer request and number one make sure that they don't delete anything number two ask for the communication so when you guys have this little meeting about what happened I'd like to know did the foyer coordinator reach out to Mr Costa and request these

065emens uh did he refuse to provide them I also requested text messages did Mr C and Mr Hughes ref refuse to provide the text messages uh was were they notified of the school policy forbidding them from destroying any of the communications that were requ ested in the Foya all that needs to be answered uh and and we need to make sure that the laws are followed the law clearly states that correspondence from board members must be maintained by the school district until that board member no longer serves and Mr cost is still sitting here so obviously his information must be held somewhere so we need to find out where that is this example demonstrates a complete lack of accountability that this district has right now and I had probably 10 other examples that I want

066to go through but really wanted to punch on that because it came up in your conversation this District can do better you can be more transparent and you can be more accountable and that's what the people in this room and the people of this community expect and I do hope that you get something from from your meeting you can come back to the community with some answers of why you're unwilling to release the president of the board's correspondence to the public thank you next up I have Tiffany be hi uh I'm Tiffany be um and I here to talk to you about the uh Michigan student voice perception survey from the superintendent's email last week um parents that were trying to check out the survey at the school turned into a big runaround uh you

067needed an appointment it wasted everybody's time I don't understand why this wasn't something that just could have been simply emailed from the beginning um the thing is uh Chuck if you're worried about the kids seeing the survey early that should be a call for the parents it's not up to you and it's it's not your decision it's up to the parents to decide if they want their kids to participate in this or not there is no rule saying that we can't see these questions beforehand so I just want to know what gives Mr Hughes the right to decide this and I'm asking you as the board um I'm here because I'm a parent and we deserve to know what's going on so that we can make smart decisions for our kids we deserve all of

068the information uh making this harder sorry what you did was make way harder than it needed to be and it doesn't help anybody but props were finally sharing this survey today because that's how it should have been from the start you could have avoided a lot of chaos within the community and I just want to say Mr Hughes that everything that you do does impact us it impacts the community and it's time for you to step it up and it's time for the board to hold Mr Hughes accountable for his actions and lack of transparency this isn't a game this is our kids Future these this is my kids future future and um you know everything that I've seen it seems like Mr Hughes seems to to keep he likes to keep things vague and

069he's likes to stir up more fear and distrust and Clarity and that's just not leadership to me um I don't understand why the board lets this slide we've seen enough dodging and weaving to save face it's been a bit of a circus today uh but Chuck uh I appreciate you doing the right thing today and uh submitting that email and sharing that with the parents and I hope that you keep choosing transparency and a big thanks to the board for pushing the accountability because it's about time I also want to comment on the students perception survey that students are being asked to take I have no faith in Chuck Hughes to administer a fair survey so my daughter will not be taking the survey or filling out the opt out form up until this afternoon

070Chuck was doing everything he could to keep the survey questions from the parents and only after they had leaked did he finally decide to post them to the website and claim he was being transparent he only did it because his hand was forced and they were coming out anyway Chuck has a long history and there is a good reason many in the district don't trust him let me remind the public on the stunt that Chris C and Chuck Hughes pulled that pulled last spring with the superintendent evaluations the two of them colluded and decided to throw out evaluations that they didn't agree with and by doing this they brought Chuck score from minimally effective to highly effective this was outright corruption from two of the top num of the administration and they cheated the district

071out of a fair and impartial evaluation of the superintendent if the president and two other board members had any Integrity they would have held the two of them accountable for their dishonest and corrupt actions Chuck should have been reprimanded or fired and Chris removed from the board but unfortunately majority of our board members don't have the moral courage or fortitude to put personal friendships aside and do the right thing so to Chuck and Chris you have lost the trust of many in the district the public is now aware of your lack of honesty and integrity and what the two of you are capable of doing so I suggest you not try to manipulate the data that comes out of this student survey right moving on to item one act committee and building reports going to

072the right side sorry okay uh we did have a finance committee meeting I know was going to speak to it but there was a number of things she mentioned uh budget amendments uh threee projection uh special education knowledge which is extremely important syncing fund and potential going down the road what what our district look like as far as Finance so I'm not going to I don't want to with feel everything because I know you're better than me but yeah that's she she did Cover quite a bit obviously Orel did your job as always um she's very well spoken and knowledgeable and very B um the start building uh here at the building here right here um I was able to take part and not take part watch The Descendants play which I know it's not

