JANUARY SPECIAL & STUDY SESSION BOARD MEETING

001yes ma'am M Duncan here Mr Guthrie Mr Hopkins here miss Mr here I get that right you got it m Robertson here Mr Dr Julie here Mr edland here miss burs will you please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance 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 jce for all our first aor of business is nomination and vote for the office of president of the board I'd like to nominate president mer Duncan again for the term do I hear a second uh can I you don't need a second for nomination um this paper said we do okay we don't um do do you accept the nomination but we have to vote first you have

002to accept the nomination and then we you ask for more nominations if they exist that's not the way we had done it before do I hear a second I'll second I'd like to nominate Mr Hopkins for president well let's finish one and then go on to the next no you should take all the nominations first and then decide how you're going to vote based on the nominations normally past practice we've gone through one if that one doesn't go through then we go to a second that's what we've always done that's been past practice so then just whoever speaks first that's what gets voted on first could be yes that doesn't Okay okay so Miss Duncan I oh ex me what are we voting on right now the president of voting for whether m d going

003to be the president or not gonna abstain since I was mentioned as possible Mr CH hi M Robertson no and Mr Duff [Music] hi the next order a vote for the office of clerk of the governing board I'd like to nominate Eric for that I accept the nomination Mr Hopkins Miss Duncan I Mr Hopkins hi Mr K hi M Robertson hi and Mr G hi second noting no other business we will adjourn the meeting at 5:33 5:33 moving right along okay we're starting the study session board meeting um I'm going to call it order and uh Mr would you call the road call yes I will miss Duncan I you're present uh Mr Guth I'm here Mr here I am here Mrs Robertson here Dr dly here here Mr edland here and Miss Burns is

004absent it was um do I have a motion to ad adopt the agenda I'll make the motion um let's see uh uh Miss Duncan I Mr Guth what are we voting on I'm sorry on the adoption of the agenda I have agenda did did did did you not receive your board book yet that's my if if you like to obain that's fine I'll okay this is quite updated I just that's not your fault it's my fault continue on yeah but you'll have to replace some of the names that are in there yeah that's fine okay Mr Hopkins hi um myself yeah I Mrs Robertson hi we're good so we have a do of four and one we've already had Pledge of Allegiance so visit is comments visitors are welcome to speak on agenda and non-agenda

005items comments are Li limited to 3 minutes please St state your name and address prior to making your comments please note that the members of the board may not discuss items that are not specifically identified on the agenda therefore action taken is limited to R directing the administration to look into the matter responding to any criticism or scheduling the matter for future consideration right the first was there anyone did you want to speak yes yes three minutes my name is Heidi salow I'm the AO school teacher I wanted to make a public apology for my actions at the November board meeting where I spoke out of uh over the three minute time limit um I didn't mean any disrespect I was uh just trying to get the attention of theard and to get my issues

006um on the table so um I do apologize for that I also um apologize if there was any problems in the email system I've been trying to email the entire board and having troubles with it all of my emails have been getting back um so I wanted to make a statement about that um this has happened a lot um and I think that board members even if they are leaving the board should um be able to be emailable up until the very last minute that they are no longer board members um I don't know what the process is of passing the information on to other board members that's not I suppose my job I don't know but um so I I apologize for any email confrontations um as I have uh recently sent off a

007few emails that I am hoping that the board all has received no no I got you got them and so I don't know what the process is after that do does does each board member pass on my emails to other board members I'm not really sure how that works and since I am technically somewhat on the agenda I kind of feel like I am able to ask this question and maybe get a response do you guys well will we we we we cannot respond but we will among ourselves find out what's going on okay do I need to go get these emails and make sure that you all have them here this evening that might be helpful some folks didn't get them great we need also before you leave we and get them you didn't

008give us your address oh um it is 230 South way why Arizona okay thank you and one last thing uh why Arizona residents are unable to vote on the board and I think that that is a terrible Injustice to why to people in that live in why and I'm hoping that maybe the board will try to do something about that um if there's if the kids there and the parents there are required to have their kids come to school here then they should be able to vote on board members that's all I wanted to say thank you for your time thank you thank you IDI all right the next order of business is a discussion of personal items for the January regular board meeting and the first one is a classified resignation of the par

009professional Sharon boria and um she um put in her retirement asked for her resignation immediately I believe when I read that was written December 30th did she fall she uh Miss B had a a work accident u in October I believe it was L is that October or November it was in October that she fell that's too bad she was working with a child and her feet got tangled together kind of and she fell and broke hi and uh we had her on light duty before that happened uh the doctor released her for light duty but she does feel comfort com back so she's too bad that's we got last she had trouble enough walking around was question how long has she been working for the school next on is classified resignation par professional Louisana

010uh tus and she uh resigned and her last day of appointment was J will be uh January 15 we may have another personal item coming up but we're not sure if we do we post 24 hours in advance uh potential hiring of a maintenance person trying to get references was there any questions about those all right this not B is discussion on business items from January regular board meeting this is a uh first reading of the board first one is disposition of property I'm sorry yeah that's what I have too disposition property but it's not listed noted yeah um can I talk about disposition property and we'll have to change the agenda to make sure it's on there I don't see it on the agenda we have Arizona has some pretty um uh rigid procurement

011laws for school districts and also disposal laws and we before we dispose of anything of significance we bring it the board for approval attach to this information item under under business one is a list of items that are mostly televisions old televisions or old um computer monitors and obviously they're outdated but we still have to have board permission to dispose of them or to find to offer them for sale and items typically that we're we putting for sale we'll put on internet and uh if we don't get prices on them we can dispose of them historically my previous district and this District if we take property to a landfill to be disposed of we try to have emplo someone stand there and make sure it's destroyed or buried before they leave because it can't be

012taken away we could also donate to other schools or other agencies that are nonprofit I think L's recommendation was recyle because and a lot and a lot okay and the next order is the approval of modified certified working condition agreement representatives from the C on theend yellow agenda is just it just says go to the the purple divider go to the white agenda B2 it's just not on the agenda a discussion tonight I understand but it's not on the agenda discussion of business items and then it lists one item discussion of all the bus this is such a big deal I I discussion of all the business items everything under the okay I I misunderstood it because there was just one listed no that's that's the first reading I have to post that at the

013first reading even though we were going to review it because it needs separate me does that make sense so that'll be first reading Wednesday correct today the first wedes Wednesday is the second reading okay but once again we're going to discuss the approval of the modified certified working Comm condition agreement representatives from the certified staff had worked with the superintendent to modify portions of the board and teacher adopted certified working condition agreement the modifications focused on leave issues in the agreement the certified represented and the superintendent have signed their approval of this agreement this document is presented to the board for their approval of modified total portion of the agreement where is that it's on number two under business yeah the blue business Tab and yeah and then go to number two it's gonna be

014after the big tabs it's after and got the little red personel so it's number two is there a difference between what is in the board book or the one that's on our Des yes so that was my fault when I copied it I didn't do thre back so the one on the desk has the actual back page so the one in the book I'm sorry if there only the even num so that was aing error would you like for me to go over please thank you take a look at this working conditions the initial working conditions approved by the board as we say on the cover on September 9th and the changes from uh the 2019 2020 school year to 2021 is the current year are highlighted in yellow uh there was some items on

015leave that uh board thought were some questions about and made the request that we go back and take a look at those and clarify those um you'll find in on page two of that book uh and subsequently through the the agreement as you'll see print in green that's the recommendations the team made for the changes the current changes and they ratified this last week met probably uh once a week for six or eight weeks have seen Christmas um one of the things that we talked about um in in policies was specifically when we talked about uh bement and we talked about some of the leaves was family member and in terminology often times in a document like this you'll see first degree or second deg degree of consanguinity which I love that word but we

016put in per the statute we listed on page two and three the definition of relative for family so we thought that would be maybe more understandable by staff and you can read that it talks about it includes stepchildren it includes uh in-laws so on and so forth so that's a major change we had the next major change for this for this uh one was on Page Six of this document under maternity and fraternity leave we see c appending k page 26 this talks about or list the family medical leave recall if you're younger than some of us you remember during the Bill Clinton administration the Family Medical Leave Act passed which gave uh rights typically it was maternity rights but this put in paternity rights as well so that's one of the examples of things

017that includes so we have that in another document that teachers receive which is Staff handbook but we put it in this to clarify turning the page to page seven um under Le days the current policy talks about 10 or 12 days based upon the length of person's employment the policy that I'm sorry the agreement stated that the policy talks about 1.04 days per month I don't know where they got that and then they talk about for however of long the person's employed during the year so a 10-month employer receives 10.4 days per year and 12 month employees 12.48 days per year that added point4 days for 10 months employees 48 days pardon me for for full-time employees uh Part B under leave days um we put four working days they had to be submitted four

