001All right. Good evening, everyone. I've got six o'clock. We go ahead and call this meeting to order. Mr. Moore, would you go ahead and call the RO, please? >> Okay. Colonel Smith. >> Daniel Gray >> here. >> Ava Coleman, >> she's on her way. >> Jim Moore here. Ron McDaniel >> present. >> Dana Tony >> here. >> Lauren Martin >> here. >> Lauren Walker >> here. >> Okay. Thank you, sir. Y'all will join me as we stand for a moment of silence followed by the pledge. >> Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, like to go ahead and uh make some
002opening remarks. Good evening, everyone. I just want to thank everyone for taking the time to be here. Uh I want to begin by acknowledging the seriousness of why we're here. The events involving the Biameda Elementary have been painful, upsetting, and unsettling for students, families, staff, the broader community. No parent should ever have to worry about their child's safety at the school. We recognize that fear, anger, frustration that many have expressed. Uh this workshop is not about uh relitigating past events or assigning blame. It's about learning, improving, and moving forward responsibly. Our purpose tonight is to review existing policies, discuss potential changes, consider how we can strengthen student safety, communication, and trust while also respecting legal requirements. process and the boundaries of the board's role. I want to be clear about what this meeting is and
003what it is not. This is a working session of the board. No formal votes will be taken tonight. This is a space for discussion, questions, careful consideration of options before any action is brought forward at the regular public meeting. Uh we're here because we listen. We've heard parents uh during the special meeting of BAMEA uh during public comments in January uh and December uh through the written room correspondence uh many emails many concerns raised and communications about communication supervision prevention and clarity of process these are all appropriate topics and thoughtful for thoughtful policy review and that's what we intend to do at the same time I ask for patience and understanding some matters involve student privacy personnel issues ongoing legal consideration and those limits still apply. Our responsibility as a board is not to act
004quickly for the sake of appearance, but to act carefully, lawfully, and in a way that leads uh to lasting improvement. Our shared goal is simple, to ensure our schools are safe, our processes are clear, and our community can have confidence in how concerns are handled going forward. We may not agree on every point, but I believe we are united in wanting what is best for our kids. Uh thank you again for being here and for engaging in this process respectfully. Uh with that, I'm going to begin uh the meeting with our public comment time. So we're going to open the floor for public comments. This is a designated time for community members to share their thoughts on matters before the board. Uh we welcome appropriate input. We ask that you speak respectfully and professionally. You
005have three minutes. Please refrain from making statements about individual students or individual district staff members. The board only considers such matters upon recommendation from the superintendent. Uh your comments will be recorded for the official minutes. While we value your perspectives, please note the opinions shared during public comments do not necessarily reflect the views of the board. It is public comment, not public debate. And again, you have three minutes once you begin speaking. And the first person I have is Miss Christian St. Clair. Good evening. As a veteran, I understand protocol, procedure, and the weight of responsibility. I know what it means to act decisively when safety is on the line. And I know what it looks like when people hide behind policy to avoid accountability. And that's what it looks like here. Invoking Furpa as
006a shield, pretending it required silence, pretending it prevented transparency, and pretending it justified withholding critical safety information is not leadership. It's cowardice. Burpa was never meant to be weaponized against parents. Burpa doesn't prevent you from notifying families. Burpa doesn't prevent you from sharing information with law enforcement. The parent action coalition has asked for answers for transparency and basic moral courage. Instead, we've been met with deflection, indifference, and a refusal to acknowledge the harm your decision caused. And let me tell you, entire school boards have resigned for less. In California, the Oakley Union School Board resigned after what they thought was a private meeting where they were caught mocking parents. If an entire school board can resign in another state for disrespecting parents, I think that child endangerment is a good enough reason for this one
007to resign. We're not going away. Not next week. Not next month. Not till every person who was part of this, whether through their actions, their inactions, or their silence, is gone. Because one person willing to hide the truth, can compromise the integrity of an entire board. Trust is not something you reclaim with a press release or carefully worded statement. Trust is built through action and your actions have shown us all exactly where your priorities lie. [clears throat] At this point, there's no path to rebuilding trust. There's no leadership here. The community cannot heal under the same people in the same place who chose secrecy over safety. Our children deserve a district that protects them without hesitation of any sort. And our staff, they deserve leadership that tells them the truth. It's time for you to
008step aside so this community can begin working to rebuild what you broke. If this board won't resign, we have no choice but to do our best to have you removed. [clears throat] And if that's how the route we have to go, that proves once again you don't mind delaying healing. Thank you FOR [applause] CLAIR. NEXT, I've got Miss Brandy Elders. >> Good evening. My name is Brandy Elders and I'm here in support of the parent action coalition. I want to again begin by addressing last week's meeting. The explanation of the board's duties and authority was condescending and unnecessary. Many of us in the parent action coalition have served on boards before. board's responsible for the care and safety of children. We understand how boards work and we understand the weight of that responsibility. While the
009board had all the time it wanted to speak, I only have three minutes. So, I'm going to use my time clearly to explain how we feel. Cuz our feelings are rooted in concern, not confusion. Imagine you sent your child to my home to play. You trusted me to protect your child while in my care. While your child was there, I had company, someone you didn't know. You later found out that they were a molester. Would you still trust me with your child? Or would you feel exactly the way that we feel right now? Especially if you've only found out two months later. Excuse me. We are angry. Angry that we were not given the information we needed to protect our children. Angry that honesty was withheld from us. and angry that we were denied the
010opportunity to make an informed decision about our own child's safety. This is a very serious matter and we do not feel heard. You have never acknowledged your actions nor have you apologized. Accountability is something we teach our scholars every single day. We take tell them to take responsibility when they make mistakes. Shouldn't our leadership be held to the same standard? Shouldn't you lead by example? So, let me be very clear and reinforce what we have been saying all along. New [snorts] year, new board. We are asking for the entire board to resign effective immediately. Please step down. We don't want you anymore. Thank you, [applause] Miss Elvis. Mrs. Terresa Cook. Hello board and company. It wasn't even worth really writing the whole thing because I like to spend my time letting you know how we
011feel as well. If I'm making a batch of brownies and I throw horse manure into that batch of brownies and I just take out the biggest piece, nobody would still want to bake those brownies cuz it's still be full of horse manure. And that's exactly what this feels like. When did you guys even tell the teachers? [applause] Why [clears throat] did you let the teachers know this went on? How is the community to have gotten a foyer and had to pass them out? That was me passing out copies of the foyer in a pickup line to let parents know because I was so disturbed. And you got you have the nerve to laugh and mock [snorts] our feelings and your parents. We've said this before. All of your reports and timelines so far, there have