073all Heartland kids but my gosh they were really good uh quite a nice thing to see here that we have this building for them and just past this past Saturday uh we have the walk for warmth here that we open up our building to families in need and uh raise money by Walking The Halls here so I was able to be a part of that as well great to see a lot of the community members Sheriff Mike Murphy was out here many community members and organizations it was wonderful to see them here in our building that all say right all right thank you also Echo the sentiments from Mr Casta to Rachel about the Fantastic preparation you you have with the uh the budget amendments and appreciate you uh bearing with me on all my

074questions so thank you for that good job in that preparation I I won't uh go into much other detail I guess I will add one thing though there was a for those of you that are not in the committee there was some discussion around uh just as a heads up for all of you a resolution that may come to the board to support the upcoming special education knowledge so just giving everyone on the board an opportunity to be aware that that's coming and so you have any specific questions I haven't seen the language yet but perhaps that will be available soon so that's just a heads up for all of you uh continue to have good Farms visits I don't see my Farms team here but I I do understand that they may be here

075next month so I'm looking forward to having the rest of the board here all the great happenings going on at farms I did have the privilege of going through the the chaos which is also known as lunch for the administration every single day so um next time I'm going to bring Mickey some some earplugs maybe so that she can maintain her hearing that she uh if she ever decides to retire which I hope she does now but anyways it was great visit got to see a lot of kids they had a lot of fun had several of them come up and talk to me experienc good discussions with our great security staff seems like those um the board decision to incorporate security I think has been very well received by not only the staff but

076parents and you know any anybody frankly that I talked to including all of our fantastic forest team I think the only other comment I wanted to add was around the survey that was mentioned by some members of the community here I do think that transparency uh is very important for the district and again I want to thank Mr Hugh for sending out the survey to the members of the community so that they couldn't make an informed decision as far as whether or not they wanted to take it I know my concern is when people don't have all the information they tend to try to fill in blanks as they see fit and sometimes you know someone may not do something just because they are not aware of it and now by having the opportunity to

077view them it may actually increase participation because now there's no fear of the unknown so and thanks for issuing that to the community that as my report I had no committee meetings Mr yeah I just uh for all of you that uh have a student who's about to graduate is maybe College Bound as it was mentioned in the called in public there are various scholarships from the library but also please be aware that various clubs organizations ations all around your local community have many of them have scholarships and they may they may be fairly minimal but they definitely help so please keep your uh ear to the ground for organizations that do offer those kinds of things for your college on senior thank you I have a meeting with Mr wreck at Village about once

078a month um and it's just such a joy be able to go in to elementary school and see little people again um I know that some of the village students were here in the building today seeing Finding Nemo um they have such an active PTO there I don't want to go through the list of all the things they're doing but Megan can probably answer her better son she has kid at Village um but you know the great thing too when I get to visit that building is you get to see the smiles the culture you just get to feel it right it's not only what you see but it's what you feel so kudos to Mr R and the culture that he has there um staff seem to all be you know great and and

079again just being able to see the little kids is awesome um and even though Lakes is not my building I was a Lakes parent for 10 years they have created a scholarship for Mrs Kathy Jack's name and it's open to all graduating seniors who attended Lakes for at least three years um students probably will get it from counseling but if you have Lake student and you are hearing this reach out to me I have a copy of that scholarship and I'm happy to pass that application along so this is uh I did not have any committee meetings but I was able to meet with Mr Howton at the middle school again this month um and he shared a few highlights with me on the unified basketball program which I be believe began last year at

080the middle school will'll have their first game uh this Wednesday um I believe it's after school maybe 4:00 um and there will be upcoming games I know there's one for sure in March but I don't have the full schedule but that's coming um swim and dive is off to a great start for the beginning of their season um quiz Bowl ended their successful season and will be competing against staff and teachers next Monday after school which I'm sure I would be terrible at but Mr Howton is looking forward to participating himself I'm not sure but other staff are going to do it too um burs basketball both seventh grade and eighth grade teams are still UND deed for the entire season so kudos to those girls and those coaches for working so hard um they

081had a yearbook design cover um or yearbook cover design contest those winners were named there was a total of three winners um so thank you to those three and to those um that submitted designs there were several uh the Optimus Club oratorical contest um they had their first round of about 30 presenters and um I guess it was pretty hard to narrow it down to just 13 we go on to the next round and that will be here in this building um March 6th um and also pal team finished seven at State and this was their first year competing in division one for pal so kudos to those girls congratulations it's all thank you moving on um you know as Mr Killer noted in this touches all the buildings um it was school resource officer