018working days before leave if possible now someone has an emergency we're not going to obviously penalize them if if it's justifiable Under 12 under again under leave days sick leave we put the policy uh for sick leave gcca and definition in gcca page 26 uh Dr dly um is that a separate thing because we don't have page 26 that will be that's a part of this we just didn't print that off okay SE that but it's always part of the agreement and under 12h you'll see the word 200 days of sick we may be accumulated with 200 days reimbursement we put word upon retirement um so uh 200 is in is in statute and policy and sometimes that's very depending who the superintendent was I think one time 200 five but it's it's only can

019be uh accumulated or sold upon retirement the following change and these changes are not huge the following change we uh the teachers team uh was having some frustration and they listed a number of blackout days last spring when we looked at the T A Little Closer the only blackout days that policy supports two weeks before school started teacher orientation week in the first week of school and the last two weeks of school teachers really wanted us to say something about State Testing days about parent conference days and about week before winter break and so the teachers added that but we put it in their Administration we take thoughtful consideration for the following days uh and that's going to depend on Mr edland or whoever is principal about how many people are absent how available substitutes

020are and the impact upon instruction um the um excluded and in the blackout days it should be self-explanatory but excludes emergency s per or B leave for those days so that's obviously those are going toly the last thing under blackout days note per policy certified staff members are allowed only two personal non- sick days per year that's changed depending over the years depending upon uh the meat and coner group I remember when I was business manager down here the superintendent at that time gave everybody they gave all 12 days personal leave because that person the superintendent's position was we forcing teachers to lie and uh didn't want that to happen well the statute and the policy don't support that all we can do is put two days so we we've just affirmed that make sure

021that's very clear turn page page n yes sir and I'm not sure out of what I ever speak out order say something I shouldn't say please stop me okay any other reason I remember coming to a school board meeting and and there was a very major deal with the teachers about this Administration will take thoughtful consideration for the following days weeks before after winter break what do thought thoughtful consideration mean and okay I explain that that was a administrative uh mistake in Christmas of 2019 um the previous year uh I was approached um and I'm I'm going to take responsibility but I was asked very strongly by a colleague not the person wanting to leave but another colleague to give a person leave because of a personal a significant personal event in this person's life

022to go back to Philippines and we approved the following year several people saw that a precedent had been set even though policy did not approve it policy says if you extend a holiday without a medical excuse you not pay for the holiday and so again I was approached again early in probably September October with a couple of requests for leave War Two let's go ahead and give him leave and at nine people I said this is out of control $155,000 I believe it was in sickly we have a loss plus some people were requesting to double their winter break and I said no one we're going to go back to original falls and it was ugly because people had planned vacations but we thought couldn't find substitutes for people uh Financial finance was a factor

023but not as big a factor as a fact Ving policy and at that time I was asked by someone on the board how are we going to make sure this doesn't happen again it's very simple we're not going to approve again so we've got to live by that so that was one of those no no good deed goes unpunished and uh Mistake by leadership part so when this reads um thoughtful consideration in other words the way we way I interpret that and the way the teachers and I talked about when we met would be just because you put in a request for those weeks or blackout weeks it doesn't mean it's going to happen if we don't have substitutes you say that in the handook you don't sub we don't get we don't we don't

024prove a leave unless the emergency sick Le if um if we think you have abused leave that year we may not give you or we may say you can take leave but Rodney can't because we run out of Subs between these two teachers so we're going to we're going to consider anything that week before Christmas uh and the week after Christmas very very close it'll be well not just that week it'll be those uh those three days State Testing people need to have a reason they can't be willing to go shopping in the city if they have a medical reason and they can't have they can't change the appointment they're saying a specialist we understand again we want to have a substitute and before after winter break is that's kind of a hectic time in

025schools anyway so we I'm very very cautious about that because I don't want to repeat what happened two years ago I'm also reading that there would be a difference between taking a day off the week before or after winter break than extending the holiday is that could be somebody's requesting the Thursday after getting back from Christmas break rather than the whole week that Thursday would be approved yeah but if they said I want to take if like this year came back on Monday the 4th of January if they said we want to uh take Monday off that'd be much harder to get approval on for me or Mr edland I believe than Thursday the 4th yeah and that relates to item it did that answer your question L yeah I I don't like how that's

026worked at all but you guys already worked it out so the teach the teachers wanted to whole fed that those black God days and I said you I believe I agree with I said we don't have that supported in policy and so we have to be careful and so compromise on that you're opening yourself personally to people saying well he chooses who he wants and who he doesn't want and um you know and it becomes I know as a supervisor this stuff comes back on me all the time yeah you know and so I have to be really careful how I word everything because it you know somebody will say well she got to go to Philippines for Christmas because she's Julie's pet but I didn't get to go this year yeah you know and

027I that's the only thing I see with it that you guys already worked it out there'll be a lot of discussion about that with lard and I M redler and I and teachers in the fall and My Philosophy has simply been uh not to extend uh holiday breaks on one side or the other for anyone and then I just approve basically on a first come first serve basis as pars come in I approve them if once we get to the limit of three I just don't approve any more than that and that's been reviewed by teachers I believe hasn't Leonard your three days you reviewed that with staff correct yeah three three per day for staff correct um moving I agree with your point I I com um I believe on Wednesday when it's up

028for vote the board has the ability to amend this document um if there's if there's justification so if there's something that needs to be stried or something that is wrong and needs to be changed I believe it can be before it is approv I don't want to step in after this has been negotiated for a long time between the administration and the teachers step in right now and change this I just I'm just trying to express yeah uh an issue that I see that that could could be an issue later on for somebody but if they've already they've already been spending months and months negotiating this you know I'm not going to De agree and I I think this document needs to be done in April or May of this year for the following year

029I this should not be going into the into the school year and trying to be completed as the school year has already began this should be done ahead of time so teachers can be informed of it at the back to school for sure so that it's it's out in front of them in the past we've done that we've had approval probably in April this year with the co shutdown it was yeah that threw a wrench in everything I'm sure this is agreement if there's any changes made it has to go back to the teach that's what I was just going to say we couldn't because it's an agreement between the teachers and the so if any changes need to be made the teachers made they signed off on the copy that's there so any changes

030would have to go back to and then they would have to go back and and look through the change I understand I had one quick question regarding this you mentioned that if there would be T given the time off they would be do the pay basically if they if they take the leave without approval and without now if they if they have if they've had a car wreck on the we like this year because I got the dates in my mind if someone had an accident came down with Co and we're out because of illness on the fourth we're not going to do because we can document that medically okay I just want to C because you mentioned that earlier to get a clarification on that that it wouldn't be dock if they just took

031it off just related to that it's my my remembrance from that one meeting mom mentioned was that there was a misunderstanding among some teachers when it was approved that it was approved with or without pay do we have a way of clarifying that at that moment so that they know right then yes okay and there's we went back because we some people there's various this is just a judgment call I hate to say this there's various reasons for wanting to go back home and U so some of them un to me appeared very legitimate it was just a timing and the policy didn't support it so we had told him to try to compromise we'll let you go it's going to cost you you're you're not going to get paid and so some people didn't

032go because of that I think couple of you yeah I'm just more wondering is that clear on the pr now somebody submits it and sees it approved we don't want them making plans and buying tickets only to find out days later that it wasn't it was approved but not for for example right now we're we're being very rigid and very careful about personal Le so I think Mr Redland keeps a record I keep a record vus keeps a record and if we have someone that's put in for personal leave and they've already used two days of personal leave regardless how much leave they have left if they're putting in for personal day if it's granted stop pay don't paid and that's on the par so then they can choose to say I'm going to go

033or I'm not going to go that they last um any other questions about that folks okay moving on to page nine under number 14 salary schedule special conditions this is talking about 301 plan 301 plan is not an AO issue bys proposition years ago sorry put the stack of it okay on the last sentence of that first paragraph you'll see in green if a certified teacher ers District during the school year they may receive 301 pay protracted to the next quarter after receiving Arizona certification uh if a person I'm if a person comes to work for us in August we want them to have their certificate but the reality is typically every school year is around 2,000 to 2500 vacancies when the school year starts so if we bring someone in from an international Source

034or from another state they're not certified we try to work with them and we urge and we Joel get certified get certified get certified um if they're not certified I appreciate it by State law they cannot receive 301 monies it's not an AO decision it's a state so if for example if a person comes in in August without a certificate and they become certified in September they will start 301 earnings with the second quarter because that's still in the middle of the first quarter if they don't get certified until May 1 that's close to the end of the fourth quarter they don't get 301 pay until the following year they don't get and so there have been people had concern about that I don't get 301 M that's right that's a state expectation it's not