012been about four of them. By the way, every time you give us a piece of documents, the media or a foyer request comes Let me calm down because y'all I'll be the angry black woman. Every time that you give us a explanation, there's a receipt that says it's not the truth. So, I hope whatever you have prepared for today is worth our time and not another excuse or quick attempt to try to sweep this under the rug. It's not going away. We're not going to stop. You can quit saying an internal investigation while you can't say anything because we've already proven that not to be the truth. We got impeding of investigations. We got takes being doctorred. Come on, get out of here and let some people that care about kids sit there. >> Teresa
013Cook, [applause] Mr. Wanda Robinson. >> Good evening. My name is Aland Robinson. And I stand here as a parent, a caregiver, a community leader, and someone who believes deeply in ethical, transparent [clears throat] governance. We are here tonight because our children deserve a school district that reflects the very best of this community, not the bare minim, not excuses, and not silence. They deserve leadership that listens, responds, and acts with integrity. Over the past months, parents have raised serious concerns. We have sent emails, made calls, attended meetings, and followed every process available to us. What we have received in return has too often been dismissive, delays, or no response at all. That's not governance. That is not accountability, and is certainly not the standard our students deserve. Let me be clear, we're not here to fight
014the district. We're here to fight for the children. [applause] We want a school system that is strong, ethical, transparent, and worthy of the trust families placed in it every single day. But trust cannot exist without communication. Trust cannot exist without respect. And trust cannot exist when leadership refuses to acknowledge legitimate concerns from the very people this district is supposed to serve. We are here asking for something simple. Responsiveness, transparency, ethical leadership. These are not radical demands. These are the basic expectations of public service. Parents are not the enemy. We would love to be at home playing Uno. We don't want to be here. But as I stated, we're not the enemy. So don't try to play us to be. We're actually your partners. We're stakeholders and we're the backbone of this district. [applause] And when
015we speak, we expect to be heard, not ignored. Tonight, I'm asking for this board to resign and take your ineffective legal counsel with you. >> We want a board that honors the values it claims to uphold. Remember that every decision you make affects real children, real babies, real families, and the future of this community. My heart is broken for those victims that their voice has been removed because the budget or the ones that were even victimized because the budget, but yet we're paying millions in a millillage. Understand that accountability is not optional. It is the foundation of public trust. We will continue to show up. We will continue to document. We will continue to advocate. And we will continue to call for your removal because our children deserve better. Rolanda Robinson. [applause] >> All right.
016Thank you very much. That concludes public comment. We're going to move into the agenda, which is a workshop. And uh what I thought we would do tonight is just kind of wanted to have this as informal as possible uh to bring some uh people in to help us and just kind of open it up for discussion. And thank y'all for being here uh very much. And uh Dr. Owen, do you want to introduce our guests or >> Yes, sir. I can. We have uh Mrs. Laura Abbott, uh victim's right advocate, and her sister, >> twin sister, Leslie. I don't know. I already forgot which was which. And then we have Jennifer and Christian from the Children's Protection Center. Uh Dr. Walker, Mr. Lester, and Officer. >> Okay. And I know Scott Richardson's here as well.
017Scott, I don't know if you want to join us at the at the front or you just whatever you want to do. >> Okay. >> We'll get to Thank you. >> Uh so just kind of how do you all have any we we received an email uh back in December and you know I thought we could that could be the first thing if we want to go by that kind of point by point [snorts] and kind of address that real quick um and get into some of those points. Did you want to bring that up on the screen? >> [clears throat] >> So, uh, I think there's 19 points on here. A lot of this stuff I I'll just start. Y'all can jump in. But when I got the email, I looked at it and
018uh this is all a lot of it is regarding policy and procedures and you know, I'm not going to reply to all and start giving my opinions on any of this stuff or how we should react because that's not appropriate. I can't we can't meet via email. We've got to meet here in public. But uh number one, establish an independent oversight committee composed of parents, educators, and community members uh to monitor board actions, review investigations, and report findings publicly. >> I thought that was kind of what we're supposed to do. >> I have a comment on that. Um I know that most schools have like a PTA or a PTO program. What if what is the thought on a parent advisory board? So, if you had a parent from each grade level that was representative
019that served on that advisory board at the district level, similar to what you do with the students um where you go in and talk to them and then maybe have some kind of report for them like we have PPC reports from the board. Um, I know a lot of times as a parent myself, I don't always have great communication either. And so maybe that's a good way for us to increase communication before even school leaders and just the parent group in general. >> I think we we used to have a group of parents that Dr. Dr. Tony, I think Tony started that when he first got here. >> Any other comments on that? Thoughts? We'll get to some other stuff here in a sec. Add a parent ex official liaison position to the board to
020ensure families have a direct voice in governance. And again, I thought that's we're elected for that purpose and I don't see a need for that. >> That is not >> I'm not gonna I'm not gonna tolerate any outburst. If you're going to have if you're going to have outburst, I'll ask you to leave. >> So, it's not a discussion. It's a discussion to us. >> I'm not going to debate. You are not recognized. It's only the invited guests at the round table. >> You didn't make that clear. You didn't make that clear at all. >> I'm making it clear now. Please refrain. >> I'll have you have to ask you to leave. >> You don't have to ask me. >> Um >> All right. So, uh empower the superintendent with expanded authority to terminate employees
021who engage in misconduct, negligence, or actions that compromise students safety. >> Dr. Od, you want to comment? I mean, I think you have full authority to to bring a recommendation. [clears throat] Do you not? >> That's correct. >> Okay. So, that's already in place. Conflict of interest policy. Board members must not serve on conflicting boards. They must recuse themselves from any role, from any vote where a conflict of interest exists to protect integrity and public trust. I think we have a conflict of interest policy already in place. Uh, number four, staff teacher imperfections irrevocably allow Number five, irrevocably allow teachers and staff to unionize immediately to protect against retaliation and ensure accountability. [clears throat] I don't think that's up to us. >> I think that's a government ruling. >> We we have the uh we're
022not stopping anybody for that. >> It was established. >> So we currently have uh teachers and staff members who are part of AST, the Arkansas State Teachers Association and um Arkansas Education Association. And so um we still have support st classified and licensed staff members part of those uh organizations, state organizations. >> Okay. Notify district parents of staff changes within 24 hours regardless of the reason to maintain transparency. >> I have a question. Is that okay? >> Yes, ma'am. >> On this last one, what was the intent behind this? Because I know in some places there are teachers and there are parent organizations that do have a say so with the school. I think I'm just not clear if that's what the person who wrote the email. Who did the email send it to you?