082um day a few days ago and so I can't um Mr stand happens to cover one of my kids schools in in the building that I'm assigned to and he's just phenomenal um but our really our entire team is phenomenal both from um our deputies at the high school and the middle school and then obviously our forest deputies that we continue to just get really great feedback on and so just mentioning them um one day I hope we can have them all here and we can honor them um because they've done really great work really great mentorship work and just really phenomenal human beings um it's just very cool to see them interacting with students um you know on good and bad days and um you know you can see students behavior change um as

083soon as they walk down the hall or as soon as they walk in the room um there's a level of respect there that that is that goes un matched so thank you for that and and I do also want to thank everyone that's participating in reaching higher at the various levels um I get the privilege to participate in that at the high school um but thank you it's it's truly um this is my first year participating and it's truly a very impactful program and so thank you for everyone that makes that happen moving on item 2A action item banking services I moved at the Board of Education upon the recommendation of the superintendent and the Chief Financial Officer approves the change to Bank of Anne Arbor to serve the district's banking needs as presented and

084discussed support motion by Mrs Shaw support by Mrs Coleman any discussion Rachel would you just like to let the public know just a little bit about what that is absolutely so um in last meeting we had discussion and and in through Finance we are recommending we switch Banks from PNC to bank and vanor um we feel overall bank and vanor can um serve us much better and a much lower cost and uh since the board is required to authorize which bank we choose that's why it's here for you all to vote on and approve any discussion personal note I am um in full agreement that something has to be done to move away from our current bank because I've had personal business dealings with uh that have not been successful so I'm glad to hear

085that we're taking action on this I'm not sure to give you the opportunity to have dealings because they don't yeah it's it's a supposed Solution Center and yet you can't get money yeah right it's fascinating any further discussion hearing none Mr Goki yes Mr sha yes Mrs Coleman yes Mr Costa yes Mr Keller yes Mrs Bond yes I a yes that motion passes item 2B 2023 2024 budget amendments I move that the Board of Education upon the recommendation of the Chief Financial Officer approve the budget amendments as presented and discussed support motion by Mr Costa support by Mrs Coleman any discussion Rachel um yep so February meeting that's typically when we uh do midye budget amendment as a reminder we have to adopt a budget before uh July 1 of every school year uh by

086law however at that time there's still a lot of unknowns we don't have our student count nine times out of 10 the state has not finalized their budget yet so we're not sure what Foundation allowance is going to be and so at this point of the year we have a lot of that information and we're able to bring everything current but what we know as of today um and so in June we will do our final Amendment before the he closes out uh we talked about um the amendments in detail in finance committee um and there's a lot of information there in the packet but I have to answer any questions that anybody El any further discussion on the budget amendments no we got a download from M gr so satisfied thank you all right

087hearing on Mr Goki yes Mr sha yes Mrs Coleman yes Mr Costa yes Mr K yes Mrs V yes and I'm a yes that passes item 2C building Furniture purchases I move that the Board of Education upon the recommendation of the superintendent and the director of operations approves the building Furniture purchases as presented motion by Mrs Coleman support by Mr sha any discussion Mr H you just want to give a quick overview about what that is yeah this these are dollars that were set aside in last year's budget um last year's budget and or this year's budget how long ago this is fun oh this is my never mind yeah no this this is just um these purchases are are just for out of the 2020 B proceeds each building and a set budget to

088um upgrade furniture and whatnot throughout the building so that's that's what this is here for Farms worth week in high school was was on L any other discussion items before moving to a vote I just want to say I got to see all the Farms tables and I'm supportive of them getting new tables did you eat lunch at them I didn't eat lunch at them but I got to see in the Nations I heard PES on Mr K next to he visits um Mr Goki yes Mrs Shaw yes Mrs Coleman yes Mr Costa yes Mr Kelly yes Mrs B yes and I'm a yes that motion passes moving on to item 3A new and revised policies for legisl lative changes ready yeah go ahead these are uh the board and the community should understand that

089um state legislator uh legislators change the the laws around these policies these policies are simply updating our board policies um the first the first one two three four five are updating our policy around um what types of things can now be bargained or not bargained in the contract we call them par of policies um so it's just it's just making sure that our policies are consist consistent with the new laws that either that went in effect technically on February 13th but some of them don't go into effect actually until July 1st of 24 um so you've seen that in there um also we have the two new policies 3132 and 3140 uh that we didn't have adopted as a board but we should have adopted as a board so those policies are just being um