035an a decision so 301 money there's three buckets of money the first bucket and all it all goes for teachers when this was passed by the voters um 10 12 years ago it was was kind of like proposition 208 this year was supposed to help uh Educators well Public Schools were a 17th on the list to get the money and sales tax in 200 about 2009 or eight we said we had a downturn obviously if you recall we had lost so much sales tax money that we had a hard time paying health insurance and so Patty Spencer was still with this and we found some federal money that we could use and that helped us tip that scale to get us through the year at pay health insurance but so the first bucket of money

036can go to salary we don't put it on the salary schedule because if sales tax goes down you have to reduce salary we give it as a part of a a bonus during the year the second bucket of money is performance pay and you'll hear people talking about excuse me you hear people talking about um test scores uh you hear people talking about U positive parent contacts you hear people talking about uh participation in parent conferences those are things we expect teachers to do we've had some teachers they just flat don't want to do that well they don't get any money they we still expect them have parent conference they don't they don't do it we don't we don't pay them so that's what 301's about so it's money and uh some decent money that

037people get last year it was more than this year but uh people still got I think five or $6,000 this year so we want to make sure people understood that they've been told that it's been communicated had staff meetings uh but we want to put me in the the working conditions so so you said the three buckets are bonuses performance pay what the third the third Sor I thank you I didn't say that third one goes anything for Teacher support in the past we've used that money for health insurance for teachers but uh two business managers ago didn't do that so we lost that flexibility so it's called supplanting if we if we use it for now so we have to find insurance money for teachers in in the the M budget which is our

038maintenance and operation budget which is salaries and benefits so we can use that for other things to benefit teachers it's not salary so what type of things would they be oh I'm sorry St development we could pay for staff development we could pay or things are going to if someone wants to uh we can't do this I started to say this as was wrong we can't say um Mr Guth I'm going to pay for your master in Ed leadership so you can be the Principal next you can do that if you get a financial benefit from that double double b you get the district paying for your tuition plus you get the career B but uh benef add we can add for staff development we could buy materials for you that would help you do

039your job things like that so when you get these 301 monies do you set the budget in the three categories or is that set by law where you have to put that we the law establishes three buckets and and I can't remember off top of my head it's uh one is U I think it's uh it's something like this this isn't ACC it's like 60% of the money goes to one 20% goes to two again it's based on it's based on population School your ADM your Aver Le a membership plus uh just amount of Revenue on our meet confer agreement I alluded to a few minutes ago we have a number in there something like $2,600 that we will pay for health insurance well that was the price of health insurance in 2001 the board

040agreed to pay it all well that's not enough we're paying almost $6,000 or right $6,000 of employee now and that's still in there I believe but what what I found out was that we had people when we reduce that health insurance because we could didn't have the money um 2600 we had people that they to make up the difference probably another bucks I found out that were employees that weren't able to pay that so they weren't weren't insured that's not good for them it's not good for the organization and so that was we still had some President Obama funds left and we found some of that money we use for 90 days that that shot us through by the next year economy had bumped up to where we had more Revenue but we were priv

041pleas so how hard is the for a teer to make these bonuses and performance if they want 9% I'd say I'd say 90% of the teachers are pretty successful you've had some yeah it's I mean almost all teachers turned in their smart goal um this for this year already well the deadline was when we came back from uh winter break for them to turn in their smart go for student growth for this coming for the rest of the year um all all but I think there were three teachers that didn't turn that in um then parent conferences they just have to document that they've made attempts to reach parents uh for 80 or 85% I don't I think it was 85% of one class period um that they had to do first semester which was

042I think it was first quarter and then also in third quarter they have to do the same thing with a different class period and then they have to do positive parent contacts um in second quarter third quarter and fourth quarter for one uh one period um of their day as well and that period is specified in the 301 plan um and they can document uh their attempts if parents don't communicate back to them they can just document three attempts on that so um it's fairly easy um to do if teachers are communicating on a weekly basis which almost almost all of them are um most of them CC me um on all of their email Communications so uh I I would say pretty close to 90% real close to 90% are are fulfilling those basic

043obligations uh of those things uh how they fulfill their growth goal uh will determine uh whether or not they meet that criteria but I helped many of them uh write their growth goals this year during second second quarter thank you for do that the reasons we have the teacher evaluation when Mr Ed was talking about a certain period that pertains to secondary because they see more students than a first grade teacher so years ago doing parent conferences um some teachers were sitting in just not doing anything and I was as a principal in the valley I had 97% of my parents involved in parent conference I thought if we could do it there we could do it here and so I think it's important the other thing I think it's unfortunate sometime about schools probably

044most of the phone calls the families Reed from the school is bad news little Bob did this wrong or little Bob's not doing well in math or something like that and there are good things I think it's important that families know that we're looking for the positive as well as work and so it sounds kind of hokey and some people see this that I'm not going to do it well then you're you're not going to make that three grand or that 2,000 whatever the money is that year and but I have not I've only met one parent I've been doing this for 30 years at least I met one parents that were challenged why I call with positive call but why am I getting this call because I want to tell your kid did a

045good job oh okay most parents oh because I want them to know I think it's important that families know that we're looking at the whole job not just just when the child makes a mistake it's important for the child too that's why we put that in there question I may have missed this but the bonuses are tied to the school grades part part part part of so what did you did you already say everything obviously because of Co like that are different we're not doing the stand testing we changed it last year to the smart goals that Mr Ed was just talking about during the year because we we based it on the latter grade the schooles excuse me and our high school head a b our elementary of c and we also based on

046move on our our district testing well we did the district testing is three times a year well last year we couldn't do it in the spring obviously so we didn't want to hold people account something be under control so that portion is not being applied correct right now it's not okay so that portion of the money is it's just a that portion of their requirements is just covered by the other requirements that they that smart and when we don't use money one of the things this this was supposed to go away this year and the legislature kept saying we're not going to we're not going to approve it again we're not going to approve it again so basically if we had let's pretend I'm G to pull numbers up if we had $100,000 in that

047fund which you never did I would tell the principal or the business manager okay we're only gonna spend 35,000 because I want to taper this off because if people get used to living with this extra money all of a sudden it's G there's going to be a financial shock well the legislature after red fored a couple years ago six bunch of teachers show up the capital suddenly the Govern in the legislature saw the value in passing proposition 30 301 again and it's like for 20 years or something like that so that potential increase for teachers is still there thank goodness Dr D real quick regarding the 301 money for the teachers um has there been any delay on teachers getting their state certification due to the covid and Staffing at the state level as it

048has it slowed down some of those uh that the teacher has no control over say they apply September 2021 and then due to co restrictions staffing issues at the Department of Education level um has anybody had any problems with that not to my knowledge we've had no we we only have two teachers right now um that we're in the process of working with um and one of them needed to resubmit paperwork because they didn't uh submit all of the proper paperwork and one of them it's just a matter of them enrolling in uh the Arizona teachers for tomorrow program which they are in the middle of doing right now and then they'll be certified as well so what's the those are the only teachers that were still working um just off the top of your

049head I don't need um what's the average turnaround time once they submit their paperwork for them receiving certifications um they four to six weeks is definitely doable um and some sometimes it'll turn around in less than in two weeks I mean but four to six weeks is definitely doable renals go through real fast they just have the superintendent sign off on your PD hours need to Ren but like actual initial you can go on ad website on the certification page and it says for items submitted in August or we're doing now today you know item submitted in office and usually they're two or three months back and that's for the initial okay thank you weing yeah and sometimes teachers because it's a K12 organization if the teachers assignment has them teaching Elementary as well as

050secondary they may have Elementary or they may have secondary but not the other one they need to get that I was paid out of the any other question so I I'm sorry I wasn't I misunderstood the agenda so I wasn't prepared I hadn't read through this super thoroughly so can we just go back to page three and I can I just went over some of the questions that I had because so just background information I've worked a lot on this trying to get the existing policies which are like our Constitution and the employee agreements aligned while maintaining the the staffs benefits that they've negotiated over the years um it's been a challenge Ang that's that's a lot of what Dr dly and the the teachers have been working on and they and they fixed a

051bunch of things and that's really good but there are still some outstanding things that I I'm honestly not sure how to address them at this point but for example on page three gement leave it's still um it States per death which as we've discussed seems the generous thing to do for that a family member um but that doesn't match our policy that's correct there's three of those yeah uh what M Robertson is talking about is when we started talking about this several months ago we said we could easily and our attorney recommended just putting doing away this whole section of the agreement between the but if we did that we have we have an agreement that says after four years of employment a teacher can get a percent of their AC crw sick leave if