023I didn't get that. >> This was received from Mr. Rolanda Robinson and the >> Okay. Just so we're clear on what the intent of that was >> like here's what here's what I don't want to happen. I don't want to go through this point by point and be debating. >> We're we've heard from them and we're trying to respond to some of this stuff. What I'm saying is Google. >> Miss Robinson, do you want to represent >> your group? >> Would you like to bring the chair up here? >> Yes. >> M. Robinson, if you want to come to the table, we can you can represent your group. That's fine. >> What I what I want to be clear is I don't want to be debating every point here. That's not the point of what
024we've heard and we've we received emails and we're trying to conduct our business how we are required to do it. >> I agree with you. I just hope that this but I just wanted clarification. See if that's a solution. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Is that what clarification on number five is? [clears throat] So on on number five, um we've had several teachers that have reached out to us confidentially because they do not feel like they can speak the matters at hand without being retaliated against that. All right. Thank you. Thank you for your >> All right. U closer. We do have a PPC committee and teachers can take uh information to that PPC committee if there's a policy that they disagree with, if they need additional information regarding a policy. Each building has a PPC
025rep and we put out information monthly. We bring information back to the PPC regarding what teacher concerns are and the PPC also brings those concerns to the board as they come to them. So the teachers do have a way of communicating their concerns. >> Very good. >> And that is important to the classified there's a >> classified PPC as well. >> I tell you what, if you'll take that mic out because every time you rub it, it's >> Dr. Margaret, can you tell them what PPC stands for? >> It is the personnel policy committee and there is one that is for classified and there is one for certified the members on that committee. It is governed by law of who can serve on that committee. There is an appointee for the certified that Dr. OA
026or an administrator. So, it's made up of teacher representatives from each building and then there is an administrator that's on that committee. I come into those meetings when they have questions related to policy or if the district is going to uh is recommending a change to a policy. We get feedback from the PPC. The PPC then takes that information out to all of the other teachers within the district so that they can provide their feedback and then it comes back to the PPC and then they have an area on the U board agenda each month if they want to bring something to the board related to that. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Thank you. Um, back to [clears throat] number six, to notify the district parents of staff changes within 24 hours regardless of reason to
027maintain transparency. Are there any issues with uh, Miss Logan, do you have anything to say on that? Or or maybe Scott Richardson, are there any legal challenges on that potentially? >> I apologize. I didn't hear the question. >> Uh, number number five here, notify district parents of staff changes. I checked it already. I'm sorry. Number six, notify district parents of staff changes within 24 hours regardless of the reason to maintain transparency. >> It would depend on the reason. Typically, we follow the Freedom of Information Act on disclosing things about staff and performance records are not subject to disclosure under the FOI except under pretty specific circumstances. So we particularly if it's a recommended staff discipline or an internal review that's not revealed. So you if it's a general reorganization of a school it's not a
028discipline related or a performance related reason then you can reveal that but otherwise we'd be restricted in what we could publish about discipline issues. You want to be careful with that too because what happens if staff are accused of doing things that turn out to be not the case. So you want to be careful people's reputations situations. >> So not asking for details justificial just notifying the parents of staff changes. We're not asking for the reason but just to maintain Yes. [clears throat] >> All right. We will uh number seven, honor all individualized education programs, IEPs, and use use mill funds to cover deficiencies. My understanding is that we are required to honor all IEPs. That's the law. Okay. Uh provide a designated private breastfeeding area for staff to ensure dignity and support. Is that
029that's a building level? >> Oh, Dr. Yes, as a part and that's the part of my role [snorts] as the title n coordinator. Our employees are trained every year as it relates to title n that that is a part where they have to provide a private space with a restroom with adequate accommodations. It cannot just be a bathroom. And so we have asked principles to identify that area, make sure that all staff know that area. We also purchased placards this particular year to pass out to uh the principal so that that um they can place in that designated area. Uh anytime we have meetings or anything that's uh events where large number of people are going to be and I'll give you an example such as our convocation. We always make sure that they know
030where they can go in order for to make sure that they can you pump another port for that inviteation. So they we're trying to make all of that known to everyone. >> Okay. Any other comments? [snorts] So we we're that's pretty much in place. >> Yes, it is. >> Thank you. >> All right. Number nine, publish and implement a clear victim identification and support procedure, including reporting resources, hotlines, district contacts, law enforcement, advoc advocacy groups, and supported services, counseling, community partners, legal aid. Uh this information must be boldly displayed and easily accessible on the district's main web page uh website homepage and official social media accounts. And I I think that is that what uh >> Yes, sir. Um Mr. Gray and board members uh after receiving the uh email from Mrs. Robinson. Um the
031team at the district office started drafting a document and then um we shared it with Children's Protection Center and uh Mrs. Abbott uh for their uh input and guidance. And so it's still a draft. Um and so our goal is to continue to work on it. Um but uh we will and Mrs. Williams, our director of communication, has started a web page on our district website so that all the resources uh this uh handbook uh after it's finalized will be placed on there for not just staff uh training but also uh so that parents will uh have uh the capabilities of seeing exactly uh the process the resources and protocols that we have in place. Uh so uh based on u some input like I said this is still in draft form so I need
032to go back and um input resources that Mrs. Avid provided also uh our partners at Children's Protection Center provided feedback too. So we want to continue to upgrade that. But you see that uh the mandatory reporting requirements according to state law and this entire document is in line with the state law as well as district policies as outlined uh in our policy handbook. But um the different uh types of malreatment uh legal protections reporting numbers, documentation, step-by-step reporting guidelines, uh nonactive situations, suspicions or disclosure and the contact information, the required information, steps um that uh employees can follow. Also important reminders for all situations and then critical contact information. you'll see the emergency contacts, child abuse hotline, local law enforcement, as well as the advocacy centers, advocacy centers, uh, here in central Arkansas, as well