090recommended for the board to to adopt so that we have those and it covers those vacancies and termination of resignation so those are uh new policies that niola has had but we had not adopted and we just feel like we need to have them so um that's what you see in your packet as discussion items tonight between now and the next board meeting more than happy to sit down with you go over these with you uh if you have any concerns or thoughts but again read it from the perspective of this is putting us in compliance with the new legislative laws that passed and we're now on the bo Mr do you me repeating the policy numbers that are new uh those are the last 3142 is that right uh 3132 and 3140 40 and

09131 y thank you y and there should be a sheet in your packet um called special update yeah M real quick um were were these revisions looked at by th at all or these revisions no these revisions were through niola who makees sure that our policies are in compliance with the law okay I I I just wondered since there are legalities involved with some of these policies if it's um something that we would normally put past thr or not so that's all yeah no thr thr does do have their own policy manual we don't use their policy manual um their um guidance of course is to make sure that we are following whoever we use and get these in on the books okay thank you any additional questions any additional questions concerns anything if I

092might ask if you do have any concerns about verbage if we could just get that It Go just before the next meeting a lot of times if we try to change verbage at the table it gets very confusing for minutes it gets very confusing for votes it gets it's just much better if we can have that in front of us versus trying to write it out at the bo table I things happen and sometimes we need to do that but we can that item 3B band instrument purchase all right so this is my confusion sorry about that Rachel um this is where we set aside money we went out to our uh buildings and we asked what what do you need we've got some of this money set aside the board of members I think

093it was a little over a million dollars um to make sure that we take care of the needs of our buildings um working with our Band program this was a need of theirs so this um the bid document is in the packet um I know Brad is back there but Brad said hey this is what we need in the program so uh our recommendation is we go forward and purchase these with an action item at the next meeting any additional discussion on the band purchase I just want to ask a question are these all new instruments I believe so yes that's correct yeah thanks any other questions all right moving on to item 3 C the move from board reports to committee report to committee and building reports um I can start us off and

094then we can open up discussion I think that um just as we look from a standard structure standpoint I would like to maintain as much board business as possible um and as I had indicated in a previous discussion um there's tons of case law supporting that um you can't really use your official capacity or position promote personal views opinions or your position on topics and so therefore for adding things as board business to the agenda they're part of that discussion and then you utilize your vote to obviously express your opinion any informational items I think Mr goleski you said smaller shifts but I'm might be mistaken um but I would ask that that information if not obviously in your building report you represent the schol a little bit different um but that then that be

095covered in informational items um just just a note here I mentioned earlier about some of the policies that we have regarding the interaction of the board the interaction of our district the citizens of the district um and one of those ways that we can interact is by and I have to say Megan I I agree in terms of just pontif ating and giving a political view that's not what the board report would be for however to bring up subjects to bring up concerns that's where it does belong and it's very important that the district residents and the parents of this District understand where each word member is coming from and how they are representing presenting the district um I have a big concern about limiting the time to just committee and building reports our committees

096meet most of them once a year so for 11 months I could sit here and say no I have nothing to add that concerns me I think everyone in um again I only got two requests one for Mrs f one for Mr Kelly um and then one for myself but I think anyone can request anything to added to a committee so there's committee that you would like to see something on just request it Mr H will then F the committee say you have a concern about XY or Z no that that that's not my point um obviously you know we can only be on so many committees each person each individual some are on two some are on four um I'm not ask you to be on all of them um I just think that

097there are items that come up for example um today we had an item come up that talked about scholarships I think a board report where you can talk about other agencies that provide those things I don't want it to be at the very very end when either half the people have left or it's just a foot note before everyone starts putting their folders away and leaving I would like it to be addressed early um and I I want to go back to a board report that allows us the freedom to talk about things other than committee and buildings so if I have something I want to discuss there are several Avenues right to get it onto the agenda asking the president or as we had four times having something add it as a discussion item

098so that way we can discuss it as a board if it's said in a board report or let's say number F committee and building reports as it's labeled now that's not a discussion that is me saying what I want to say whatever it's about but it's not a discussion and if we wanted to be board business if we wanted to be in the meeting minutes we want to have a discussion that those are the Avenues in which you get something on the agenda as a discussion M and that's what I support keeping in in in this new format is just as we've done four times tonight with adding three things under discussion items that's the proper way for us to make it board business so we can all discuss but sometimes it's not a discussion

099sometimes it is a statement relevant to concerns and items brought up by members of the community and sometimes it's not needing a discussion on unless we take a look at it and think whoa this is a much bigger topic maybe we should put it on a future agenda but if it's not an item for an agenda then really we're just indicating our personal view or no we we're addressing topics and concerns that the public has am I correct Meg that you you take notes at Cil the public right and you have followed up anyone's willing to use my right right I mean we all have to believe follow up with anyone that says anything that call to the public and I know you have an I know Chuck ass so we do have Avenues in