052they retire policy says 10 years uh bement leave we've always had five years pardon me I take that back five days per death my my personal case and this wasn't why we did this I had I had two deaths within seven months of my family very close my brother and my wife had that been the same school year we follow policy i' would have been doc pay probably so the teacher said no we want to keep what is now so we have two agreements two parts of the agreement right there they're technically in violation of policy but there me confer agreements we've had in place since I've been on in a also the Brean leave is the policy not the policy but the agreement we have is what I've seen in in my previous District

053as well large a large Elementary District in the valley so we can do this you know um we can just ignore and look the other way or we can change not the policy but we change the administrative regulations to say for example and that doesn't take board action policy takes board actions administrative regulations don't that just tells us what to do as as leadership M mred and I we could say for example teachers so it doesn't impact any current staff we could say teachers hired after February 1st 2021 but only have five days of Brantly per year period or will only say teachers who hired after uh February 1st 2021 will have have to be here 10 years before the retired to uh cash out any acur sick belief uh so those are two policies

054are still our our agreements not totally aligned with but teachers felt that we were the teachers were being penalized if that was taken away and I understand how they feel um it was and I don't know this this was the case when I came here years ago and it's never been a problem to my knowledge uh we haven't had people abusing uh the vacation by sorry vacation byb s Le buyback and we' have had I'm not one to argue someone prly and say or prove to me that this person passed away uh don't think do had a a bement pay and you had to prove that your family one had passed away and my dad was a supervisor and one of the employees asked her to come out in the parking lot and they had

055the dad in the coffin in the back of the pickup truck and so true story get to motion so I to me what you're suggesting it still is in conflict with policy we still have these two different documents of policy being a stronger one that conflict I agree I I don't want these staff members to lose their potential benefit if they have a death in the family seems like the very simple solution is that the board decides to modify policy to say her death instead of for a year we can do that we can do that would you be happy with that we could do that yeah we have to have two readings just like we go the next we're talk about I I think that would be a lot simpler than changing this document

056sending it back for staff approval right I think we changed this document we're telling teachers twice this year we didn't trust I think I think the policy obviously I'm sorry I don't mean to cut in but think obviously the the simplest way is to change policy I'm just not sure if it's the cleanest way so that's just my two cents worth I'm not sure how changing policy is observed by the asbca um but uh you know if that's the way then that obviously would be the cleanest way to do it I'm just not sure um how they how they would support a policy change I'm sorry I mean that that's this is what we're already doing this is what everyone wants I don't see the barrier um it reduces the the potential for lawsuit reduces

057the potential for confusion just makes sense I think so teachers understand what they read here I believe they don't read poliy and so I don't think there's any confusion I don't know I think potential I don't know about lawsuit um I've never been sued or threatened to be sued by giving people more than the than the guidelines suggest and in answer to Mr edlund's Question um policies are copyrighted by asba there on Schoolboard Association if we rewrite a policy we just lose the copyright um not necessarily yes we do that's what that's what the asba tells me we reite the policy if changes significantly they take uh attorneys are different when I talk about policies I also talk about attorneys and our attorney was hard and fast you got to stick with 10 years well

058I didn't want to take that away from existing teachers who've been working here maybe 10 years and or five years and thought they had this opportunity so we just agreed to keep the status but we could change policy okay so I was just GNA move to the next one okay real I'll just touch on real quick um I understand there's going to be a little disconnect sometimes between the meet prer and the policies um I think we've identified the issue that there's some items that don't line up with policy correctly yes um I think maybe the the staff and also board maybe a little more due diligence when they're trying to draft what they want us to prove maybe they should also make sure that what they're requesting is in line with school policy that

059way we're got stuck here as the board having to reinvestigate everything or having to even bring up the subject of changing changing policy I mean it just it just adds more steps to this whole process I I understand where Wendy's coming from completely and just my view right now is it would almost seem easier to for the board to address as a policy change than saying it's document back the the staff saying revote on it this because this is why I'm I'm fine with that I am either way um but yeah that's just my thoughts on that so what I what I would need guidance on is changing policy how big a deal is that is that like a a major major deal to change policy um with or is it or is it something

060that's been done in the past we haven't done it a lot um next agenda I think the first one we've changed since I've been here um some districts change policies they have a stronger Union or Association or whatever history it's individual for for as far as the physical act it needs to be Rewritten and um I would run by our attorney to make sure I didn't do anything totally illegal or that could lay US Open for litigation um and then I would also then we have to have a first we always have to have a a hearing on first reading and we don't vote till the second reading with two meetings we have for month right now it's pretty pretty handy because we can do the hearing tonight like on the next agenda and then

061we vot Wednesday night to approve or disapprove uh so that's pretty slick now what I don't know asba is not they have attorneys on staff School Board Association but they will not represent districts that's not their purpose we have to have on attorney and I I would worry not seen this but I worry about things like this one again sleeping night is that if we change the policy that the asba wrote in copyright and we got sued it appears I have not had this ever happen it appears that we could some mitigation for us would be we were supporting we were following what the association said this copyrighted and is based statute Ora case law if we did on this is what we want to do because this what they wanted in AO that might

062be a little more of a shallow defense if we ever had to go to a so the next one uh retirement and severance pay oh sorry it's gonna be a long night uh retirement and severance pay um also conflict with policy we probably don't have to have the same discussion again but the the employe agreement is more generous than existing policy and this the employ agreement um it's more generous I think in a couple ways in the number of years before you are eligible and also the amounts the policy says 10 years we say out years so kind of same same problem um actually even easier fix because in the policy it's really equivalent it just has some slightly different numbers so we could actually just strike that section of the policy and uh most

063schools have already to be fair they they struck that section and then they negotiate their own um benefits in a agreement like this or through their um number four page four yeah so this is actually just a question I've had for a long time and I don't remember getting the answer it um see at the top under retirement after 25 years someone gets $2,500 in salary um I know the policy also gives benefits um to individuals based on the amount of time um in addition to this I'm I'm I'm assuming and then also in the back we have I don't have the I don't have the policy about here in the back we have for uh it doesn't it's the salary schedule it doesn't have an appendix letter it's the first appendix though there's long

064longevity pay 25 years $1,000 so if I'm retiring and I've had years do I get 25 years longev 1,000 longevity paid plus 2,500 um retirement for continuous Service Plus the amounts that are specified in the in the policy we usually give one raise on to my to my knowledge we've always given and this is not this I can't remember the last time this was used um probably walk um I would say that's my recollection probably gave the largest amount I wouldn't guarantee that I think that's confusing it should be fixed Wendy I'm sorry M Robertson were you saying the $1,000 was longevity pay on the salary schedule uh on the salary schedule yeah we have $1,000 on the salary schedule longevity pay plus 2,500 under retirement and severance pay yeah long longevity pay on the

065salary schedule is just for calculating their annual salary and the retirement is the $2,500 that they would receive on separation when they retire so okay so in your interpretation they would get both of these and then plus there's policy which is the the the the longevity pay the 1,000 longevity pay would be included in their in their annual salary that's calculated on their contract so it would be broken out over over the full course of the school year in their salary and the 2500 one time exactly exactly so like we have teachers that were here for 30 or 35 years once they hit that 25 then they get that every reti and then they get the correct okay at 25 years whenever they retire so so at the 25 years they're already getting their 20year

066longevity pay at 25 years they get another thousand and at their retirement they get 2500 they get all those and then I said policy has additional an additional payment that's different so and I think it has you have to apply for it usually like in September if you're planning to retire in things we've said in the past this may be on the budget situation may be paid over two fisc years sounds like two years one pay period part we could pay the last pay in June and pay the first pay in July two and this was when we we used to have teachers that were that taught for 30 40 years in the same school and then they started to retire and we have to keep teachers here because we're so Ral and remote we're

067trying to put benefits in for longevity paper teachers to stay here become career because it's easier bonuses it is to find so I look at the salary schedule so e plus 30 years um they inste five they' be making 41,000 and they'd be making the $2,000 on top of that yes so they would make 43,000 then instead of 40 41 Arizona is paying according to US news report Arizona is paying Arizona teachers 48 in the nation following Mississippi leading only Mississippi and Oklahoma very cost of living we paying teachers 50s and na so page six maternity and paternity leave um a the yellow part was added saying that um it must satisfy requirements but then it goes on to talk about 60 days after birth which is not the same as FMLA FMLA will win