033as I'm sorry, Arkansas state agencies, uh, are located there. And then our district contacts, additional support resources, after hours reporting procedures, video, evidence, and parental consent policy. uh the legal framework behind that as well as staff responsibilities training and accountability and confidentiality handbook distribution and accessibility guidelines external review and approval uh like I said we're going through that drafting process now and then just quick cards that we'll have at all the buildings and all the offices quick reference cards even visuals that go along along with what's already in place. Uh well, uh stated in the above language and so so right now that's the um the draft. And like I said, we'll continue to make u changes to it as we >> Yes, thank you. >> You're welcome. >> [snorts] >> All right. Let's go
034ahead and um I I thought it was really good. I And I know it's just a draft and I don't know how it's going to be packaged together, but I I would suggest maybe like I had a hard time finding the DHS mandatory report number until I scrolled down. I don't know if that's gonna I saw the 911 on the very very top, but everybody knows 911. So, maybe just put some of that stuff a little more. >> Yeah, that's that's actually the feedback that we got from Mrs. Abbott and uh Mrs. Long and the team from Children's Protection Center. So, we're going to make sure that's all in bold and actually moving the uh visuals from the back and include that in a narrative so that uh there's language there or verbiage as well
035as the visuals. So, >> I'd like to also >> Yes, ma'am. >> Jennifer, Dr. Walker, >> pass Miss Long. >> No, I just wanted to just to address like I think um having those step-by-step guidelines too I think was really um that's really that'll be helpful. But that being a print out and that answers some of this like publishing that making it easily accessible. So it's not just the numbers, it's going to let people know exactly what they need to know when they're reporting. So addresses some of their requests. >> Um I also was going to add similar to what Dr. Owen said, Children's Protection Center did take a deep dive into that document and we added lots of feedback. Um and one of the things that we said was just making it accessible [snorts]
036in school. So, where can it be posted around schools to where a teacher can walk by and see it every day or the people in the front office can know exactly they can have it in the forefront of what they're doing. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Thank you. Um, if I may add, when there's an arrest, then victims are allowed to have victim's rights in our state. How are victims have to ask for those rights and ask for those rights to be implemented? And I think get on to the document. I asked if the school security was trained in using Lars's card and explaining victim's rights to victims. Uh because if victims don't know their victim's right and they aren't explained to them, then they may not know they have to request them. So for the
037parents that are going to be going through the upcoming education steps, they will need to ask for their victim's rights if they want them. Also, I ask that this information be in the Spanish language as well for those parents that I I do have one concern. Um, and I'm pretty sure that CPC Sensei was a part of this. Is this verbiage where any grade [clears throat] level parent would be able to read it and understand it? That's a huge concern of mine. >> Yeah. And I think that that was a suggestion we had when you see our some of our feedback [snorts] was just putting this There are online systems that you can do. You can also work with other agencies to make sure that the language is appropriate, but some of it is complicated.
038The child abuse investigation and all this is really complicated and sometimes at CPC it takes us an hour to explain things to families. And so just keeping that in mind too. And then I also wanted to mention the notification of parents which or the school community. So that having a section in there that kind of outlines exactly what the school needs to do by following policy and law to let families early on when something is outed >> and speaking about policy is another two years till the general assembly meets there other states that have legislation on this issue specifically and if any of y'all are willing to partner with the parties up above and do so to make a difference for the children in this community as I stated when I first met some of
039you this will be unfortunately um an incident, but it will bring beauty from ashes. So, those are some things that when we work together that we can move forward and honor honor the victims of this incident. And I asked that when we do the website, and I really like all the work that you're all doing and everyone's doing together to help with this to make sure things are better in the future and things are better going forward and there's healing is that if the links could like go directly to the websites because sometimes when people are in trauma, they're just not thinking or they get the numbers backwards. But the link's right there and it just goes directly to the agency's websites. And if we could also include the attorney general's website because they give
040free trainings to the public that parents and other schools go to and attend where they learn things about social media abuse and sexing and all types of things like trafficking and that's a great resource is our attorney general's office. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh so that was number nine. I think that I think that's a great work and just keep on keep on tweaking that. [snorts] Uh number 10, implement K through 12 child sexual abuse prevention education in compliance with Arkansas's errands law allowing parents to be present and request private sessions. Dr. O, I think you had a comment on that >> and and if Mrs. Abbott would like to join in on that as well, but uh she and I spoke about that and she served on the task force. Uh currently
041it's not part of the state curriculum and so we would have to have it approved, but uh the task force has done work on it. So if Mrs. Abbott would like to uh share any updates. >> Well, I think Miss can also add on. I was on the health education frameworks. I'm going to be honest and transparent with you. So I sent this information via an email to Dr. OA when he asked and we tried 10 years ago to get the health educators to um at the table to approve this and the educators were on board but then different stakeholders were not. And so things have changed in 10 years. And once again, I'm going to say this is an opportunity where you can honor the victims and honor yourselves and making a difference by
042reaching out to policy makers and working with policy makers. So policy can be changed without a law. And then if you want to move forward with a law, then you're free to do so. But there is hope and there is healing. And for resources for this too, there isn't a ton of researchbased education around this, but there are a lot of things that a lot of states are doing. And the Children's Advocacy Centers of Arkansas actually has a prevention committee um and offers there there are resources that can offer this kind of education in the school and ways we can partner with parents. I've talked to Dr. O about this, but one of the wonderful things that can come out of this is just creating a safer community. And it's the school's job to do
043that, but it's the parents and it's it's everyone's job to recog abuse and to protect kids in the community and this kind of prevention work can further that. So there's some resources that CPC can help with the school district. >> And kind of the last thing I want to say about resources on our page, Victim's Rights Arkansas, we are not grant funded. We take no money from anybody. We don't get a dollar a click. We're just telling you there's some resources out there that is the national level that answer a phone call 247 on whatever issue families are in crisis about or people are in crisis about. But also there's a website called the National Organization for Victims Advocacy and they have over I don't know how many resources for every topic that's out there.