100which to follow up with people are you talking about individually well sure I mean if someone says that something calls in the public Megan you've reached out to people individually right you to yeah I know I have but I also think that some topics are big enough to where the public needs to know we're board members stand then it should be board business it it might be board business but if they want to know listen I don't feel my child is safe and for me to say I understand your concern and I agree there's nothing wrong with that would you not say would you not want to say I understand your concern I agree and let's look into it oh that would probably be part two sure well I think there's a distinction here too

101right because the board may or may not vote to add it right so then there's no discussion so then it's basically you not it doesn't become board business because maybe other members of the board a don't want to talk about it or B don't think it's important and so how do you 20 minutes before discussion on adding items we did today yeah what in the future well we looted down a couple items too right but you got to say your piece and say why you wanted on agenda correct and certain situations yes I have never had one item that I wanted to put on the agenda put on the agenda that's my concern no today but I also no I'm going back prior to this this meeting I requested just this week to have the

102resolution of free speech put on and I responded that the agenda was not hey guys here it is so no one's surprised so that everyone can do it ahead of time and it didn't get on the agenda ready I responded that the agenda was already that I completed the agenda but didn't want anyone to say hey I I've never seen this before was was it in before Wednesday I did the agenda the week before it was already go out still the Wednesday prior to the meeting so what I think at the point is to have discussion on an item I I don't see the fault of of one making the motion to put it on here like we did today with the three or four items we have um but I I completely understand the

103point of that our conversations should be about school business and I'm not saying that has not been brought up but I I think the Avenue that we're currently on does that I think it it allows for people to make motions at the beginning of meetings second them then we all can decide whether or not it's worthy of actually placement on the agenda or just discussion so I think this keeps us more more aligned with what we're supposed to be doing up here at meetings that's my opinion so if I bring up the topic that I wish to restrict the number of topics that are taught in regard to seal curriculum and I bring that up here you me to tell me I'm not going to get four no votes automatically I mean let's just address

104the elephant in the room well I think would you be bringing forward like no it's It's not pathetical Megan but I think Glen I think you would get the opportunity someone would I'm assuming someone would second that and then we'd have the opportunity to discuss it so I think your your Avenue of like saying that your supporters aren't you're not representing them I feel that they they would hear you um I mean whether or not the board agrees but it's long as someone seconds your motion unless we all just sit here and say nothing I believe that you you got you get your opportunity and then I put forward a policy and then it's looked at and no no we're not going to go anywhere with this this is definitely a way to restrict speech

105I'm not going to convince you oh well you're not going to convince me otherwise okay any further discussion I just want to ask um why the change it's structural it's to make sure that every everything is documented in for business and furthermore it's actually recommended by the MS MB well that that doesn't that that means nothing to me I'll ask there any other districts that are following that same format yeah believe bright I just at their agenda following the same format well any of the ones I've watched from right they have a Bard report I just watched the last must May Chang has it changed in the last month then I've seen the last two agendas I'm not talking about the agenda but when you listen to the actual board members I watched last week

106for last month so the point is just to make sure I'm understand you don't want to have the discussion but we have to have the motion to have the discussion where we can have the discussion business and then it's official business when we go around the table there isn't bidirectional discussion so you say your piece right and if you're the last person to speak you yeah you get to speak on what everyone else spoke on make that Mak sense it it's not making sense for me clearly that's why we're asking having this conversation right so when we do Bo report I understand I understand what I structure I don't get a comment on what you've done unless it's a discussion item right right because we don't go around the table twice correct and that's fine

107then we can make it as as an agenda item for discussion during the next meeting if something that is said is so irritating or so concerning then you have the option to bring it up at the next meeting and make it a discussion item and and as president don't you have the ability to uh speak up to the fellow board member who is going off Havoc or off school business I'm sure do so then isn't isn't that all you need to be worried about if that's the concern that people are speaking about not school business as president I guess part of my concern is um referring back to something that you said original plan that um to bring up subjects or concerns but not to pontificate how do we draw the line between expressing your

108opinion about this concern or this whatever the topic is how do we draw the line between just that and pontificating and going on and on and sharing your own emotional personal side in order to influence or sway other opinions so I'd like to say something to that is we had many many emails from the community about restroom news many and you know I was in the safety committee meeting because I wanted to help address those I was out you know I was I was doing a board I guess a committee meeting report I was trying to say what was what I said in the meeting because it was the majority of the people what they said is well but it wasn't like so I was shushed this to me seems like that's what the the