068that's the okay why is that still there it a good reason moving on okay um then sickly sickly it says use sickly views per FMLA so I think this might just be the wording but this is this is about um if you sick and you're going to use MLA it's MLA it's not about using actual P Le that's just confusing wording Tola they can inire they can say okay I have this again I have this having this birth then I need to have this amount of leave I think it's six weeks but FMLA you don't pay for that you just you guaranteed the job back okay that's just you're guaranteed say it's you're guaranteed a similar position now in education it's easier to give them their job back then maybe in industry I've never done

069industry before but if they say okay we give you this similar job back so it's as close as so that's just to me a bit confusing because we do have something called sickly but that's not what this ISR um and then G Sly may be requested to care for a spouse uh and it lists some relationships but at the beginning you made that edit to add all the green for all the would include anybody in that green so I would suggest rather than list it again which is actually it doesn't list everything that all of the relationships that apply why not just basically May requested for family members I don't know I think you need need to be specific because somebody's going to come back on you if you don't have it specific of who

070you're who you're allowing them to be up on right right and that's that's really that was fixed right yeah so that is good and that can be an easy change I can just the teachers have already it can be can be cop um and then page eight honestly reluctant to get into this but no personal Le were granted on a day before or a day after that one sentence has C caused so much grief because a is vague is it the day before or the week before or is it all the days before that holiday it a is not specific which days I think the second sentence clarifies it by referring to the extension of the holiday rather than just having it one day I know I remember the conflict you were talking about where

071they thought oh just missing pay Monday but didn't realize that's extending the holidays it's the next day because that will be a day after or a day so you want to say the instead of a day yeah which is how is in policy policy says on the day before or the day after I don't see reason for the vagueness because some people manipulate system and they try to take Tuesday through Friday off well that's why specific and say the day the D Day people read the day as only Monday and we're trying to stop any day that week after the holiday that's what we're trying to stop so so the intent here is the int intent to try to keep teachers in classrooms no personal gr on a day before or a day after holiday

072break it says if the holiday break is extended without ad approval but that's without here's the argument here's the argument that was used on that famous board meeting well I shouldn't be docked five days I should only be docked first day after the holiday but you didn't have permission it wasn't approved and extended the holiday without medical leave so the word a was put there on purpose so any day basically you could have said any day the extend of the holiday so people would want to be docked only one day the Monday using this year's Christmas holiday as example if they missed the week of school after week of the fourth last week and the argument was made that well I should be only docked Monday not Tuesday mennes Thursday Friday the whole week I

073I still think it's unclear because it looks to me like if you take a holiday break you will get paid for all those days unless you take it without administrative approval then your pay will be ducked correct so if I get my days approved so if I ask for the week before Christmas um and you approve it I get paid for that week corre that week is all in the blackout days also so the week before is in the blackout G to try to not the days we'll try not to honor we can't I see okay so I I chose a bad holiday Pi a holiday that is blackout days so um Mar yeah that's coming up so so I asked for leave and it's approved on the week of Martin Luther King day I

074get paid for that yes oh if it's approved if it's approved so so what did is trying to stop is okay we're going to go to work days again oh well I I couldn't make it back because I got a cat Tire or in reality the day after that wouldn't be paid anyway because it any unapproved believe is not paid right un unless it's a true emergency or sickness right correct but there are arguments and debates well I should have been wasn't my fault my car wouldn't start okay so teachers do get days off during the year right and so we're just talking about days off paid holidays paid holidays because everybody wants to take off that week Labor Day Veterans Day Thanksgiving Christmas president day and Memorial Day so we're just trying to I

075I agree I think teachers have to come back to work right yeah and um so and you don't agree with that yeah no no that's not it's it's the clarity that I have an issue with this is not the intent and teachers get 11.44 days a year so if they use those 11 days before December or before January then they're out of 60 days they get do for every their AB after so we acue days every month that we're here we acue those days to get paid but if you use the M then that's where it becomes I I just remember a situation or multiple situations where the person took the week off and they got paid for all the days except for the one day after the holiday that's what we're trying to correct

076that's why that St St it is specifically why two years okay so you're saying that now the person does get paid for the one day after the holiday no they get paid they they get docked they get docked for the this year the fourth of January using Christmas an example theoretically they wouldn't get docked if they were absent Tuesday or Wednesday but what we're trying to stop is have them extend their holiday multiple days into that week Monday Tuesday Wednesday and and because we in the past we docked them for all three days and we want people people here on the day after there's always been not always once and it came with Bo attention that Famous Board me because how many days am I gonna be doed am I gonna be do just the

077first day or all those days we I consider and everybody I've talked to considers if you if I supposed to be back work Monday but I don't come till Thursday iend my holiday by three days so our practice has been the doed for three days iion okay so could you not say um no personal leave is to be granted um of the week before and a week after the holiday break we won't we haven't done that since that but I mean a lot of schools do have that that's what we discussed earlier in the in the deal because it reads that it's how how did it put it it's up to special consideration or yes Administration will take thoughtful consideration for the following days okay moving on um question so this is not this is

078not highlighted but it is a change the bottom to receive this benefit the teacher must have accumulated sick W and be returning the following year this is after you've had four years of continued this is um believe flyback I think that's what what you call it yeah so if you've worked for four years continuously you can sell up to 12 days per year at $30 per year per day but you can't if this is your last year correct just like 301 we don't have to pay 301 to someone who's leaving we do but we don't have to so I understand how that works I'm wondering if it is false economy because what if knowing this the like I'm gonna my 12 days if I last year lose my 12 days so I'm gonna I'm gonna

079be sick for two weeks and we if person wait and then we have that first of all the teacher is not there for the kids and also we're paying $100 a day for a rather than just $30 a day when they you require anytime there perap more than three days three days or more we require we can request a doctor approval so if they don't have a do approval they get doct days if we think someone ising the system trying to be we can answer that [Applause] okay that's it okay we move on yes great that would be nice okay I've lost my changes policy last yeah we're three yeah okay I got it can I talk about this Madam president yes you may and we'll we'll agree I was asked to take a look

080at this policy and the policy deals with naming facilities and policy FF and there are two uh significant uh request one requirements uh person the facilities named after have made unique contributions to District I think it'd be better say significant contributions to District have been deceased for at least 10 years um that's the part that we're trying to that we suggesting I'm suggesting the board change because after 10 years after 10 years years uh people may not uh be in in the in the organization that remembered that person and so we talking about what facility is there we identify facility so the immed the first page after the agenda after U is the existing agenda the uh the next one is the proposed wording change wording in naming facilities the district name derived pardon me

081from significant Geographic locations historical Advance or advance of community significance as well as worthy deceased individuals whove made unique contributions to The District in this policy we're facility we defying facility again so all we did we changed we put two paragraphs instead of two bullet points we took out has to be deceased for these 10 years last the board and tonight can be the first reading we ask the board to approve that Wednesday night question why the change is it you are the one who wants the change yes and why because if we wait 10 years to name a facility number one we may not no one in this District who work for that person may be here to appreciate that and it doesn't happen person attention they we feel today and Mrs Cameron be

082a good example of that right you know she did a lot for the district a lot for the community 10 years from now she'll be a vague memory right so if you were going to name something for her now would be the time to do it instead of you know 10 years from now who members W or Dyas you know nobody or or Jack Peterson you know where where I'm coming from yes and so that's why so I when I first saw this actually I was happy just to see a proposed policy change coming from within the district I have not seen that happen before this is the first one we' had b as mersh have them do a policy and then and then my immediate reaction was was sure that sounds that sounds really

083kind of nice to do then I thought more about it and I thought why why the 10 years and maybe it's because it's important to wait so you have retrospect on the contributions of that person and if they do stay stand the test of time then it makes the honor even more valuable I I I wonder if I remove the the 10 years or I mean I don't it looks like it goes down to n if weing hon ex I would just also like to point out that just because you rename a facility Now does not mean that the facility cannot eventually be renamed again in the future um for happens all the time with stadiums obviously ly but you would name it now it would be known as the Jonathan Smith Field or something

084like that but perhaps in 10 or 15 years you may decide to rename the field uh Susan Johnson Field or something to that effect maybe maybe something that might be looked at as well so um i' just like to point out that that doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be named that for forever unless it's made a motion that it is for now and forever will be known as if a motion is known as that so that's something to look at as well as you move forward on that so just two cents worth only problem is we still call the houses bu in 1975 the new houses true true I still have stadiums that I call by their original names even though they've changed names three or four times okay all right the next

085order discussion is adding uh agenda items attached memo Robertson and so ier to anybody else anybody else yeah I asked for this because I've had over the past year and a half of number a very hard time getting things on the agenda um and it's my understanding based on attending asba conventions talking to other other board members of other schools that it shouldn't be hard it should be a straightforward easy thing to do um so anyway I I know that this is a lot tonight and I think I think what I'm going to do with this is is leave you all with my my notes for this for this page the ones in Black it's it's almost um what I wrote out here is just kind of uh notes on on how how it works