044We have people in the state like Morgan Nick that they have videos on their page that teach age appropriate uh videos no matter the age to children about what's appropriate touch and not appropriate touch. So there are a lot of resources and we're glad that y'all are considering those and hopefully you're putting those on. And I will follow up. I [snorts] survived a crime and I learned this by getting on the internet myself during my healing journey and they offer free trainings nationwide. So those are some resources on our page that we would encourage you and like I said my sister and I, we don't take any gifts in kind. We don't make any money. We did this because we experience the judicial system and we want to minimize the inadvertent trauma that comes along
045with things. So our hearts are with you. Thank you. Uh number 11, distribute parents law educational materials in both paper and electronic form in each parent's language with uh resource information and contacts included. This must be done immediately for every parent in the district even if materials have already been provided earlier in the year. >> Was there a what was the concern as far as distributing the parents? You said it wasn't. We just need to make sure that we are able to do that based on approved curriculum uh within uh that we're allowed to uh share or implement in our school settings. But we can work with Mrs. Abbott and Mrs. Long to make sure we as mentioned in the previous item that we have this prevention committee uh to provide the support. So >>
046any other thoughts on that? Uh all right. Number 12, ensure disciplinary actions before the board include education for students and parents about community groups that provide support and advocacies [snorts] so or advocacy so families are not left isolated. Did you want to I didn't really follow on that one. What are you suggesting? >> So oftent times students u come before the board sometimes without any representation sometimes with parent representation. there are community groups that will accompany those children and so they have representation because no child should have to stand for a group of adults um deciding on their u future without knowing what their rights are and knowing um what is available to them and just to have that support if not more. I understand that you do have someone here that um handles that,
047but that is um they're basically representing the school and that individual and there are other options and those should be made available to those students and their parents. >> All right. I am not aware of any student coming before the board without representation. Are we saying that those students are going to Mr. Smith without representation? Is that's what is that that's not happening? or is that is that happening? >> Typically, when when I want to make sure I understand representation because I don't know if Mrs. Robinson is talking, typically when they come to student hearings, students are with their guardian or parents. Sometimes they have an advocate with them. Sometimes they may have a counselor with them, but uh most of the time uh the hearing well all the time the hearing will not take
048will not take place unless a parent or guardian. >> Yes. She just said students were coming without representation. Is that true? >> That's why I want to get clarification on what which representation I mean what type because >> I just I want to make sure I answer it but I want to understand what type of representation >> are they coming without parents or somebody on their back >> to answer to that? No, sir. >> That's yeah that's what I'm asking. on this. I'm I'm not going to be able to clarify for you if students are coming up here and that's happening on a regular basis. But I can say that I think what she's saying is a lot of times um even if parents do their best to understand the policies, procedures, and rules, they
049may not be able to properly and adequately help their child in the way that they need, if we could have some sort of person that can bridge that gap for the parent, not necessarily with the child, but maybe with the parent, that would be a lot more helpful. And I think that that should be offered rather than making them search that out. Okay. Um, I had thought it meant when I read it that we didn't >> we didn't provide like if they were expelled per se that that they weren't offered support and that we do offer support even upon expulsion. >> Yes, sir. We continue to offer instructional uh support and depending on what's shared um in the student hearing uh Mr. Smith, our director of student services, have followed up with uh additional resources
050and supports like mental health uh um referrals. Um and if there's a situation about food insecurity, we'll follow up. So when he has those uh situations, uh he normally shares it with the district team and and we uh meet those needs. So, >> can I just u I had got a phone call about um I don't think the people are aware that if a child gets expelled that they still have the district support. Can you talk about that a little bit as far as their education goes? Yes, we're by law we're still required to provide instructional services and any student who goes through the expulsion process are is given that uh that option and we work with them and uh make sure that they're online uh on their laptop or Chromebook to make sure that
051they're assessing their uh instructional option. So um Dr. Walker, did you >> Yes, we um when our students are expelled, they are assisted through my Titan Learning Academy and as a part of their notification, they're told where to go and pick up their um Chromebook. They are placed in classes and they have access. What we do is we have personnel that will monitor them throughout the process. They'll call parents and say, "Your child is off track. they have only completed 20% or if they've completed 80% we will encourage them. Oftent times we have students who are not as engaged. So when their expulsion is up we meet with that parent and their student and try our very best to work on a credit recovery plan for them and place them in the environment where they
052can best thrive. So we do provide multiple opportunities. We provide support. If they are struggling on an assignment, all they have to do is call and we provide that support. [clears throat] >> All right. Um, communication and transparency. Number 13, issue a quarterly safety procedures newsletter with all changes, updates, and considerations. >> We talked about that. >> We did. Um we uh spoke at the district level and um definitely don't see anything but a positive of sharing a quarterly newsletter uh with parents with uh not just the safety procedures and updates and changes or highlights, but [clears throat] as you move forward through uh this document, you'll see other notifications that were asked for. And so we'll just make sure that we all chime in and provide updates uh for parents moving forward from the
053district level. Are all I'm sorry. Are all the elementaryaries and middleles and high schools, they're all doing their own newsletters as well? >> I was going to say now I don't know so much about the high school because they do a lot of things inside uh inside the school for notifications and different callouts. Uh so I don't know if they do actual newsletters. Dr. Walker may uh share that. But I do know elementary level um they do have their own newsletter that uh the staff or the PTO PTA pushes out to to parents. But as far as the district level, we can definitely see a growth area for us to to do that uh moving forward. >> Middle school doesn't >> they do? So middle school does >> per grade level. >> Oh per >>