109efforts is to do is to make sure that we don't have an opinion on everything and I think that it's unfair because we should have an opinion on everything because that's what we're here for and Community because somebody doesn't like it or it doesn't feel right or it's exposing something that shouldn't be exposed that's what it feels like it doesn't seem like it's trying to control the meeting to you know business because we do have the agenda that we're working through right we've got actions we got this and we have that um but addressing Community concerns and things because I don't think that anybody else felt as as uh strongly as you know several of us to to address the community for their concerns and there was a lot of them and we know that

110so um you know and I feel like I can't say anything about it anymore even though I should be able to but I can't because I don't have a committee to a committee meeting to go back to and you know it's it's just concerning well as board members we are not just board members when you're sitting at this table there's 30 days in between meetings I don't just make a list of things that I want to talk about or or addressed maybe with Mr Hughes or Megan at this meeting that goes on all month if someone brings a concern to me I don't need to say it here at the board table for for me to take action or to ask about it or to get them help there are other it just because I

111don't say it here or address it here doesn't mean something's not being done or I haven't heard someone's concern so there are other avenues in which to have your voice heard as a board member when you're not sitting at this table we do that I'm not saying you don't but I'm saying there are other avenues in which to address the concern of the community or people who bring issues to you we have access to Megan and Chuck 247 well I can say you know from my perspective is that members of the community feel like sometimes their voice isn't heard and that you actually come talk about it they they reach out they say thank you I feel like I actually had a voice that's why you were elected thank you for being my voice and

112I think this is kind of a slap in the face of the community who elected all of us to say NOP you can't talk about that because you're not in that committee oh you don't weren in that building so I think that's what this reflects and I'm not here to say that there was any ill intentions with this new change but I just feel like the Practical change there's there's no value in doing that and and we don't need to make a change for the sake of making a change I the change be unilateral or maybe it wasn't maybe there was some talk between you and someone else but when you take a look at policy 144.5 board member defix as members of the Board of Education board members will strive to improve public education

113and to that end they will D encourage the free expression of opinion by all board members and seek systematic communication between the board and students staff and all elements of the community I cannot think a of a bigger vehicle to do that than this meeting I just one more thing to add relating to community input when we're also shutting off comments in social media to the community to speak you know it's it seems like there's a theme of we're trying to shut people out again whether it's intentional or not that's what the public sees and so can't help but be up here and say that I don't support the change in board report format any further discussion moving on item 3D D um I will explain to the community exactly what I explain to the

114rest of the board and then give some reasoning behind Mr goal's request um as it's no secret that the doj um is currently not receiving anything from the district um they are interested in maintaining some level of connection with the district and a monitoring agreement moving forward um it is the monitoring agreement that they would like to move forward with will come to the board we will have a Clos session with our Council But ultimately it will actually come to the board for a full vote there's a lot of things that's been that have been requested by the doj that aren't necessarily in alignment with what what we would like to see in a monitoring agreement and um there is is uh some very basic titles unfortunately that allow them no matter what we decide

115to have monitoring agreements and I'm happy to review those titles at a later date um but um part of that agreement um is very unclear to us as to some of the specific reasoning or some of the requests and so um part of this is uh Mrs Coleman had actually been involved in previous discussions with the doj um the previous updates in which they were actually very pleased with what we were doing um ultimately until the end of the agreement um and so she has that historical context ultimately I'll be honest my signature has to go on this agreement um my signature has to go on this agreement after I get a vote from my board members and so understanding um you know the connectedness to that um and so I did reach out to

116Mrs bondil and Mr Goki to uh act as the third individual uh in that discussion um I did ask the doj to meet with the entire board in which they declined um and so they have agreed to meet with a small group um and I think again once we understand our Council um that this is likely going to go beyond the Dei committee um the Dei committee will be integral into it um but not necessarily um everything things will have to end up flowing through other avenues within the board um to understand if you will enter an agreement or what type of um structural itation we have to provide what was the reason for the Dei committee being formed excuse me what was the reason that the Dei committee was formed I don't have their

117goals right now was it in was it in response to the doj's request of a complaint that was made a few years ago purpose of the DI committee to be formed was to review practice procedure and processes that we utilize in the district so over the last uh two years the board has adopted reason respect responsibility that came out of that process and went through the Dei committee uh any policy changes that we looked at we looked at the handbooks uh through our Dei uh uh committee and then sent those to the board Dei committee so there's a number of things that have to do with policy practice and proced procedures that the Dei was formed to look at not necessarily the actual agreement the actual agreement is an overarching agreement and there will be