086obviously it's up there um and what it takes to request a future agenda item and then um um the what to expect after your question that's something I put in there most of what's on here is policy based it's in the policy and I just paraphrased it to put it on onto one sheet um the ones that are pink are the ones that I thought might require some discussion um not because they are not true but because they aren't specifically stated in the agenda for examp in the um the policy for example board president facilitates the creation of the agenda but is not the gatekeeper of the agenda I put that in there because you hear it all the time through asba it's something they they like to say a lot um so anyway those

087pink things are are of that nature just um uh notes that might have required just a little bit of conversation just to explain and and I'll think we should go into it all right now just for the sake of time but um what I would like is essentially two things I we already have a policy document that we have ratified that um governs what is on our agenda template but when we revised our agenda template about a year ago the call for future agenda items was left off and I want that on there it doesn't have to be a vote it's already in our policy it can just be added to the agenda template at the bottom of the agenda so like if you look at policy B DB at the very end it says

088requests for future agend for future agenda items that's not on our template we never have a call for request for future AG future agenda items I think we should have that because it creates a space for people to be able to State their their agenda um requests as board members or as the public as board members okay yeah no no not public yeah as board members we can do that anyway but you end up having to squeeze it in like oh no I have an agenda request if it's stated are there any requests for future agenda items no fine yes what is it um so if that is something we can all agree upon it it doesn't have to be a vote it can just be a consensus so basically almost be like there's a

089public record of this board member asking I would like to consider putting this on the next month's agenda or in a future agenda this right right it's their chance to State publicly what they would like to on an agenda um does anyone have any um objection to including that in our agenda template no the only thing I think uh is that sometimes it's not convenient to put it on the next meeting it may be extended so I like what uh you said that for the next meeting or some prev some I think that's a great idea yeah right I mean the scheduling and the exact wording and all those things can work be worked out behind the scenes um it's the ability to State your wish to speak about something public publicly have a conversation

090about something I I think it's really important [Music] um and if no one has any objection do you all mind if we add that that that would not be the only way to get something added to the agenda somebody call the either emailing the president or but this is also like another way of hey that the whole board know I'd like to put this on the agenda in the future and it's a way to do it publicly which sometimes you want to do um so yeah so on my not I have the different ways requests should be directed to the superintendent um I said include the board president I don't think it's in pink because I don't think it's required but the board president facilitates this so it's nice for them to know um the

091current policy says five days for yeah and have that that but we typically and takes s a couple put all this together we typically start putting the board together I meet with the board president typically on Wednesday or Thursday you go over the ten policy or pardon me agenda and then it takes U if we only got this on Thursday that would be tough because they don't need to have a meeting with board president and then for engine agenda agenda done we got books so if we had the sooner the better are the ASB um policy says five working days so I think ours should be five working days because if you go and put it in on Thursday or let's say Wednesday you'd have time but you're counting in the weekend which no one's

092working and so you really have to change that so that is that is in our policy and I put it down in here it is in the policy um but the pink part says exceptions to this requirement may be made in circum certain circumstances and just because that's been my experience is that mistakes get made on the agenda there are oversights there are some reasons why you might add an agenda item or change an agenda item within that five day period but like you say that should not be that should be the exception of the rule and then the second thing that that I'm going to request and since Mar and your president again um it's this when we requests agenda items will you contact us and acknowledge the request and schedule the agenda item

093with us and if it can't be scheduled that month then can I make a point that you send it both to to the superintendent and to me but I am the CC so I always figur it's going to the superintendent okay and so I don't respond so what has happened is I have made a agenda requests and no one no one answers and weeks go by and I make them again and no one answer so I'm just trying to I'm asking that if someone makes a request that they whether it's Bob or Marsha whether one of you gets back to us okay pretty promptly may I make a suggestion to when they are when you make a request sure one at a time but that's not always the way things are going to work but

094most of the time they can when you give a a list of agenda items like the last time I want this I would like this I want this and this to be on the agenda we'd be here till midnight you know we can't do it all on the okay no I I won't only ask for one but I I think if I get responses to my agenda requests they won't pile up like that that's what I think if I could interject real quick yeah um Mar you like let's say for for example you had three different items like put on the agenda are you asking that be an email for each item separately or okay I'm just just clarifying just not as many at the same time sorry it I just think that it's overwhelming

095sometimes of what you know they have so many requests so so basically what I'm getting from Wendy is let's say you have three requests and if they if the president and superent say okay we can get one of these on this agenda you'd say okay we're able to get this request on this agenda for this month and then these other two we're going to look at for the future that's what fabulous if that happened you know in a reasonable amount of time after I sent after I sent the email or after I made the request public um that would be I would be over the moon if I got a response like that do okay I'm just trying to fix if there's any other issue um would it be easier to do it like just

096just on example um I have three items I would like to be on the agenda would it be easier to do an email for each one and they're addressed separately and that way there's no confusion as three on one email then it we say okay then okay so the reply is right there on that email for that request right we will review this for future agenda this one will be on this next month's agenda maybe just that way it's a little more clear about which one that's nice and clean is that something that so doesn't look so address individual email I mean getting a whole bunch of emails could be overwhelming too yes it can it can okay so that's it um I yeah I I'll be looking forward to see the see the um

097call for board uh agenda requests on the on the schedule um y you have to explain to me I'm sorry why why is you notifying us that you're asking for an agenda item in an email if we make no comment to it why is that a violation open meeting law honestly I don't know if it is if no one responds I think you're really it's a real slipper slope because anything any email or form of communication outside meeting is considered um we don't has been agendized for the public to see and it could be construed as in a case like that if a Community member knew that was happening and filed open me law complaint with the Attorney General's office we would have to prove that there wasn't collusion outside of of a majority the

098form of the of the board there wasn't collusion to make a decision outside the public eye so you're guilty until Pro I'm not arguing I'm just try to get clarification question yeah so if she sends an email to Marca Mara um why is that not a a violation not a two members three or more get it then it could be considered a three or more okay any any meeting of members or more I have to have 24 hour elect technically if we had a Christmas party and fact large district superintendent was a nervous W because if you saw three board members standing the corner talking and there was 50 people to party it's easy to find someone that was upset about that and file a complaint so you have to post a meeting you to

099be safe Superintendent at that time should say post a gathering going to be a social event board may be presid at when we' interviewed for princi the couple that you've been on and the C that you've been on we have to post that as a meeting even though we're not putting anything on the agenda because you have more than good thank you next okay if you want to go on from there uh the a discussion of board response to public staff comments so I asked for this as well um that it's the bulk of the um supporting documents that are orange here um and the the main reason why I requested this is so we can educate ourselves on it um when I was a new board member first of all I didn't even know

100that the policy manual existed for a couple months and then later I realized that some of these other things existed like like the procedure for staff grievances I I didn't know until pretty recently that there was a very specific procedure that staff can follow to get their grievances addressed um so I put I put this in here just so you all and I could have it in one place look at it and kind of take it in it's nothing pretty overwhelming it's it's a lot it's a lot so it it's nothing that you have to like know through and through right now um but just to know that it's there actually grievance wend you telling about formal grievance are you talking about complaint oh I'm talking about the oh just then I was talking about

101the formal grievance procedure which um is is in here so just to know that that it's there and it exists and that it that is available to staff members um in the event that they feel that they need to um move their their issue whatever it is they're the chain of command there's a formal way to do that so anyway so I made these notes the discussion on board response to comments from public and staff it's just a summary um I wanted us to be educated on appropriate board response to educate the community on the board's powers and limitations there's um it's a lot of misunderstanding in our community about what we can and can't do um and I think the more we have conversations like this um public public Al uh the better in

102terms of of community understanding and our own understanding um and also just to publicly demonstrate the board's willingness to act that that these are that these are these are the things we can and can't do um and that we are we are willing to address these issues that come up appropriately um so with that I I don't think we should have to take very long with this also um I the scenarios that I was thinking of was uh a couple first we get approached by by community members in the grocery store for example there are some things that we can say some things that we should say um I I put we don't have to get into it too much but I put notes here like board responds to staff comments and complaints and Bo

103response to public comments and complaints um it's it's really the same thing over and over you refer the person to the appropriate level level in the chain of command so if they're talking about teacher they're having a hard time with they should be talking to the teacher about about this and then if that is not resolved then they move up the chain of command principal superintendent and then finally work um this this is information that is sometimes not appreciated by the people you're giving it to because they want you to fix their problem yeah they want a solution right then right but it's super important that we respect and uphold the chain of command because things need to be resolved at the lowest level possible when they get escalated it's it's not good we don't

