July 22, 2024 School Board Meeting

001Just let me know if I'm going too fast or slow down. I feel like, know that we've reached one like this. It's very clear to me, like, okay, this would be one that we need to pull out for discussion right? Would it be okay if we. Reviewed that 1st category. For our second category. Right policy parameters. Yeah. So you're saying, review the vision for education in the community. Okay, so. The aim of this section is to. Understand how the Board feels about our own community engagement. In terms of representing the community as a whole. Open communication at board meetings and throughout the district. Community engagement supported with resources, have we established a vision, and clearly that communicated that vision to our community. Do we. The vision to guide our decision, making. And do we use

002data and evidence. To see how we're doing against our own vision and. Do we refine the policy when necessary? So. I would love to start with a question that has the strongest disagree. 1st discussion. If that's okay. Cause. Most of these, it looks like 60% agree. 80% agree 80% agree. 80% agree. And then this one is is a big difference between the rest, which is 60, and even the 40% agree. There's no strongly agree as an I don't know. Also, Which actually, just as a question. I tried to keep this tool verbatim as the I didn't want to change it. But in the future would a neutral or unsure be effective, so that might be something, I would add. Next year. When we do this. I think the Board has come such a long way

003with community engagement, I mean. Laura and Elaine have brought back the donuts and discussions which is awesome, you know, later on the agenda we're talking. Our next agenda item is the Finance Committee, and I feel really proud of those initiatives and appreciate that those are really launching and Just as we reflect on last 2 years that seems really great to have those formalized structures in place, and I think in a year from now, when we review this, we're gonna be like, oh, wow! We've had really effective mechanisms for communication via these you know, venues for the last year. So. It's a little bit of looking ahead in there as well. My response is. Generally reflect that we haven't. Put some things in place yet, and I really feel like. Judging from. The feedback I get

004as a human being. That. We need to be better about communicating. So that's just general feedback that I get from the constituents. That's helpful. Okay, so. For this question. Specifically, the Board has reviewed, and if appropriate, the vision in accordance with policy. I do feel like this question. When I think about this question, I think about it as a great question for somebody like the Vsba to put towards boards across the State. I'd like to 1st ask, What do board members think? Our vision is? Because I think I have a very clear idea of what our vision is. But I would like to know if you feel like you know. What our vision is. Because, if not, that's data that I need to know a constituent. And I know what our ends policy is. But

005I don't know if that's the same as. Vision. Or not. So I sort of direct people to the ends policy on the website. But. I feel like. I may need to know more in constituents may need to know more. Yeah. Laura, do you have i i i have the same question. I mean, there's the mission. So, yeah, and I, and I. So I've just assumed it was the ends. Yeah. And I don't know. Probably correct. No, I don't think you are. It's to me it's the end policy. That's our mission. It's very clear it's very concise. And I think you know, I I speaking personally, when we have issues and discussions. That's the one statement that always seeps back into. My brain as we're talking is, how does this compare to. The end policy. Right?

006So I think, though, that maybe people outside of him know. That ends policy and vision. At the same thing, because a lot of people don't think in terms of ends, policy. Ambition. So they. I mean, if you're not in. Doing this kind of work. Do you know what I mean for starting to sit here and hearing the word ends, and having no idea was being discussed. And what does that mean? So there would be absolutely opportunity for clarity. We could make that part of the the education, and that could also be a topic at the donuts and discussions of Hey, we wanna talk to you about our ends policy. What does that mean? And then, you know, for your work is board. Members that the monitoring is the way you evaluate if the ends are

007being accomplished, and that evidence provided. Is what you look at for that. I think it's people really understanding. What what all of those monitoring things are for? What. The positive. 4. I think also we were all present for the policy governance training that I did in our 1st meeting day. Which, unfortunately, Chris wasn't here for. But I did get the chance to review that with him 2 weeks ago. Maybe being more clear instead of just saying like, this is our 1. 0 global ends policy. Because that was a policy training saying, this is our vision and and having that as an opportunity. To unite the Board and understanding. Right following election day. This is our vision as a district. So that would that do we think that would help? So with this the Board has

008reviewed, and if appropriate, the vision in accordance with policy. What's funny to me about this question is like. The policy is our vision. So they automatically have to be. Like, in accordance, yeah. So do we think. Yeah. No, no, I I mean it's it's splitting hairs. So the vision to me is the ends policy. And as the end is. Is the end statement, and we have any number of policies that we continually realign with that. So. I think it's important to remember that. Community members don't speak education at all, and they don't understand it, know it, and they shouldn't. So we need to meet people where they are. Think that point is so well taken that it's like. We are representatives of our community, and if we can't communicate back to them. What it is

009we're doing here. Then it's. It's not pointless, but it's I don't want people to feel like the board is like some special cabal. I want people to feel like it's your board. Yeah. I think, unpacking the ends in a donuts, and discussion and adult learning series would be great to just take the jargon out and to say, here's what. Here's how we're trying to support our students period, though, that any meetings that we have are not going to be attended by tons of people. And so we need to somehow. Communicate to all the people who vote that. This is what we believe. Do you think this would be a good topic for another paper article? Like what is the district's vision? And then citing the ends like. We're broader. Yeah. Yeah. So because there's like

010an vision. And then mission. So there is a lot of. So. I mean, maybe that's then the question is. Should our M's policy be where this mission statement is? That's kind of what I that is always mystifying. Or is this supposed? That's the mission of the district, not the board. So? Whose mission are we talking about? Is it. The board or the teacher. I thought they were, and I think I think they should be one in the same if they're different than we have. A big problem listed here different than the vision in our ends. Policies creates confusion. So I think you bring up an excellent point that, like we could. Modify our agenda to be more clear. Yeah. So maybe instead of having this mission written here, we could put our ends policy statement

011here, like the one global statement which reads, should I read it for us. Students successfully complete their education from the South Burlington School district, ready for their next step. They will show cultural and academic competence appropriate to grade and developmental capacity. All graduates will be prepared for college career or individually determines. Next steps. The ends will be met at a cost the community will support. So if that's the vision of. What we're trying to monitor with our policy and make sure our policy is doing. Maybe that's what should be. Constituency. After reading that. Oh, this is the mission. Great. Yeah. I I think. Yeah. Okay, so I'll make a note of that as something to. Tickets. Is that something? We would have to take formal action on change. The agendas. Okay. Okay. Any other. Pieces

012that we would like to bring up for discussion. Does this feel too stilted? I'm trying to make sure everybody feels comfortable. It's a board meeting. Chelsea. Okay? So this was the one question in this section that had a strong disagree. The rest is like general agreement. But there is still some disagree present in a lot of these questions. Is there another Or is there another statement that. We would like to talk about in this section. I'd like to just provide some general feedback, I think, you know, knowing that we're using disagree as an I don't know, and that 2 people of the 5 people on the board have said that they they don't have an understanding there. So I think, from my perspective, as ongoing education, that they're there are, you know, several board members

013who need kind of the understanding on how what our vision is. So the ends policy. And how monitoring drives that. So I think for me from an education lens, I'm seeing an opportunity to really clarify that with the board in our ongoing work together. And I also think From my perspective, a lot of. This I know has to do with also has to do with the communication, and I really feel like. That's where. I sort of don't know what's going to happen the coming year. I think there are things in place for the coming year, but up to now I feel like communication has been. A lacking point. So it would be helpful to clarify our communication plan as a board, and how we engage with the community. I just wanna make sure I'm I'm

014hearing like. This is the opportunity. To structure what we work on, and I think it goes beyond just writing. Other paper. Articles. Yeah. Because not everyone reads the other paper and. I don't think the other paper should be the only. Mouthpiece for the board. I think there should be. Engagement, and I think the. Conversation that we have and done discussion at the library or not. But. Please look at this, please. You know anything that we do, one on one just direct people is important. But I think as a body. We need to be a. Sure that we're doing. All we can. To communicate effectively to members of the community, especially as we enter into another budget season. And as. We had. Really of. Very primary education things ahead of us. I think it's super important.