054well eighth grade and sixth grade. I don't know about seventh grade. >> Yeah. I do know at high school they're really trying very hard for independency with our scholars. So they do have Google classrooms and they push a lot of information through the Google classroom but also they have like a hack system where they can communicate with parents. So I can check to see if that is an option if we had to push something out or we could you know work towards some type of newsletter because I know some some parents are not on use the computer. So, we're good. >> And then number 14, communicate any school specific events or incidents uh to the entire district using all three standard communication methods, calls, emails, and letters. And I think you you mentioned that uh
055previously too as far as sending out if we send an email, send a call or or a text or what whatever we got to let people know that there is an email out there and use all three of those because I know when we were we would get calls emails like turn one of them off, please. We were getting so many of them. But I get it. >> Can I ask for clarification, Mrs. Robinson, um with this one or Mrs. uh St. Claire, um if one of the things that we discussed at the district office when we read this, for example, uh depending on where the school is located, if we had to lock down the school, are you that particular school, just one school in the district, is the uh commit is the team
056asking that all parents throughout the school district be notified that that one school is locked down? Yes, we are >> like on the is that going to create some kind of panic across the city? Chief, you want >> and and and I probably Chris, I mean, uh, like when we've got a situ like the situation at the middle school, y'all want to talk about how that was handled and why we handled it the way we handled it. Is that fair to say or? >> Obviously, we don't want >> I mean, obviously, we want you to know, but we also don't want to create panic. Uh, the worst thing that we can were trying to the situation at the middle school earlier this year when we turns out it was several you know was across the
057county where several several schools got the same threat at the same time. We wanted uh you know we wanted to investigate it properly without uh and we took every step possible to make sure that we did what we needed to do. I mean we even called North Rock to come assist us that day with with dogs. Well, there was an incident unrelated to the school district across the street uh and there was something going on and we placed the school on lockdown. Now, if we would have called every parent in the in [clears throat] the district while that was ongoing, would that have created a problem with parents coming up to get their kids or what have you? >> Yes. I mean, because I get it. Everybody wants to, you know, they want to come
058get their kids and they feel like they're they feel like they're in trouble. But when we put it on when we put a school on lockdown, I mean, can y'all explain why we do that? >> Well, we do it to the safest place in a situation like that. The day that we're talking about, we we we thought uh no one knows what we had reports that there was shots across the street from the middle school in the neighborhood. Well, we didn't we didn't know where the shots were coming from. So, you know, we didn't know if someone was chasing someone, if it was a domestic situation. We didn't know. The safest place for the for for our kids to be at that time is in that room secure. So we lock, you know, we don't
059want them in the hallways. We don't want them outside at recess. We don't matter of fact the Jacksonville Elementary was at recess when this happened. We brought them in, secured them in a room and said we could investigate got with the police department. They came out, they did their sweep and we were in lockdown for I believe it was up 25 minutes. [clears throat] Uh at that point, you know, uh after that was done, I I believe uh we sent notification out for that incident in that school because it wasn't really germanine to the parents at Merl Taylor that we had locked down Jacksonville Elementary in that neighborhood. So that's why we that's why we did what we did in that situation >> that >> I would say we actually sent two notifications out when
060we as soon as we uh place the uh school on lockdown uh communication went out went out and then when lockdown was lifted we sent a follow up >> different different types of lockdowns this is like a lock out external doors are locked I think we notified the school that we were in the area and there were shots fired we didn't know what was going on so we weren't looking for it. Um, and just as a courtesy, we notify the schools in the area and that's pretty common. Um, I think we also I don't we pretty quickly we sent an officer just to sit outside the school just to just to be seen and, you know, divert anything, keep the school safe. We I I don't remember how fast we did it, but we did
061put something out on Facebook that there were shots fired in there. I think it was after people started talking about it. Um, so what I'm saying is there different types of lockouts and on this one it just school keeps going like it normally does lock down the outside doors. We send an officer. It wouldn't hurt to let parents so they don't panic. Let them know it's the police are investigating something in the area not related to the school. It's just a precaution that that would stop. I would say hindsight's 2020 because at the time you get a I mean what's our procedure for locking down a school to get the call to the office? What happens next? >> I mean every situation is different. We evaluate it. We quickly evaluate it. If we feel like
062there's an immediate threat to anyone, we go into lockdown. It's better to be safe than sorry. So it's, you know, it's no harm, no foul. It's we'll lock it down. I mean, we don't, you know, we went to a new emergency notification system. Anybody in the building can lock this, any teacher, any staff member. We went to the strategic system this year. We got a grant paid for it. It's a card, this card right here. Any staff member can lock the school down. It doesn't matter if a teacher's coming back from the bank or across town, they pull up in the parking lot and they see something that they feel is a threat, all they got to do is hit this button. uh hit this button multiple times and everybody in that school there's not
063notification in the school. It's like that uh district district admin gets a notification. Everybody gets the police department gets a notification all at the same time. It's just as soon as they hit that button, everybody gets that notification. So we give that we're giving that to everyone that so we're not putting restrictions on who can lock the school down. That's the priority is is is secure the campus or the students and make sure they're safe >> immediately. Immediately and if it's a false alarm, it's a false alarm. That's okay. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that. >> And then once like say those instances, when did the notifications to parents go out >> at that time after we do the like of course obviously we notify a district administration immediately and then we'll, you know,
064we find out what's going on. We relay that to them and then uh uh district Dr. Mr. Lester, Dr. Walker and decide at that time what we need to what notifications need to be made. >> All right. Yes, ma'am. >> So, I know that there's a term called swatting, which I'm sure the chief could speak to that and that's one reason why sometimes people don't notify everybody right away because are you all familiar with the term swatting? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, are you familiar with >> Can you pass the mic now? So I I understand the balance and I think it's good to keep the community focused as trauma informed as possible. So just about swatting and I think it's wise that we stay trauma informed for the whole community and I know it's
065a balancing act but I just didn't know if if you were all aware of swatting. So >> okay so I think I can provide some clarity and I did read about the button. I think that's great. That's an excellent thing to have. I'm not so sure that the other parents know about it. I know that I was able to quickly find a news article on it. I was able to easily find it in the website, but that doesn't mean that necessarily that maybe push it out on the Facebook page is probably the best way to >> Sure. But I mean, yeah, advertising the steps that we take to keep kids safe is keep kids safe is important, but as far as the item number 16, immediately release information. >> I can get into that. I