104want that we want things we want the teacher to take care of the problem and and Dr dly never gets to know about it um so anyway just something to look at I it's so late and long everything's so long I don't I don't want to get too much into it but um uh one other distinction is just the board response in the meeting setting if something's on the agenda we're pretty free to talk about the issue that the community is talking about if we have a question for them we could ask if they have a question for us we could answer only if it's on the agenda if it's not on the agenda the only things we can do are let's see we can say thank you because on the agenda we can defend

105ourselves if someone says that we did something that we didn't do we can say I didn't do that um you can refer the admiss the issue to an administrator um or you can ask agenda the only things you can do if the issue that comes up publicly is not on the agenda is it's on the agenda all of those okay and then the last thing is the discussion of the board response to a teacher's comments and I think you need to think about that no I I I'm actually so I'm I'm really glad that this is on here because I I think it we should have had this discussion much sooner than we did um I think waiting has caused problems that wouldn't have happened if we had had addressed these these things that were

106brought up by the staff member soon after they came up um I don't I I don't know if it's it's just a lot it's a lot to do and and I don't I don't know is this something everyone is willing to take on right now and and work our way through this is this is um this is a look at the issues that the teach raised in a previous meeting um You probably saw the the transcript that that Angelina put together I watch the video there were many issues that were raised um and I wanted take a time to look at each of those can it be possible that um it was from the start handled would had been advised to go and come and talk to us when it really wasn't the time to

107do that there are steps for grievances that go all the way through right and that's what this is about actually this is about well you're asking us to consider what had been said at that point public comment but I'm saying the public comment never should have happened if real quick um I would hate to see this turn into a Personnel issue at a public meeting yeah so so just to address that I have a reminder to board members and the administration this is a discussion on how the board might appropriately address the concerns raised by a teacher during a public comment this is not and cannot be a discussion of the teacher so this is just a generalized teacher not this is well we're not going to talk about specific things about the teacher we're

108talking about the issues that were raised and what can be done what is appropriate board response if any well what I'm asking is that on this they were there were concerns by this teacher did she take those concerns to her immediate supervisor then sign the grievance so that it passed to the superintendent and then send the grievance that it came to us and I I don't think that Happ well so I'm trying trying not to talk about the teacher I'm trying to talk about the issues that were raised but that's exactly what what this I spent a lot of time working on this document but that's exactly what this does it walks us through each each of the issues that we're raised and asks those questions um not asking the teacher but asking where we

109are in the process for each of those things that's all it does um if it's a board issue then part of the problem was we had already addressed most of those issues in Communications about things that had already been completed sure um and most all of those issues were addressed in the communication sure but this this is about board response to a complaint not what not not what was done at the building level but the just the response to the complaint and maybe the response is we have been informed that the that this particular issue has been taken care of if it is that if that's not your understanding then you need to address it with the appropriate administrator it might just be that but the point is that that I I do agree that

110people come to the board and they feel that they're not heard they feel that the board doesn't respond I'm suggesting a response even if the response is policy based like this is it's not our purview to address this and need to address it at this level even if it's that I think the problem happens when there's no response at all and that's what has happened a lot with this board um I think if we have an individual come to the board with some concerns um we need to clarify if the proper documents have been filed with the board because if we don't see it obviously it's not our agenda to address right we shouldn't be touching it I I don't think personally that's what I'm saying too just you just can't do it at that

111point we might just refer to Dr duy and say has the administration been informed of any of this and have any of the proper channels been followed that's what this is yeah that's exactly what this is so I I feel like we spent all this time talking about talking about it but um I mean I can I can just so can I just give you the first example so so the so I I came up with a list of questions that we would ask and I came up with a list of the issues that were raised um the first one that I um decided to tackle I answered the questions myself just as an example um so so the first issue is that the board is unresponsive I chose this one because I thought it

112was easy to answer and it is something that the board can answer um this is not an administrative problem this is a board this is a a board issue so that's the first question is this issue a problem with the board that the board problem that the board should address or is it more appropriately addressed by the administration I said the board should address this then is this issue a current problem this is obviously my opinion my opinion yes the board has a history of not responding to issues presented to it by the community especially teachers as an example there's not until now been a board response to this teacher's public comment too much time has passed and we have done nothing ignoring issues does not make them go away it causes them to Fester

113next if this is a current problem what are possible solutions and the possible solutions I I came up with is explain the P Board of powers and limitations communicate in a timely manner with community members who have raised concerns sorry draft a policy based document appropriately responding to the issues raised explaining the available options and directing the Community member to perent policy documents and request an agenda item or a meeting to explore solutions to the issues raised that's what I did that's what we're doing right now next if the issue is perceived to have been sufficient sufficiently resolved has it been communicated to the teacher well we know that it hasn't been resolved because we just starting it right um if the teacher believes the issue has not been sufficiently resolved is she aware of

114a past path to resolution so and I say we can assume a teacher believe the problem is unresolved see possible solutions about and then now what if any action should be taken and I propose that in addition to this discussion I propose that the board drafts a policy based document per the above um suggestions to be sent to the teacher so this would be basically information like if if you believe this is and this are are still problems then that this is your path to resolution simply that not solving the problems for the administration explaining what needs to be done to address the problems that that's all so that's what I suggest that we that we draft a policy based document to explain the the problems as we know it and the draft should include

115any pertinent points that come up in this meeting so so in addition to that just in addition to policy information just you know what what we came up with what we decided we want to do so I'm sorry um now I have no problem ining any new policies um the current policy addresses the chain of command do you think we could just resolve some of this lot of the staff if we just there's like an educational like this is the policy this is what we have these are the procedures the board's the last step because these teach teachers need to understand if they try to start talking to board members individually about their issue and it goes to the board there's going to be some member recusals because they've already been talked to about it

116by that individual and that could affect the outcome of stuff I mean if I had an individual me you know I'm having a problem with so and so and this they're doing this this this and this and it's like we need to go through your part procedures well I just want to take it straight to top Bo you can't you're violating policy by not doing it and then two you're um effect a possible board move action on it right and I think some of the teachers may be reminded of that I think the teachers get a fair Shake if they come here without going through the absolutely not absolutely not so so anyway but whoever recommends that they do that and I'm sure that a lot of the teachers have been told come to the

117board they're not following you know what we should be doing don't know they haven't been told and they don't know it sounds like we need to have like a educational right I'm sure that's done right yeah I'm sure the teachers are not orientated on all this yes so and and this applies I mean we're talking about teacher cons but it applies to the public as well when they approach us so anyway in response to the fact that uh this teacher believes the board unresponsive I I propose that we respond and that we respond with a policy based document that explains what we can and can't do and what her path is to resolution for any of these things that she wishes to pursue not through us but through whatever LEL I mean maybe through US

118depends on what it is but whatever at whatever level is appropriate that that's what I'm suggesting because it educates and also lets the people know that we listened we took in all the things they said and we care we want them to to try and get it fixed we're not going to fix it because that's not our role unless it comes that high but we want we want the process to work and I think it's important to say it not just hope it happens so anyway that's what I would propos so then I went through for each of those each of those issues I went through asking these questions is it a board issue or is it an administrative issue it's an administrative issue then the administration you know answers those questions essentially in regard

119to no no teacher repres representation for the availability of hand sanitizer all those things there's a path to resolution for all those things um and I I think the problem I know is we don't know where in the path they might be resolved entirely but we don't know where in the path that particular person is does that make sense because if if the person with the complaint believes it's unresolved then they they can keep escalating it it does don't you think that they have any idea that it starts with their supervisor and then goes on to the superintendent and it's the last resort to come to the board and it doesn't sound as if I think it's our job to just share that information just very very plainly but they shouldn't have been there first

120place I think should have could a would have um people come and they and they make statements before the board and I think it's our job to respond in an appropriate other looks like when we start and ask for visitors comments it does say that we will not make any decisions it's all said to them right there and that we will not even comment on it right right I'm suggesting that we're more proactive than that and give them a more customized response after after the fact not not necessarily in the moment but come up with in each case is going to be different but come up with recommending correspondence are you recommending correspondents yes email basically lining okay well the board wasn't the proper venue for this at this point but this would be the

121person to go here's the steps you would go to here's the the chain of command you would go through first person would be this person second person right that that's that's what I'm suggesting I mean I I was thinking we would go through each of these things so maybe just give IND the individual that brings up the concern just a reminder your chain of command this is what policy states you should be doing have you and make sure you follow that before and you don't it's not even have you we're not asking questions we're giving information this is this is the procedure you need to follow and leave it at that exactly and I I am happy to draft something like that um I I wouldn't send it off just on behalf of myself but