015I think the mechanisms in place are board meetings, and you know they're all recorded as well. The other paper articles, the discussion community discussions, the adult learning series. It'll be the finance committee in the past front porch forum. In the past there was a board Facebook page, I've gotten a lot of feedback that social media from a school district that folks want to use more. I'm just bringing that up as something, you know, for discussion. I do agree. That is really important. I. Just given the level of. And I'm not saying that people come to our meetings. But you know there's always people out there who are making. Comments, just just to make them. Yeah, I, yeah, I know that. That's a tricky one. Because I don't think it should be a place where people

016can just go vomit. You know their their angst about. You know. Whatever. I'm not so sure I I can really. Deal with that. I I think I think it would be good. You. Just. You just keep a pure professional and. And you know people, I guess I I guess people are gonna make comments. I just don't think it should be a place where we're then gonna going to engage just purely. Here's information. And then. Maybe contact us privately. If you have questions I just don't want to get into like a back and forth. And may have gotten. I I don't find Facebook to be professional, like as a as a small business owner, I utilize social media as marketing and advertising. But I think I think social media is where people have every right to

017go and say whatever it is they'd like to say, and I just don't it like this is just my personal opinion. If the Board would like to look at having a Facebook page to share information, if it would be a great way to. To access more community members that I'm I'm all ears. I just think we would need to be. Really diligent about our. Our professional behavior. How we use that page. I don't want it to become an open meeting law violation. I don't want it to. Yeah. So you know, like, like, just like a monthly. like a quick paragraph from porch form. It's like all of our representatives do, and our senators. I know that. I I find legislate there a lot. I know a lot of people use that even more than. The

018other paper. I think a lot of people turn to front porch. Information, not just about lost hats, but actual information like, what do I do about flood relief? What do I do about. Legislatively, knowing. Where things stand and do. Is there a meeting coming up? What do I do about this? What do I do about that? That. Is very. I think it's a resource that a lot of people turn to. I know. I know that. Gosh, we are a social media, free household. We don't have Facebook. We don't have any. Social media and. My inclination is human being. Is to not have that be a new source. And not feed into that as a new source. Because I want. I don't think it's a reliable source, and. I think that people heard it in Facebook

019or saw it in Facebook. I think the reputation is that it might not be. Fully. Vetted and accurate, and. So we have to contend with. The reputation of Facebook as well as the reality. It's also a privately owned company. And so our we could build a whole following on Facebook. And just it could just disappear at any time so unlike Forum or the other paper where. Those aren't They're not just gonna disappear. You know what I mean. I like the idea of having the monthly. So there's 2 front porch Forum post a month that the Board can do with your account, and I like the idea of that being more formalized, and having maybe somebody in charge of that communication, whatever that is, and it could be as simple as. Quick updates, or where to

020find information to meetings. Hey? We have a discussion coming up. It's at the library at X time, or, hey? There's going, you know. Check out our new adult learning series. Yeah, go here. Well, I I think it's actually we have 2 postings per month, and we also have 2 calendar postings per month. Right. So I think that we could post about things like that. But it it also kind of. Melves nicely with the fact that we usually have 2 board meetings per month, and so we could talk about either. Having a front porch forum post a week in advance of our meeting, where we want to highlight for the community what we're going to be discussing and. What sort of information that they could find, or it could be the kind of thing where we.

021Share a posting, following a meeting to inform the community about what was decided. I'm not sure what would be the most effective, but it's we do have 2 postings a month. We typically have 2 meetings per month. So we could use that as a more formalized approach to communicate with the. So we we get. It sounds like we have 4. Well, I think 2 calendar. So like we can add different forms. Ca, community calendar twice a month for free finance committee and discussion. You want to collect community discussion just to make it with the Board. For example, I've used it in the past. To alert the community about the say for school task Force resolution at City Council, or I used it to put out a statement on behalf of the Board. So that's there's

022like 2 postings per month that can be. Lots of text for whatever we want to tell, and you can post links in there, too. So if we wanted to. Our agenda page, where folks can find. Alright. And then the and the monitored report that we're going to be reviewing, or something like that. So sounds like we could do like the so Lane and I. It's going to be once a month, so that that would be so that the the calendar meetings. What we're doing find. And then finance committee. Or when that. When that happens. And then. Maybe. I don't know. That's tricky, is it? Updates, you know what we talked about? I mean, I I often like oh, that's happened. So I don't. But you know that's something that. So. You know what we're going

023to be talking about, and then. I guess you could say what we're talking about. And then, after the next meeting, we review this and next meeting, we're doing this. We could do you know how I do. A weekly board updates email where I kind of highlight I try to. I try to. Foreshadow like this is what we're going to be discussing at the meeting either this week or next week. Here's the relevant data. Here's some background information. I could kind of make a version of that for the community that I put out twice a month where it's an update about. Here comes the meeting that like, here's this is when the meeting is. Here's where it is. How you could find it. Here's the information and the conversation. Topics will be discussed. So it could

024be like a community board update that I provide. Biweekly. And if you guys want to help me write it, that's fine. But if it's more just informational and not. To me. Information doesn't take very long to make, so I wouldn't. That would be fine. I would be happy to do that on behalf of the board. It's just. Here's the information I don't have, you know. Versus like a conversation topic, where I have to try to understand. The full boards opinion, and then write about that opinion that would take me quite a bit longer, and I don't think I could commit to doing that twice a month with all my other. Responsibilities. Yes. We could. I don't mean to add to your plate Tim as Kirk, but there are things like, if if you know we

025could. The Board could make the decision to you know, divvy up communication. So maybe some of that would be on the clerk of Hey, the clerk is gonna post the calendar, invites and work with the board to get what those are, or be in charge of the post, or something, just to We, you know, divide up the workload as an option. If you all wanted to explore that. Maybe what we do is we decide for a certain amount of time, like, let's say. 3 months, or 4 months. We're gonna utilize front porch forum, our 2 free postings to do community board updates. One week in advance of a meeting. Reminding the community when the meeting is where they can find the information and what we're going to be discussing. And then we'll add to an

026agenda in 4 months to review that community, outreach and see what we think, how it's going. If we want to make changes. Does that sound good. I'm connecting it back to the Sba. You know, I would say one of the 1st posts could be. You know. Wonder wonder what our mission is? Check out our ends, you know. Let's UN. Let's unpack the ends, which is what we're trying to achieve. Any other. This has been great discussion already. Anything else for this section that anyone feels strongly about, could we? So to that end, I mean, once we get. Tim's Educational Series video on our, you know the Board's mission on the ends. We could. Put that up on on front porch Forum. But my only comment on on the communication I have 2 comments is. 3.