118components of that agreement that will have to be looked at for policy practice and procedure that would go through that committee so you're you're saying that the Dei committee was not formed as any response to a doj request I don't believe that it was I believe the Dei committee was formed as a result of the allegations that were made and the reaction the board had at the time of the allegations so mated by doj it was mandated by speak out I'm [Music] ask now I uh I will go on on and say I do believe it was mandated by the doj but let me let me go back to my concern as to why I brought this topic up in the last um did you know that Mr Hughes sent out there was a little

119paragraph um that stated that um an administrator has been instrumental in setting up meetings with the Great Lakes equity center Midwest and plains Equity assistant Center or map Center we have had two meetings so as far as we seek to understand the collaborative partnership and assistance that we can expect to move forward with the work of eliminating racial discrimination harassment and bullying at HCS now the Great Lakes equity center I will not get into or give any opinion about what they represent but I can assure you that if you do some digging go to their website if you're not alarmed um that's an issue what they're recommending what resources they have what they're telling us in terms of how to end all of this horrific racial discrimination that's going on in this District um is

120frightening and you can look at their website on your own make your own conclusion but I will tell you that it is riddled with all of those elements that has had this community up and stir like CRT Concepts and I recall previous board meetings where we've been told oh no no there's no crg and well guess what the doj is recommending it and they're pointing it as a res resource to look at this is what terrifies me Mr Goki you will certainly have the opportunity as well the entire board to ensure that that agreement that you give that feed back on that agreement and also just to clarify uh the the district level Dei committee was not mandated that is something that as a board we set up here had discussion at length obviously prior

121to audio and video recording and voted on so that was not something that the dog mandated was something collectively as a board decided was important sorry if I may go ahead so again I I I wasn't on the board at the time but I'm just wondering why we would create a committee and then not include the entire committee members on all the pertinent topics I would I can understand if if someone said hey I I'm passionate about this one particular item and sought the request of a fellow board member who sat on the committee and said hey do you mind if I sit in for this and if they're able to oblig we've done that on occasion already right but I guess I don't understand why the Dei committee wouldn't get the last right of

122refusal and if they choose to not s it then you would open it up to somebody outside the committee I guess just in the just as a general question about any committees it doesn't even have to be Dei but can can you help me understand why we would incorporate it that way mine too I think that the Dei committee is going to have to form to understand if there's any policies procedures anything that are modified if we enter an agreement um so that that it's not like that committee is taken out I will say Mrs fondal has reached out to me and very clearly and structurally articulated concerns around the current agreement and any future agreement her and I have had probably two hours of conversation um around that and around some concerns around that

123um obviously she said on thei committee um I understand the frustration if they would meet with the entire board I would have that um and and I think there will be a lot of work for the de committee from a structural policy procedural standpoint um and we have to get there and it's taking time and we all know that things level slower than understand all that but again just as courtesy to Mr Gold we clearly you know I he's on the Dei committee I unless he said I didn't want to participate in meetings with the dog I I think he deserves first right of refusal over someone who's not on the committee I appreciate and I would like to add that you know I didn't do the research that Glenn did on the earth leg

124Equity I wouldn't have known that and that is a would have been a really good thing that you know he would have brought up at the meeting or something right like I me just things like that like different inputs with the Department of Justice so I have all kinds of questions for the doj so we can any further discussion item 3E policy 1441 who has a copy of this policy could you pass it down why they're doing that can I give the board a little history lesson on this policy because I've been here for for a long time or do you not want a history lesson I would like toar I would like to so the history lessons I've been here since 2000 High School principal um the board um brought me in I believe

125it was with any year or two years after me coming on board that the board had decided that they were no longer going to take compensation in any form shape um for anything they were going to do it because they wanted to serve the community and they chose not to take compensation so um so what are you implying that I'm not willing to serve the committee by can I finish yeah sure but I just want to make sure that that point is clear because it was it was presented that way before by Mr tasta and I do want um uh my point uh about accepting compensation made loud and clear okay so so that's what the board had decided never you know it never came up over there I think it came up once or

126twice Charlie abber asri a board member uh for for 26 years you know would joke once in a while you know maybe we should go back to our compensation piece and the board never followed through on that there was a conversation at this board table a few months ago I don't remember exactly when of hey we should take a look at that so certainly in board policy it it talks about compensation which is 01441 and so now that there's interest in reestablishing that that's there certainly um is your right as a board and as a board member to say we have that policy so I think the reason why this is now at the table is because it's not been enforced it's not been a policy that was in any way looked at and so