122I'm happy to draft something like that and um I don't know if I then give it to follower if I give it to you and you I don't I don't know how how exactly that works I I wonder if um if we were to have a a I don't know situational statements or just a blanket statement and then if we just approved it as a board as that's going to be our response for anything and um I think the my personal opinion is I think it's best if we don't respond and give any kind of inclination to anything thank you for your comments um or even at any other concerns please bring up to your chaining command so then then they still have the acknowledgement and but yet we're not tying our hands right oh

123yeah certainly and um but I also think it's important that it's it's customized to person they understand that we understood what they expressed to us maybe that's something the administration should um should do um say I think at this point the board should do it I think it should be a statement from the board they came to the board not we're not solving all these problems that were that were um expressed M President we already have the policy we're talking about policy B public participation board meetings we have the guidelines taped to the podium and this is something we talk it talks about some of the things Mrs Roberts is talking about and I can be glad with this fet board I can send a copy of this you pick one up on your way

124out most districts districts I've been a part of lar districts no one can go Podium period from the audience unless they're called on by the board president and people turn in ticket to want to talk and it's up to the board president who talks for example uh people may be talking about health insurance and 25 teachers may be frustrated employees may be frustrated about health insurance or 25 parents may be frustrated about um something to do with after school sports lost sound and they all have the same lost sound they all have the same concern that's weird because the speaker's working there we go there we go Sarah a number of people may have the same concern once the board when the board president sees 25 or 15 concerns they say we're going to address

125the first two or three because we'll be repeating and just taking time from the meeting so that's the type of thing that uh that we would like to see it it change into we've never done this in Al but we think it's time to formally do that that's what the policy go I can share this with you you pick one up on your way out I I think it's good and I think the more we can post things like that and and educate people about it the better but I really think in this case the board should make a statement to the individual policy based yes is custom so the person feels hurt that I I feel strongly about that I think the ignoring it is it's like I said it things faster when people

126feel ignored um and I think that's what's happening here um so I mean is are are you all okay if I write something up that's policy based and then it could be shared however it's appropriate to be shared have to have a look at sure definitely not not going to distribute it myself adjust it and tweak it as needed okay how would thaty it would be custom to the person who came and presented themselves to the board with their complaints so again it's not really a policy we're just GNA be offering a correspondence to them that's policy based so it's not like um yeah here this is how I'm going to fix your problem it's I see you are concerned about this problem this is your this is your course of action if you would

127like to continue to try to address this problem one particular would is customed responses exactly or could I mean depending on the case like maybe yeah do that get a brief appropriate response instead of just the standard no comment thank you for your time than right um because the teachers come to the board and complain the administration reply back to that teacher then other teachers are going to follow the same set they see that so then nobody's they're gonna waste a lot of time of their own time if they do that okay um so just just to briefly since we've done this may briefly go may as well briefly go through it the the no teacher represent representation before the board um I'm I'm pretty comfortable and and obviously I I am going to give

128everything to the board members I'm pretty comfortable responding to that I do think it's a board um issue and not a um a administrative issue um but like I said before it would just be be policy based like what what exists and um I'll tell you this the teachers do have access to the board um they have they have email although the emails are not working apparently they have email they have public comment they could call us on the phone um there's a lot of ways that that staff members can um Express themselves to board members so um it would be along those lines um the next one availability of hand s sanitizer that's an administrative is that's a building issue an administrative issue um so that's something that needs to be handled by the

129administration um paper masks same availability availability of drinking water same um and for all of these I would include a an appropriate path to address the issue if it it hasn't been addressed apparently we have apparently we have drinking water but if we don't the person can come to us and say or come to the next level of of the chain of command and say we still have no water um that's their right um but but it needs to be resolved right um prop 301 bonus requirements are unreasonable same that's an administrative issue um it's out well we've the the requirements are are our own requirements based they're adopted by 85% right right um the goals the goals for the bucket two right so um and then um specials money is that the same as

130301 bonus or is that a different thing yeah that was the 301 money and okay that was being requested to what was the word appeal right right okay so but that's the same I sent a I sent a uh breakdown of how the money how the funds were calculated after that staff member okay um for for their uh calculation okay I just wasn't sure if it was a different thing than the 301 but so for that um can I interrup you are you gonna go through this I I am but there's only two more well we this is our first chance that we've seen this because you passed it out tonight yeah so and it's getting very late but I I'm I'm like literally almost done well you're talking about paper masks and that's all

131on the front page I'm I'm on the back page um so specials money um and the appeal proc so this is a this is someone saying they want to appeal it's totally appropri appropriate for us to say this is the appeals process um you're free to use it um and the last one is the oh this is a big thing so the teacher feels frustrated angry feels she has no recourse she fears retribution she claims other teachers feel the same so this could be a whole meeting unto itself it's um to me that it feels like that's the core problem someone who feels frustrated angry they have new recourse and fears rep retribution um that's not a that's that's a very difficult place to be um and if other teachers feel the same this is

132a problem with school culture it's a problem with um employee morale and um I think we need to find out if it is a pervasive problem or not and I have asked many times for this staff satisfaction survey slw workplace culture survey slash morale survey and it has not been forthcoming but I think it's important that we get a read on how our staff is feeling overall um because maybe maybe this is an anomaly or maybe it's not but we don't know and I think we should have that information so I I feel that's a board problem all right you that yeah is there is there anything forthcoming with the staff survey nothing would be appropriate to talk about public meeting the staff survey nothing would be appropriate to talk about okay I would want

133to get in so this speaking as a chief that answers to a board and I answer to a board right we put out a handbook that really addresses all the all the issues in our agency correct now whether the employe chooses to read that or not that's on them but the policy is there I would be upset as a chief if every issue that my employees didn't agree with they came to the board around me and came to the board and complained about that right I would have a major issue with that right not only with the employee but I'd have a major issue with the board right because how do I run my agency if I'm constantly being you know what I'm saying um and so I think things that are in policy it's

134up to the teacher to acknowledge that they got that which I'm sure they do they must sign off when they get these policies yes and then it's up to them by signing it to know their policies and know what they're supposed to do I wouldn't want as a board to constantly have employees coming in and because they don't have hand sanitizer right I don't care what I mean I care but that's not that's not what I'm here for okay I don't know if you agree with what I'm saying totally but I wouldn't want to to have that happen that's why the chain of command and we hire I know I'm brand new the first day we hire a superintendent we hire a principal we count on them to do their jobs right right yes absolutely

135and so I don't think that that um we want to micromanage that in in any way right and um so and I stood on that Podium and stated my my displeasure with statements right and I and you know voiced my concern but um do do do you feel like something I said was micromanaging I just want to make sure that we're not sending a message to the employees of the district that if you don't like what's going on just come come to us yeah you guys agree with what I'm saying we need to do the last step in and sometimes we're not the last step the last step should end us right that's what we hope that's so so just to be clear I feel like all all of this that I'm doing is exactly

136trying to support what you're saying we want people to follow the chain of command we want them to if they need to or feel the need to use the proper grievance process and not jump the chain of command we we want we want to not ever know that something happened because it was resolved satisfactory at a lower level that's ideal right right so that's what I'm trying to support um and yeah I I feel like I feel like a a lot of that communication just helps that that we need more communication and that's that's an effort this is an effort to just be better communicators I hope I I agree and um I think that communication need to start the principle superent level with staff I have I think that needs to come the administration

137saying hey these are the procedures these are the policies you need to follow I mean because if there's a one one individual has a small issue with another teacher and they come to for well so and so is interrupting me they're being hostile towards me that's not our issue they're trying to make it a board issue but they're not following so I think the the education that needs to come from the administration not us absolutely but at this point it it is it is with us and I feel like we we need to do something we need to push it back on the administration and say no this is on you guys this is what you're paid for handle these little fires before they become an infernal exactly Dr Juliana all this instruction and Grieves

138in the to my knowledge I need to check it tomorrow to verify if it's not in the handbook it's a mistake it needs to be it's it's in there it's in there I thought it was so that they are aware of the way to go about it correct that's [Music] 25 just basic Administration 101 I don't know if when you get back to normal whatever normal is whatever it's to be I don't know if you can include that in your services little five or 10 minutes just educating the employees on the on the handbook I guess is we've we've tried several strategies over the years teachers don't want to read some days not just teachers some classified pup but we put it out there we have't sign that they've seen it and that's that helps

139us mitigate any kind of action but it's kind of like with parents sign student handbook we want to make sure they see it my kids got it at home we do the same thing with staff thank you all for your patience with this I know this is a lot all at once and it hopefully things won't pile up like this bre does anyone have anything else to discuss all right unless this meeting at I can't 74 the longest meeting I've been to