027Actually, my brain is, is engaged. 1st I. I I am not a fan of. Trying to. Have us communicate via something like Facebook or whatnot, anything where there's a discussion board where it can be anonymous. And people are just like slamming on you. And this is an area where I think we struggled with the with the budget discussion this past year. We provided a lot of information out there was a tremendous amount of communication. What I don't think we as a board did very well, was Monitor, the social media that was out there. I think there was a lot of misinformation going around. There was a swell of emotion. And that was hard to be. I mean. I guess what I'm saying is. I would rather us monitor, or try to understand what the community

028is feeling through social media. But that's not our our primary way to communicate with them. You know I think we have very appropriate methods of communication right now, and. It's very open. It's very clear the rules are very clear. Anything else kind of sends us down a slippery slope right? But I I do feel that going into this next season, monitoring what the community is saying. Is really critical. And I think there again there was a lot out. There was a lot going on, and how we tackle that. It's going to be important as well. I think this is gonna come up on our finance. Yeah, yeah. So you're talking about the South Burlington community page. Like the the we're. Think. That's where I I was. I was checking. I didn't participate in discussion. I

029just wanted to know what. Yeah. And I'm not a big. I confess I am not anti social media, but I. I don't follow it at all, and that may be to my detriment to understand how the community and it was wasn't really conducive to. Softball, Conversation. So I never respond. I mean some of it. I can't. We can't fault people. I don't think all of it was malicious. I mean. Things were changing in the legislature, literally by the week which was changing our facts and figures. I mean, it was. It was a tough time to be like. I I think it would have been great if we had a mechanism in place. To be like. This is where you get the most accurate, and up to date information. And that's like a board meeting or

030website. Yeah, yeah. But It's not. It's not practice yet in our community, like people do still seek out Facebook and things like that. So. I do think the Finance Committee will address some of that that you're talking about. i i i think we need to be better at tailoring the message to the audience. I think we provided a tremendous amount of data. Lot of like blah blah blah blah blah blah blah! And that's what the community was hearing right. So it's 1 thing to provide stats. And this is this, and this is that it's another thing for us to be able to understand. You know the emotional aspect of that. What should the message be? Right? And in accordance with what we're trying to achieve. So again, I I feel that from a communication perspective.

031If you'd asked me 3 or 4 years ago as a community member, I'd say I have no idea what the ports doing or what they do, and part of that is on me as a as a. Community member to make that effort. We know that. 70% of our community probably won't, because just we are as of people. But Oh! Again. I I think we have very good avenues at this point. We just need to. We need to tighten them up, and we need to be very good about working them. So. It's just like, you know, I just think about how I run my classroom. And yeah, there's we we have. There's all kinds of information. But there's there has to be a 1 stop shopping. This is the most accurate. You know I have something

032that comes up. It's scheduled to come out. Every day. And that is the most up to date information. I just don't expect students to like search around, even though they could. Where do I go for the horse? Where do I go? You just go here, I get. We do gotta be the website. And so it's it's, you know. Go go to the website, email. One of us will tell you to go to the website. But I think. I think if we were all clear, like. Should just go to the website. Came with my knowledge accurate up to date information, I think that should I want it to be really easy to find at the website like front and center, because people don't want to search. Well, and if if it. You talk about something as

033emotional as the budget. If it seems like, it's difficult on the website to access the information you're looking for that's not helping anything. So and to that end, Tim, do we know, would your adult learning series live on our website like on our board page? Sure that's that's more nitty, gritty. We don't need to. I do. Wanna we have. We? I would like it. If this doesn't take up our whole retreat. Just be an important part of it. Is there any more in this creative vision for education in the community that. Anyone has more to say on before we move on to the next section. Said before, I watched a lot of of the previous boards and their meetings, and this is not a new issue. This is something that every board has struggled with.

034And if you watch the meetings, this is a challenge, right? So we are not. We are not breaking new ground here. Experienced of the process of familiarizing myself with the ends and understanding what it actually means of where it fits. So. Not new. Okay? Sorry I'm gonna move us on to established policy parameters. This section is intended. For us to. Well, let's just let's just read the individuals, and then we'll come back. So. 80% of it. Wow! Look at this, you guys. Our policies clearly describe the Board's intent and leave it awesome. We seem to be innovative about that. So that's great to me that says we're understanding, monitoring. This one, I would say. If you did not click strongly. Agree if you click because you're not sure what the Federal and State requirements are.

035But you feel from monitoring reports that it's clear. So maybe what I see from this, even though it's like a hundred percent agreement is, how do board members check our State and Federal requirements? So. Let me just make a note of that. I think a lot of it has been Vsba stuff. And, Laura, I've appreciated you bringing back the Sba Updates. And I think, having that standing agenda item is really helpful. Yeah. Because they also cover budget updates. Right? So, Tim, but from a board members perspective, I think it's Because they're on the House to make it accessible. Yeah, they're right in there with the Federal and State policy. Great to see. Maybe for all the policy development process. Tap, violet. This one is interesting to me. Okay. I know the questions. I'd like to

036discuss what I but I'd like to open it up to. The group first.st Where would you like to focus our energy. I just have one general comment as I answered the questions here. I probably put in. You know, one or 2 strongly agrees, and mostly agrees. I think the issue we face as community members is that. Education policy is extremely complex. Law is extremely complex, even understanding our own. Local policies is complex. I mean, there are any number of them. And if you were to ask me what is policy? H. 2, and this and that, I would struggle. So you know, I kind of rely on. Hey? This is the calendar. This is the policy we're looking at at that point in time I engage with it, and try to understand it as best I

037can, and prep. But again, this is. You know I I. From an overall process perspective. I'm very comfortable with how we handle it. It's just there are so many policies and Violet. I'm not sure how you handle it all. But it's a big part of my work is, I take, you know, policy is something that in my role I have to ensure compliance. Right? And it's a big. I spend a lot of time reading and it's funny that you say that I had the same reflection. I had a meeting with State Senator RAM Hinsdale last week, and she said, Wow, I'm you know you. You really are up on the policy. And I said, You know, we've really had to be this past year in a way like unlike any other year, with the Budget