066think that needs to be handled on a case by case situation in an appropriate timely manner like once the we've been removed from lockdown or whatever the case may be >> lockown specific >> right we're not specifically talking about lockdown we understand you have to clear everything before you I understand the panic I also want to put the parent side out there that that we have kids in multiple schools and a lot of times even if my child only rides the elementary bus by the time she gets home she's already told me what's going on in the middle school and the junior high or the high school and luckily for me, I have a child in the middle school so a lot of times I do know because I get those notifications, but there's plenty
067of parents that don't and that also creates a panic whenever they're starting to talk to each other without the actual information. Um, at least what you put out. What if you put out what you put out then a parent can say, "Nope, here's what's going on." >> Yeah. I don't think there's any way to keep people from panicking on social media. >> I don't think that's what I was saying. >> I have one question. >> I mean, from that day, that day there was a lot of panic on social media. I have a question that's sort of related to what Miss Sinclair say. Um, is there an easy way for us to change contact information from the website for parents? Like say my phone number changes or I have a new email. What What is
068the easiest way for that to happen? Because I know that >> that's number 15. I think >> I've had the same phone number for >> 30 years probably. The best method is for parents to update their contact information with their schools at the beginning of the school uh during um I was about to say home room but during uh open house during registration those are the times when parents should always update uh their contact information but in this quarterly newsletter we that will give us the opportunity to remind parents that July August are always the perfect times to uh to update a contact information so that we can always have up-to-date information. >> But if you need to update it, this is how you go about doing that, >> right? We can uh make the
069steps, but the the appropriate uh step would be to contact the front office uh at the schools. >> Okay. >> And that's that's number 15. Send quarterly contact information updates home for parents and staff to ensure accurate communication. So yeah, I mean that's always a constant battle trying to get people to update their contact. >> We just put that form in the in the quarterly newsletter and that consults if they read it and actually use it. >> That's true. But we can leave that up to the parents. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Community engagement, hire lunch monitors and compensate parents or compensate parents to serve in this role, ensuring student safety during meal times. I agree. What uh so uh you want to speak on this one, Dr. Ask somebody to speak on this one? Well,
070the team and I um Mrs. Slogan or Mr. Hunt can come and and chime in. Um we started really looking at how we can um ensure that we continue to have coverage in the cafeteria breakfast and lunch. Uh one of the things I do want to be clear, we have always stated uh that our administrators are there uh in the uh in the cafeteria. Uh but we've also started looking at uh duty uh paid lunch duty and just ways that we could actually uh have lunch monitors uh in there or coverage. I wouldn't say lunch monitors but duty personnel in there so that the entire campus I mean the entire room uh cafeteria is covered um and students are supervised but uh so we we're actually looking at that and we should have a proposal
071for you [snorts] uh soon. Yeah, I was the lunch monitor part. I don't think compensating parents is an option, but I think hiring staff would definitely be good. >> All right. Uh, list volunteer needs in the quarterly newsletter so parents and community members can contribute. >> Yes, that's that's the code. >> Upgrade server storage capacity to secure records, investigations, and student data. Uh, Mr. Oldm, do you want to kind of uh you I asked you at the bamea and you did a good job on that. I think in our handout to the parents, we kind of put some real numbers to that. Uh, but you talk about that again. And um [snorts] I would ask how many schools in Arkansas have 90 cameras on their campus? >> I'm I'm gonna add to that. I'm recounted
072today. The district has 862 cameras. That's second to county school district that has 8862 cameras. That's a good >> and they have how many schools versus what we have? >> They have 15,000 kids. We have 4,000. So, uh, but then the reason our our number count is so high on cameras is we have a class we have a camera in every classroom in this school district with video and audio. So that's why our camera count is so high. But with that camera count being that high, it eats into the servers and it eats into the storage. So we we decided to go this route. We had a choice. We could have went less cameras and had more storage or did we want more cameras to get to catch more video? So we decided we want
073to go with the cameras. And I'll give you an idea. A camera is anywhere from $800 to $1,000 and we got 862 of them. So you can do the math of how much money the district spent on on cameras. Now there are ways to uh expand the uh we're looking I've been working with our vendor uh to try to expand the storage on the servers. We've uh particular we were that when we found out there was approximately 13 days of storage on that server. We've increased it by making adjustments. We've increased it three days so far. We're still making adjustments to resolution, things of that nature. Hopefully, we feel confident that we can get that server in 30 days without any cost to the district. We hope. We're working on it. They've been out there
074two days working on this. We got it Merl Taylor to 30 days. Uh so, uh half the district's servers are at anywhere between 25 and 30 days currently. >> I have a question on the day count. Is that like consistent days or do we not get to count days when our filming which is like Saturday? >> No, they run 247. >> So it's it goes back. It's 30. >> Sometimes things happen at the schools on the weekend. >> An example, we had vandalism. >> Well, bino was vandalized over Christmas and it was on video and those those individuals were arrested by the sheriff's department through the video. So yes, >> pass the mic down. >> So through your request, I was able to kind of determine at least for one particular camera, maybe not all
075of them, um but that at Jacksonville High School there was a much longer storage period. Um, I would like it to at least been looked into as to because high school students are able to better elaborate what's going on with them and ask for help in a better way than elementary students are. I just don't think you're going to find any person in the country that thinks that the storage we have and buy me to elementary is sufficient. That's and I mean I would pay my very last dollar. I would hope that in some way when we review budgets that we can find a way to create at least a 30-day is kind of your your standard in the state for retention on surveillance. And I don't think that's crazy to ask. I think that
076we can get there if we really care and we really try. >> Mrs. Sinclair, um I was going to share reiterate what officer said. We are working toward the 30-day. >> So, >> can we go back to number eight? I believe um number eight about the the uh room for the I'm sorry Dr. Walker, you had mentioned that was a title N for the um mothers that need a private area to pump. [snorts] Um that's I'm sorry, title four, >> title five, title n title 12. So [clears throat] okay. So um that is actually not title n that actually falls under the pump act and the pregnancy worker fairness act. And you know we're required to inform the pregnant workers of these laws. So, um, that's something that needs to be looked at as far