127in L of the policy on compensation the practice was that if you wanted an expenditure approved you into the board president the board president approved the expenditure it went through the process and you got paid or in most cases if you want to take classes or you want to go to a conference you submit your reimbursement uh the mileage form and everything to Renee and she either puts it on signs you up for classes or a conference with our district credit card uh that we hold in our office or we take care of it uh through um Rachel's office so I think the only reason why this U Mr Keller uh I think the reason why it now is up and I think you pointed out is we have this policy we now have a

128need to follow that policy and yeah we're going to follow that policy as it's written because now it is a new requ in a new need that we haven't had in a long time so that's the history well thank you Mr for that uh but getting just out of the the scope of this compensation policy when asking for reimbursement the question I have is is there some and I've never been made aware of this is there some form that I should be using is there some protocol that is not listed in our actual policies here that I should follow to do that and that's where the big confusion comes in regarding my request for being reimbursed for fingerprints um Rachel do we have a a form created an expense form we do have an expense

129reimbursement form and and you're absolutely right it's it's maybe we need to do something separate for a board member if there is a separate requirement under this policy you know and like Chuck said it's been years since we and honestly this was just something that was stumbled across when we were looking and trying to figure out you know how how we going to handle um the compensation piece when you had requested your compensation so you know and and in looking at this policy you know that's when we saw this piece about you know the whole having have it approved at a board meeting honestly it wouldn't have dawned on me that I would have had to look here for that it's just because we get reimb we we get reim request and it gets paid

130so this this isn't like a um you know it wasn't an intentional change in procedure it's just a matter of stumbling a process so in response to your original question you know perhaps there is something we need to put in place specific for board buber reimbursements because we have this extra step here and so my all I'm asking is just a little bit of to figure out what that looks like yeah I'm not I'm not making a point of this because of the dollar value I am truly from reading this and um the other one which is 1.4.1 point2 or something like that I truly cannot decipher what is actually needed for me to give to you and what I'm I'm just looking for is is a simple policy change or addendum just to make

131it clear that's that's all I want out of this and if we I guess I have a small concern with bringing it to the board approval before we actually execute because we really want to wait 30 days to go get fingerprinted or things like that and so I wonder if we we modify it to include the form say we include the form as an attachment we indicate um some level of approval process that's more of I guess more stream lighted as opposed to pres are you guys okay with more president like what um I I don't want to hold things up right right right and that's what I'm asking for a little bit of clarification because if you recall way back when when we talked about compensation I believe it was in February we were

132talking I was I brought up the whole concept of receiving compensation so we could have a scholarship to give back to either an organization or a student and it just opened up a kin of worms that was just huge and a lot of it is because of either the legalities of it or the fact that maybe we didn't have a process in place and what I'm just asking for is clarification to do that that's it why don't um would you be willing to take a stab and a modification of this policy um and bring it back to the just a simplification sure um and then Rachel um maybe we can use the that you already have an existence and attach it as an addendum to this and by which the process is it would be

133submitted to Rachel come to me for board approval and then be done well I will I will gladly work up a draft and send it to both of you to look at and whatever other items maybe we need to implement or change whatever we can just go from there and then keep it streamline and keep it simple like that's your best bet I just don't want to like it seems a little bit ridiculous $15 and $45 wa 30 days and then what if people don't know the $45 I think we can stre yeah but yeah exactly it's again it's nothing more than a a continual Improvement that we're looking for here that's it and and that was the point of bringing it up is to align our actual practices with our policies so that we're

134not doing things that you know we're help we're telling everyone else to follow policies but we're not going to so again I know that wasn't intentional but we just need to get everything buttoned up and so it's 1441 and then there's a point two part you said will you take a look at that and see if any modifications of point1 Ina point two absolutely and also Rachel if I could if you could send me that form just so I could take a look at it because I may want to reference that so okay any further discussion on those items all right our future meeting March 18th 2024 at 6:30 p.m. right here any informational items um oratorical contest for the public to attend date for that March March 6 at what time 630 6:30 March

1356 at 6:30 um right here cor is where this the actual oratorical the speeches will take place um we've had great success in previous years of of folks moving on to Regionals and state competitions and it's a wonderful opportunity um and and Mr bliznik and his team do a wonderful job with that if you can attend please attend any other informational items that you all would like to share you