038pieces in particular, and even tracking committees. So I think the Board has had a lot of growth. In the past year on the policies, and certainly the legislative updates have been ramped up in the Sba Vermont Superintendents Association. We've all been paying more attention to those. That's I would call that a 1 of the biggest operational changes in the lab. You know. Part of this is like reflection work. So for me, I think that's been. Area of growth for all of us, and I think we'll continue to need to. Follow policy closely from a state level. Great. Do you want me to just focus where we discuss or and then, if I don't cover what you'd like to talk about. Speak up! Does that work. Tim, do you have more to say. I I struggle

039with it. Is not my. Daily work. And and so when the meeting rolls around, it's I am pouring over the words, and such so. This. This was an interesting set of questions to answer. I would imagine in this 1st one the disagree comes from being unsure, what the board's vision is based on our previous conversation, but. Is, that. That's probably. Okay, we've got an action step from that is, communicate with the board and the community and layman terms. What the vision is. Any of them that have like strong agreement. We're just gonna move on. I think we're we're good. Here. Celebrate the successes too. Okay, so our policies identify measurable outcomes or objectives where appropriate, and I think where appropriate. Here is. Pretty. Language in this question. But we see 40 disagreement. Which we know

040we're also using as like an unsure. Is this something we like to discuss now or. So again, I will comment on this. I think I probably answered this as an agree, and not a strongly agree, only because of my lack of when we get into things like reviewing. The curriculum standards or progress of students and stuff. I'm not a statistician. So I believe there are definitely measurable outcomes. But I'm not comfortable enough to look at them and say, Yeah, that's spot on, right, you know. So as a community member. It gets exposed to it a lot just the 1st time I see the agenda, you know. I I believe that it's there. It's a matter of. Do I do? I want to spend 8 h trying to dig into the stats and all of that. So

041yeah, there, we definitely have measurable outcomes. I'm not expert enough to say every time if we're right on board, but I I appreciate all the guidance and. Having everybody come up and explain it, and that's very, very helpful. So. I read this as The Board meeting information that. You know, we really need to drive things into our work calendar and look at, you know. Ask ourselves the question, where does this fit in monitoring, and I think that confusion can sometimes be widened when we're having one offs, and when we're not saying, Yep, this is in this monitoring report and being really clear that those are how we are measuring outcomes. Because there is alignment between the monitoring reports and the policies. And so I think that's the biggest opportunity for continued understanding here. I think

042also, the question is like, are we talking about. Our policy governance policies. Are we talking about district policies like? I don't think the question necessarily is very clear, either, and I think it's in some ways it's both. But. Does anyone else want to comment on this before we move on. In general about whether we're coming. Policies or monitoring reports. I know that. There is a technical. Data component. I I know that I have to know. But there's also I want also a. Okay. Water it down and cut the chase component. So there's component, which is important. And there's also, like the overarching. Yes. This is about. This is what this shows, so that it's. So I'm just thinking about expanding the board and everyone sort of understanding. That there's these are the details, and they're

043important. This is the overarching. Thing as well, so that I have to ferret that out from the details. Yeah. Okay. This one. I'm glad to see this. A stakeholder. Representatives, school board, senior leadership district staff school staff employee organizations, parents, community advocates and students play a meaningful role in the policy development process. Would we like to discuss this, or. I feel like a lot of people feel like policies are done to them. A lot of students feel like policies are done. That's just what the policy is. But. Don't feel like. They are. Are part of the policy. I don't know. I know not everybody can be. It's not cool by the same time. I want their feel like this is their school. This is their school district. We. Are here for them. Yeah, if I

044think about our. One of the equity policies. I don't remember the name off the top of my head, but students and Mr. Ochirs And I think a staff member from the High School as well, presented this policy to the School Board, and we're the ones who adopted it and reviewed it. But it was created by students, staff, parents, community members. So I see that as. A meaningful role in the policy development process. And then I think there are policies where it's if it's like State or Federal requirement, there's not opportunity for for feedback, because it's right. So that's sort of my feeling on this question. But. Anyone else. I think. You know, we've done a lot of discussion. We've had a lot of discussion about policies being last reviewed more than a decade ago, and

045this year, with the policies that I've brought to the board, 3 of them have been regardless by Act 20 29, right? So in compliance there, and those we we used so that the the Vspa. Prepares a model policy for a lot of the required statements, and they do a nice job of attending to the legal requirements. So that is a piece here which is pretty finite, and and it's not negotiable. But what we did with those and with the trans. And non-binary policy is. Well, I'll speak to the safety ones. We work with. Our district crisis team, which has about 20. 25 people on it, and we went through multiple rounds of revisions, basing it on the model policies. We also looked at other districts, policies, and so that felt like a really comprehensive process

046that had significant engagement. And then we, of course, read it 3 times in the meetings. With the transgender and non-binary. The Vsba didn't have a a policy on hand. And part of that is that same with the electronic communications policy. There's it's ever changing so quickly that those are gonna be policies. The board needs to update more often. And yet they're important to have in place, because it's protecting our students and staff. So adding those in I think you know, we saw incredible engagement with the trans and non binary policy, multiple rounds of feedback and modifications. And then, you know, finally, it going to legal. And what does legal? Do you know they they have to strike some of the pieces that You know, stakeholders felt were important, and I think, for me, it's clarity

047on understanding that there are legal components to these. We want feedback. And if it can't be integrated, it's because of typically the reason it can't be integrated or included is because of. Loss. And so that's the. You know, Elaine, you've done a lot of talking about today that It's sort of a poll, right? I mean, the Board has to have detailed information to really ensure that monitoring is happening appropriately. And you know, how do we convey that to the community in a different way? I see this the balance here, too, of attending to law and getting input so as we continue to monitor policies or anything that I bring forward. To you. It's going to be heavy on the engagement and attending to the law. The wording of the cluster, because I think the understanding

048of policy. Beyond. This table and us is. Different than. There's policy, and there's policy. You know what I mean like, I'm glad I met with Kathy. Talk about tracking, because at the discussion I was like, I don't really understand this. And there was a really enlightening discussion. But I feel like. Not. Everybody can go over coffee and talk with. Kathy for 2 h. And. 2 people. That's policy. But it's not. Like, we had this policy. Legally. And we have to, you know, strike this policy, and it has to be. Such that I so I don't really understand like what. Policy means. Yeah, I think it's also worth remembering that this is made by the Dsp, so it's not with South Burlington district in mind. It's meant to be a tool for all districts to use. All

049of whom don't use policy governance as a model. Wild world out there monitoring policies. And. I think we're we're totally okay with that. But I also think there's other. People understand this policy. Which is. More specific to South Burlington, are you? Do you think you're talking about like operational policy, which is not really the boards? It's not the boards. All I know is a tracking thing we all talked about here. And Gracie had input on that. So I I just needed to understand it. But I think that's. Also. Community. People need to understand, too, like that. Really affects. Their kids and. What happens in our school buildings, and I don't know if it's operational or not. But I feel like we need to understand. What the policy, even though, is not the policy capital. P