077as the pump act and the pregnant workers fairness and to make sure that those things are followed. >> I can respond to that. >> What I was referencing is the fact that as a part of my title N duty, I have to share that law that you just mentioned to all of the staff. So when I go over in my role when I talk about what is what is detailed in title nine I do mention that particular act about pumping I discuss that at that point in time with the with the principles assistant principles and directors that are in that meeting so that they know what they have to do in order to be in compliance with that. So I wasn't saying that fura that that was fura itself or I mean I'm sorry that
078that was title n itself that's a part of it as one of the acts. [clears throat] All right uh any other thoughts uh from CPC victim's rights? Anything else that we haven't covered on that? Yes, ma'am. >> Um, there was a section where we talked about where we kind of outlined the the manual that you guys are building. Do you mind going back up to that portion? Maybe like number six, this extremely long one. That would be >> um number nine. I just wanted to mention to that as well. Um, part of CPC's feedback was just making sure that that information I know that the district's suggestion was like maybe redoing that quarterly, like taking a look at it every quarter, but one of our suggestions was just making sure that that information is redistributed
079when and if changes are made. So like parents have that, staff have that, like all of that is just repushed out to everyone. >> Thank you. >> I think that's great, but I also agree with reviewing and making sure all the data is as often as possible, especially with all the changes going on with government cutbacks. >> You may you may go ahead. Sorry. >> I say I noticed in the the the there was a document in there about the church in the crisis management um handbook that we have like I guess there's alternative sites that we would take. >> Oh, the district crisis. >> Every one of those church pastors are about five years old and gone. Uh so uh the Methodist church, the First Baptist Church, and then St. Marks, I think all
080those guys have gone. So we need to update phone numbers and stuff like that there. >> And then um thank you for that's a good point to make. And then um with the budget cuts across the nation, some of these nonprofits, the changes are there. So it would be good to have somebody who kind of keeps a really close eye till things kind of come out in the wash. And we keep an eye on ours. Um I really would ask that um at some point we delve into how does title N intersect for these parents in cases of child abuse because it's part of the equation that title N is and also title N addresses other issues throughout schools. So this might be an opportunity not tonight but sometime with your team to discuss how
081title N and find a title N attorney if you can in the nation I may have a contact for you that you may want to consider so we can be proactive moving ahead on different issues that may happen. So um also going back to number one, you guys the you kind of went over that the established an independent oversight committee composed of parents, educators and community members and you basically said that you guys are that um this is in addition to >> I I was I think uh that was in reference to the number two. I think well I think the oversight committee I think some of the comments that Miss Walker made as far as having a kind of an advocate group for students to to meet with the district. I think that's a
082good idea. Uh but to establish a committee of parents, I mean, we we we have that now. I mean, you guys are that, right? You're you're here tonight despite what our differences, okay? You're here. We're we're here. We're having a discussion. This is productive. Uh so, um you know, I I heard some comments and and again I don't want to debate and go back and forth. Uh there's it's just this it's not productive. But I I I again I'm going to say Dr. OA uh apologized and we took ownership out it by the first night. I I heard that. Um you know I asked Dr. OA this week. I'm like help me out because I I don't see anywhere where there was ever a decision not communicate. That's not how this happened. This happened because
083we were focused on removing the threat. We were focused on helping the families that we knew were affected and we were focusing on personnel issues and >> for 51 days. >> Yes, we're for longer. I don't know what today is, but we're still working on it. Okay. And and but this narrative that's out there that the board or that the administration purp withheld notification about that person is not accurate and this is not simply what happened and that's all I'm going to say about it but I think it's been an unfair narrative and this board cares uh and and we understand that that things could have been better and things will be better in the future. Hopefully this never happens again, but we're taking steps to if it if and when it does or this
084opportunity is before us again. We've got steps in place and communication will be different. Okay. Same thing with the lockdowns and stuff. I think all this applies. Um and and I mean >> do you agree? >> I agree. >> Okay. So, any other comments from board members? Um, I'm just going to say like it's definitely an awful situation that has shook in our community, but we always just try to look at the positive in it. You guys committee has been formed with parents. We have a working collaboration going on. So hopefully like the advocacy at the last meeting or whatever, hopefully we can just work together to make it great for our current children, the children that come through. Um, so that's what I'm looking forward to is that, you know, this was a horrible
085situation. Horrible situation, but your group was formed. You have us, we have parents, we have the district. And hopefully we can just continue to work together to make Texas feel great. It's people who watching us all across the state. People said we would never have our own district. People said we would never do this. It's people who are looking to see if they can take control. And instead of them doing it, we y'all, we're working together to make it better. And so I appreciate you guys' time and effort that y'all did to have your voice heard. Um I appreciate my colleagues for being open to have these discussions. And I'm just hoping that from this point on we just work together whatever to make it great. We we may not always agree. We can we're
086adults. We can agree to disagree and we can be cordial with each other. So hopefully that's what it is moving forward and not all this dis disgruntness or because we don't need that. So when you guys made >> any other comments before >> Mr. Jim, did you have something you want to say? >> No, I concur with what all we're going to do and we need to get it done quickly, not next year. And I think we will be able to do that. I know we will. And I appreciate all of you coming to share with us CPC. We know about you and some of the others and we appreciate your help also. Very important >> and I and I want to read it. Thank thank y'all for being here. Thank you for taking part
087of the discussion and we appreciate >> your support. Yes, ma'am. What I would like to thank are the children and the directly impacted victims that came forward to make a difference. I thank you for listening to us. >> All right. >> And we know it's going to continue. It's going to get better. And remember, sometimes what may look like anger has grown is just fear and trauma. And it's a work in process. But we love this community and we love what you're doing. Thank you. >> All right. Do I hear a motion to adjurnn? >> Make a motion we adjourn. Thank you.