050is the. South Burlington Policy. And how it affects internal processes, Yup and frameworks, how how the policy is operationalized, and I know that we can't always make those decisions. But I feel like we need to understand. As so we can communicate to students and parents. What? Those lower case policies are, I think, what I hear you saying is. As a School board member. You are in part responsible for policies that greatly have impact on operations, and you'd like to have a broader understanding of how the policies that you help. Either monitor upholder right? Impact operations. I don't want to say like, that's operations. This is policy and nip. Between me, cause there is this. Weird gray area. Well, I think I think part of it is like. How it impacts operations is up to our

051superintendent and district staff to like implement. The policies want to have the understanding. And I think there's I think there's room and. Yeah, I think when we monitoring, if ever a board member wants to know more, I will always, as I did in this case, make the opportunity for that to happen. And I think when it comes to community members, it isn't the board's onus to the expert, but to direct them to. So you know what reach out to your child's principal reach out to you know the math Coordinator. At least had a handle on it. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I think that's important. The listening sessions will be. We just mostly listening and directing people to to the right, connecting them for. We can't speak. No, it's it's it's impossible. And well, that's 1 of

052the reasons we have Vsba members because they're on the floor. And then they're asking us, do you want us to support like any kind of policy? Right? I don't know, but I trust the people know I would also caution against giving the appearance of the community that you have, like the power to direct some of this, because we. And I think that that is, that's another thing. We could. Dispel that this, you know. Totally. Yeah. Okay. It is 1013. So let's try to move through like, maybe with some of this. Let's. Figure out what the discussion topic needs to be and then make a plan to discuss it. Does that sound good. Okay, I just wanna make one quick note here is that I I do not. I'm not aware of a policy review protocol

053that we have in place. I'm aware of a monitoring report like we monitor the data of our policies, but I don't. The fact that we have policies that are 10 years old and haven't been reviewed, I think, is. We would. I view it as the policies reviewed when we do the monitoring report. And if there's and if there's updating that needs to happen. That's the time. So we're looking at policy. And we're saying up, you know, which we review annually. And then they're updated. The other piece is a lot of this falls on me right like when we Tim Jarvis and I introduced to financial policies to align with Ae updates, right? So a lot of the pieces that if they're legal requirements that is on. Me to bring forward to the board. And we

054get those updates through. You know the Ae. And and our professional organizations. But I very much see when When you all are monitoring the policies annually, that there are updates. You know that that can be discussed at that time. Do. I don't know if I think that's the best time for us, because. Let me explain. We have a monitoring report that needs to be reviewed and approved. To move like I think the audit is actually a pretty simple one, because that one's in really good shape. But. As an example. I don't know if, when we're reviewing the data, that's the best time to say, like, maybe we should change this policy, because I don't love the idea that policy can be changed, based on data that we do or don't like. Does that make sense

055like? Oh, yes, sorry. I'm in it as a you review the policy, and you might say, Hmm. We need to update X or y, and it's not a formal process. As you said, it's but it is. Linked, I think. Yeah, I just wonder if. It would be a good idea to have some. Separate Review, Process. That relates to policy outside of monitoring. So that it's a more unbiased look at the policy. Does that make sense. Develop a little bit more comprehensive. Bird's eye view of the policies, because you can go to the website and you can see. And and make sure we're distinguishing between policy and procedure. You know, here's policy, d. 1, 3, but would be nice on the website potentially is to have a column that says, last reviewed and approved, and then

056a brief summary of what this policy covers. So even for the community, that may be very helpful. So you can last. And then, you know, as a matter of an agenda, once every. Am I turned off, or something? Am I just not speaking loudly enough? Typically, I speak very loudly. Okay, sure. Yeah, I'd sing, but then everybody would tune out. And and perhaps on. Quarterly basis and an agenda item, we take a look at that. That that overview that bird's eye view and decide if there are particular policies outside of what we do from a monitoring perspective. We want to take a look at and address. Is that something you want? Is that something that the Board wants to develop? And or is that something that you'd like me to post it to the website,

057or how we want to handle that. That that may be. Something to do. But that would give us done a quick sheet of what these are. And help us maybe decide if we want to review some of the older ones, because I I assume the older ones are not that critical. Not that they're not critical, but you know they don't get the oxygen in the room that a lot of. Okay, anything else about this section. For now. Why don't we take a 5 min break? We'll come back and finish this, and then. Make sure we're on tracking on time. Does that sound good, so we'll take a 5 min break. I'm back at 1020, let's say 24, so I'm sure it's going to be 19. So we'll just cut the sound for this, folks. Internal controls to

058protect public funds. Strong agreement. Quarterly. That's. Great. I agree with that. Seems like a pretty factual question. Anything in budget for this review that we think is important to discuss, knowing that we're gonna discuss a finance committee in a little bit. Which relates back to Budget. I read this as the. I don't knows as a new Board members who like haven't gotten to the point where you're reviewing. You know, every single line, and understanding what it means on like the Ap. Orders. Right? Things like that, or, you know, have significant familiarity with some of the financial reports, and I think that comes with time. It's don't know where to fire by it yet. Alright. Then I'm gonna move us along to monitor progress toward the vision. Assure accountability for results. Interesting that this I feel

059like this could have followed the 1st section with vision. But Okay. Yeah, 100% agreement. Here. Our district has a policy review place. So again, I'm seeing. We need to at least have a conversation about what our policy review looks like. Strategic plan, with benchmarks for progress. I'm thinking. Here again is Board members. Not being familiar with this. So this is a good opportunity for us to make sure we cover this. Agreement. Ask is at each morning meeting of the Board. I don't think we need to have discussion about this. Just let me know I'm just gonna make decisions for us as a group. And please just speak up if you. Want want to say something. Okay, so like this one, this is our 1st strongly disagree. So when monitoring progress toward the vision, the board

060receives data from other districts that are similar to ours. In order to compare progress. In general, it's it's not strong agreement. So I feel like this question. But it also feels like a pretty easy change. It seems like the board would like to see. Some. Neighboring district data. When we're reviewing our own data. And and I mean, I guess it depends upon what we're viewing as well. If it's appropriate to look at, you know neighboring districts and see where they're at. Just depending on on the topic. So. It would be interesting. To see. I I. I don't know how much it would change what we do, but Again, just to try to get a comprehensive. Perspective of how we, as a. A district, are. You know, marching toward our ends. If you look at other

061ends, policies. They're very similar to ours, right? Everybody sort of has the same end. So. How are we comparing and and Chitten is, of course, a very, you know. Populated area. And how are we doing? We are one of the bigger districts. So. I think Laura provides a lot of this in her Vsva updates of comparative. Data. Remember, because it's toward the vision, not a monitoring report which I think there's distinction that's necessary from how I'm reading it. And I think during the budget process is where operationally we'll provide some information about other districts. But in general. That is not part of our monitoring, but I think it is. Work that the Board does with your connections with Vsba, related to. The vision specifically. So. You know the the big work, but not the policies.

062Representatives from all over the State. And they're all giving their collective. Info, to. Suslowskams, then. Of school boards across the. State, so on. I do think it would help the vision. Compares to be more. Okay. When monitoring progress division. The Board examines district data by gender race and socioeconomic status to measure the success of all students. More than half agreement would we say that this is again, I think the word vision here is the so I know in our, in our monitoring reports, when it's appropriate. We do see this data broken out. Do we need to have discussion about this. Got a workbook is on the website, too. So all of this information is in that. And we're gonna. One of my Moonlighting projects is to do the report with my husband. Faster in Excel

063than me this summer, so we'll be chipping away on that. The last bit of data the Vtc Cap data which is embargoed will be released shortly. So, but you'll see again the usually about a 70 page data workbook that's produced annually broken down by these categories. So that'll be updated. The last few years are on. The website for you all to check out. Beautiful. This, I think you're talking about the data workbook. I just made a note to make that more clear and available for board and community. So I think this would be resolved with that. Sound, good. Timely communications on accountability of system. I see this as the monitoring reports Do we think that the disagreement here is. Unclear, or. Actual disagreement. We have 80% agree. So I think. For time. We're gonna move

064on. But I would love any at following this. I would love any feedback and any continued discussion that's important to board members, so that I can add it to agenda discussions as needed that sound good. Okay. So moving on to effective and ethical operations. Agreement. This, I feel like the sticking point. Here is policy review. So not that we're not Just reviewing it. So we've we've talked about this, and we'll address that. Sound, good. Code of ethics, outlines, expectations, and. Unsure. Okay. So I'll just highlight that as something for us should be shared with board members. Discussed and adopted operating protocols for us. This would be our policy under governance policies. So. Just making sure, I think, an annual policy training election day is a really important part of. Getting the board on. The same

065page. And I would love to talk about. I have not read this book cover to cover, but one piece in this governance core book is the 100 days of a new board member. And I'm like all about that. And as we're gonna be having an expanded board, this is a discussion. I'd love to have. Making sure that we are. We have a really good protocol in place for onboarding new members, getting everybody on the same page. A retreat in July, I think, is always going to be really important. I think we should put that policy review in our July retreat. I think that would be a really effective standing retreat agenda item, because we're not bogged down, you know. If we look at the monitoring section of the Board plan. We get pretty heavy. Budgets

066quickly, and I like the idea of having the time it'll take for that conversation to just do that in the retreat. Yeah, that's great. Okay. Take a look at this one. Discuss an adopted operating protocol or governance. Percent. Great. Love, this. Strongly agree. That's great. Adheres to open meeting, carefully follow statutory guidelines for executive session. We have strong agreement. We? I feel like as a board. We're always trying to follow open meeting law. In fact, having this retreat as an open meeting is an effort to do that, although. Having. I just met with a bunch of chairs from around the State on Friday, and. Like unanimously. They all hold their retreats, not in an open meeting, because they're not discussing board business. They're working on building off site. Yes, that was the other thing, they

067said. Don't have it, cause it feels too retreat next year. Better. So. That might be a really good. Brea said to me, Oh, we picked, we're going. Yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah. Yeah, that is to kind of the recommendation to go. Remit glad to see that. Information needed to make decisions, understand. We have pretty strong agreement here, but also, I think, Elaine's point understanding. How the policies that we implement advise monitor. Impact operations could be a helpful lens. How we're doing our work. Strongly disagree that board meetings are efficient, and generally last no more than 2 h, so I feel like this is a constant work in progress. I think this retreat is, gonna be helpful to that end of clarifying. What are we doing for work? Not adding too many extraneous things to board meetings. I'm

068I'm I'm grateful for this. Feedback, and hopefully, next year will look better, and I think, like call for the. For the orders of the day needs to be a refrain like, if an agenda item is going way off. Yeah, we have to table it because we gotta move on because people are tuning into certain things. Yeah. Some. I don't know. I mean. I guess any of us can call for the orders of the day. I I agree, Lauren, it is. The. De facto agenda setter for this group. I am trying to look and. Pull things off that don't need to be on the agenda. One thing we pulled off was the OP. Articles, and I. Don't know if that was such a good idea, because I think there's a lot of chatter in our inboxes,

069a lot of emails. And so when I say, Hey, sign up for a month with a topic, I think it's getting kind of like. Drowned out with other stuff, so it might be important, for, like once a quarter, we set 4 articles, or or like the whole board we set like, who's gonna have what article? And then, after we conclude that 5 month period, we have it. So it's 1 agenda item. And we're setting the topics that might not work. Sometimes topics come up where we're like. Actually, can this be the other paper article? But. This is. We can deal with this later. Grateful for this feedback gonna continue to work on this and make it better. Board members participate in board development activities annually. So that would be like this retreat or the policy

070governance training. The Sba Webinars. Looking at the resources. Good agreement here. Okay, anything on this section that anyone wants to talk about before. Can move us on to the next section, or this is the end. This end of the whole thing. We did it. Okay. So, having looked at this, if we can conclude this part of the conversation early, I think that would. Benefit. But I just want to kind of review what I've gotten from this. And if I'm missing anything, please let me know cause I'm gonna make some sort of plan based on this discussion. So we need to clarify our communication plan and our community engagement around our communication. We'd like to explore the idea of using front porch forum or 2 postings per month. As an update like a community board updates

071where I will post something a week in advance of our meeting. Reminding community of when, where, what the documents are, what the topics we're gonna discuss. And perhaps like. In some part of that can be a little blurb about like, hey, are you curious what our vision is? This is what our vision is something like that. It seems like there's some confusion for the Board about how board members check State and Federal re requirements which the Sba is a big part of that, but clarifying that for the team might be helpful, and we need a bird's eye view comprehensive. Look at our district policies and should explore, adding a last review, and approved. Column, so that community members know when we've last reviewed or approved, and have some sort of little synopsis or summary of

072what policies. We wanna look at having a Quarterly review like. Quarterly Review of our Policies process some standardized way of. Looking at policies just stand alone, without any sort of. Extraneous chatter. About why that policy so important? We wanna highlight or make more available the data workbook for the board as well as the community, so that people know where to seek. Back or seek data about our. District year, over year. And then Making sure board members know what our code of ethics and board policies are, where to find them and how to adhere to them. That's what I've gotten from this. Generally I will make a note board meetings more efficient, and within 2 to 3 h. Excuse me, is there anything else from this survey that you'd like to highlight or see us along with.

073I know this is a constant from mine, but. I really think. Somehow translatable, so that. That some of these suggestions, like the policy. Go a long way to that, but I want people to be able to say, Oh. Your end. Penalty is really your vision and your mission. That. That there's an understanding of. The website and finding what you want. Really. The easier. For some people great. I totally agree. Like front and center. Yeah. If if our community doesn't understand what we're doing here, then we're not doing our job. So that's pretty important. Okay. Anything else from the survey. Thank you so much for taking the time to do it. I intend to. Hopefully be able to look at this as a year over year comparison next year, so that we can see if we're

074progressing and also, maybe in the future I'd love to hear if. This tool, if we feel like this tool is a good overview of what we need to be looking at as a board. I thought it was a good jumping off point, especially since. I've not had a retreat the entire time I've been on the board. So this was like a good starting place. And I made the note that next year, when we complete this there will be a neutral or unsure category so that you don't have to click disagree just because you don't. Not like this, though you know what I'm saying like we did a They've they've been. Like facilitated trainings on a specific topic like policy review. I feel like this, retreat is the boards opportunity to look at our work, plan

075to assess how we're working as a team, build a plan moving forward, make sure that we're all feeling like we're doing. We know what work we're doing, how we're doing it and how we're gonna check to make sure we're doing it. So. That's what I mean. I you're right. We have had Understood. Just just yeah. Thanks. Okay, anything else. Before we move on to a different discussion. Item. The next thing we have warned, and I do think it's an important thing we spend time considering is the Finance Committee. I just have one question, which is, does it make more sense? Following the conversation, we just had to look at our work plan and make sure that. This looks good to us, this calendar. Before we move on to the Finance Committee discussion? Or would we

076prefer to go to Finance Committee first? st You'd rather go to finance. Alright. I'm going to stop sharing my screen. Okay, so. Have. I do board members know what the Finance committee charge is. If I. Have I shared that with you? I can't remember if I've shared the document with you or not. Chris did. Have some ideas and comments that I have not had a chance to review prior to just now. But if I could just kind of introduce the idea to you, the idea is that the Board stand up. A finance committee whose charge will be. To. Develop a strategy. They'll they'll learn about the budget. And then they'll develop a strategy to share the budget details with the community. To listen to the community about the budget and report back to the board.

077What Budget feedback there is, and to advocate with the State on behalf of South Burlington, about. How. The legislation is affecting us as a community. Then, Violet, jump in. If you feel like I'm missing anything. So I, in partnership with Violet and Chris, have. Drafted a South Burlington School District Mission and Duties page. To sort of clarify what this committee's charge would be. How it would be run and what the purpose is. And so I'm seeking feedback from you, and we can talk about this. I think we should talk about this In an open meeting where Chris is involved. Chris has volunteered and expressed interest to chair this committee, and I think he would be fantastic at that. And I think, in looking at this team and what we have the bandwidth for I think

078that would be a great use of Chris's skills. But so I'm just gonna share this document. With you all. And I apologize. It might take me a minute for me to jump in while you're so there! So you know this is an awesome volunteer opportunity. And we really wanna get engagement. So engaging the community and having committee members who have all diverse perspectives engaging with their constituents. So. We're going to be accepting applications for this 7 to 9 person committee. That's a standard committee size that the city uses. We used a template similar to theirs to to build our charge. So the application deadline is going to be August 6th for those who are interested in participating, and I'll just kind of read through what we're gonna be sharing out. So this is something we

079should absolutely put out on. Front porch Forum. We can do that from a district level, and certainly I'd recommend the Board do it. The South Burlington School district seeks dedicated volunteers for its finance committee. We value diverse viewpoints and perspectives from our communities. So the duties would include educate the community about the education funding formula, school budgets and tax implications, advocate for South Burlington to the legislature provide feedback opportunities for community members share information about the board, approved Budget, and we are looking for residents who are able to. So this is what we what do we signing up for. To attend monthly meetings during the school year, participate in additional meetings and community forum. So that means, you know, maybe asynchronously go out on on their own, and, you know, engage with their own community

080groups, engage in advocacy and community outreach beyond meeting times, willingly engage in conversations about student services and priorities. Desire to learn about school funding and state learning standards. Commit to support the school district's mission. Interviews are going to be conducted in our open session of the August 7th School Board Meeting. There's a real push to get this committee propped up and developed because we have, we need to start sharing as soon as possible about what is happening. And really, you know, the grim outlook of what we're going to have for next year budget wise. So you know, make a difference in our school community, visit our website or contact the South Burlington School. District School Board for more details. So I think we should just make sure, it says, is that the posting about the

081community, the committee to the community. Is that what you just read? This would be? It's it's kind of the the commercial, if you will. It's the advertisement. For the committee, so I think the only modification there is it. It should just say we need to make sure we get the. You know, we'll get the information up on the website. And then, rather than saying contact the school district for more details, I think it should be. Perhaps I'm certainly happy to support folks in this, too. I just it's a little more nebulous if we take school district. So you know. To your points. In the Vsba survey results. Talking to the community, I think. Part. A part of this committee's role is that robust community engagement on behalf of the Board, so that we can send

082out like more feelers and get a consolidated advice back to the Board. You know they would not be. Bound by open meeting law, and so that they would have more flexibility, and how to meet, when to meet, how quickly to meet. My hope is that it would be. 7 to 9 members, with very diverse perspectives about the budget. So that we, as a board, are getting the best informed opinion. And not that the committee will be the only way that we hear about the budget clearly. But more. Formalized way for the Board to hear from the community about the budget. That would be one major piece In this committee draft. I floated out. The idea. That this committee should be something we look to. Stand up every summer, so, like August, we. Put out this

083ad, we build the committee. And then let them do their work, and then we dissolve it. After the budget has been passed in the spring, and have a review process of if the committee worked well and was what the Board needed in terms of community engagement and budget information, sharing and advocacy. I just think as like a newer board. I would like for us to have the opportunity to workshop how the committee works best for what our needs are as a board, and then and review it in cycles. So I think also just in terms of equity and and hearing from many people. If we always have the same people on the committee, I think it could start to have like a. I just I don't want it to be like a click where it's

084like, oh, well, I'm a no voter for the school budget, so I can't be on that committee, because it's obviously all. Yes, I don't want that to happen. So I think if we. If we re. Assess the committee every year. That would be a good way to prevent that from happening it, and really keep it a. A clear. Full perspective of our community, or meant to be representative of our full community. What do you guys think about that. Yeah, I I think this is a great idea. I was thinking about this the other day, and looking at the agenda, and. I have to say. Going into this budget season is while it's already pointed out, it's going to be touch and go right. We we know where we're at from a funding perspective. I also,

085I'm just gonna shout out to Tim over there, and all of the work he did, and I will say that. I feel a lot fell to his plate because we didn't have this committee in place, and he was doing a lot of extra communication, a lot of extra work, a lot of handling of emails when. He's already got enough to do, and this would be something that I think the board. Could take on and ensure you know. So we're we're sort of providing some interference there to make sure that the staff can do what they need to do. Where they are by ears of communication and messaging with the community and the feedback. So. We did talk about having a district staff member like Tim on not necessarily on the committee, but being invited to

086the meetings to help educate the committee. On the budget pieces so that they're able to go out in their. Whatever capacities that they develop. To share budget information with the community so that they can get sort of direct answers to the questions they have. Again, trying to prevent. Misinformation being spread due to confusion, and I mean to your I think this got brought up so many times in our last budget cycle how complex the education funding formula is. And so part of this committee would also be to try to. Simply explain as well as possible how the education funding formula affects South Burlington to our. Community members. Some ways I feel like. It's practice for us which is really, really important. Cause we can't. We can't. Be able to send everybody well, but we need

087to be trying to listen to everybody, and it becomes complicated if. More than 2 of us try to go out in the community and do something. And I also think. To some extent, sometimes. It can feel a little muddy for a community member to have a 1 on one discussion with a board member and feel like that board member is now responsible for representing that one perspective, you know. So I feel like it's a little cleaner for the Board to have this committee as a mechanism, to hear from constituents in a more. I'm not trying to like. Add. Steps between the communication, but make it more like. I think it would help board members feel clearer. This is what the committee's feedback is. This is what my individual feedback of constituents is. This is what

088my email says. This is what public comment that is said to the board is, and it I think it just gives us a little bit more. A broader view of all of the perspectives that we're trying to hear, and. The question is, do you want to. Say, in the application process somewhere. And I don't know if we want to say this or not. That this isn't a 1 off, really, that this is like. An ongoing thing. So that they. So that people understand that this is just. Maybe a. Because we're facing this year, you're saying that this is potentially something we would like to employ every year forever into. Yeah, well, and I think that's an opportunity. I think that's why it's important in the beginning of this committee for us to consider this being

089an annual. We charge it, and we dissolve it, charge it and dissolve it, so that we have an opportunity as a board to see. Is this effective? What changes? What can we learn in this year and make changes so that it's more effective in the future? What what unforeseen hurdles did we face that we need to address in our our next. So a little bit, I think it should be a 1 off. I also think it makes the commitment a little bit easier. So you're not joining the committee for 2 or 3 budget cycles. I want them to know that right? That. Maybe their background. I don't know if we say this or not that their responsibility is just for this year. Yeah, but. But they're welcome to apply for future years if they like

090the work and want to keep volunteering. But I also think it's important for us to. Like. I even think about this as a board member. I want to continue serving because I feel like I finally got the training and the experience to be effective in this role. But I don't think I should sit at this table forever like I like. I think there should be a period where it's time to let a new voice come and sit here, and I think this committee could be that. Too, where it's like 1st year you're doing it. You're learning about how to. Do this committee work, and then the second year you apply, you're still on the you are on the committee again, and you feel a little bit more like you know what you're doing. But eventually

091we need to make space for another voice, too, like it shouldn't just always be the same people. All the time, so. Decide. And I think it would be organic in the application process. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. My question is, if we are expecting people to apply August 6, th that seems like a very narrow window to me, considering it's summertime, and the news would get out relatively. So. Yeah, I think we were thinking we could post this like, add, the school district has some like, add mechanisms. I could post it on for porch forums. Hopefully, folks would see about it. I hear the thought, though, that it's like the best visibility would be added. An open board meeting. I think we were looking at. There was a timeline where. There was a crunch, and

092I can't remember what the deadline was that was creating the crunch. It was like something about. An opportunity for the community. And could we stay? I mean, I guess my question is, can we stand up the committee and then bring members on. Not all at once, I mean, do we have to have all committee members there at once? I only asked that because again, some people are not going to. They're going to be really busy and say, I can't do it. But you know, 2 or 3 weeks from now, when things come down a little bit. They're like, Yeah, maybe I want to. August 7, th and then finalize it, either the second of August or the 1st meeting in September. The thing I remember one of the things that we need to be thoughtful

093of is we'll be conducting the interviews for the committee and open session, and we'll need to go to executive session to make a decision about who will be on the committee, and we need to make sure we're not. Packing a board meeting that's already full with. And like, I mean, this is important. But to the point of trying to keep meetings to 2 or 3 HI imagine. You know, if we're trying to get 7 to 9 people, that's at least 7 to 9 candidates that we would interview. We have to. There's an interview. Pro. Okay? Because when we did, the the 5th grade committee. We did not do any of this. People just. We did. Yeah, this I. It's not. We don't need to do interviews for this, that is not a requirement. I? Okay, I

094think it would be for a board member, of course, but not a requirement for the committee. Okay, I thought we had talked about. But maybe that will break down a barrier like if somebody is really really feeling not good about doing an interview and open session. Then. They would maybe not want to be on the committee. But if they if that's not a part of the getting onto the committee process. Then maybe that will. Entice more people to do that like we I I think the you know, one of the you know Chris's idea to do the interview, and I think he was trying to make it a more transparent process. But it's I. Just so. I'm happy to support either way. I just want you to know it's not some kind of there's no.

095Something that says it's required. I know we want to be like to do the interviews in open session. But if we have, you know 2 people from the Board. Speak one on one with people or whatnot, or do some follow up? I think that may be a more effective use of time rather than take open. I I would like to see, you know. I mean, you may get in resumes, and you're like. Oh, my God, this is this person is great, you know, and then others you may want to follow up with, to make sure they're comfortable with your commitments and stuff like that, right? To make sure everybody's aware we're doing right. Will not be held to open meeting law, because it will only have one board member on it, which is Chris. I

096think what is important to me is making sure that. We have diverse perspectives on the committee like, I really don't think this committee will be effective with our community if it's just. All people who just blindly vote. Yes, for the budget every year or no. Or or no right I wanted. I think I think it would be the strongest committee. If it's a mix of the 2, I I mean, that's that is our community. We're not all yes or all no. And so it's just important to me in building this committee that there is some. Mechanism to make sure that we have. Perspectives from both ends of the up from all parts of the spectrum. But I'm sorry, so Chris will be the only board member on this. Well, he would. The idea is that

097he could share this committee and and the committee. He would report back to the Board what the committee is doing in their progress. That that's not to say that you couldn't ask, because I would be more of an. Yeah, and having as a board member. But I I don't want to run into open meeting law. I like the idea of you being on it as a vice chair, and then that way, if one of you has a commitment or an obligation, we can carry the word. Both of us there, because Brian could often get there earlier than I could, and then. People are cookies. Yeah. And I mean, if either of you want, I have no problem. Elaine and I are going to do the list. I just think it's really great to have 2

098people just case. Not, you know, both to go to everything. It's more like you're. Helping to share the workload, or you both can go to everything if you'd like Violet brings up an excellent point, which is, we have all of the negotiations. The administrators haven't formally. But I'm guessing that they're going to want to negotiate. So we're gonna have. We'll just sorry to interrupt. I just this is Warren for executive session. So I guess I'm I'm just talking about it in terms of time commitments like we will need to be negotiating, and it it. Those do take up an enormous amount of time. There's planning sessions. And then there's actual meeting sessions and. So I do think this committee is really important. I think it's a it. I think it's so necessary to address so

099many of our concerns. Following the last budget season. We just had about how to do better. In in listening and providing information, and advocating in the State. So I shared this. I shared this mission and duties document with you. If you would. Read it. I think what we should do is warn this committee for discussion in our next open meeting, where Chris will be August 7, th so I won't post anything for now, and we'll do it on August. I definitely wanna be. Be very careful about how. You know our. Like Tim and everybody else like. They already have so much to do. I think, asking them to come to a committee meeting. I. It just seems like a big ask. But maybe that's where Tim and Chris could maybe meet with. With with them,

100you know, like. It's just something small, but could, because to come to a meeting with 7 to 10 people, I I just think that we have stress that we don't. Tim could say. Probably the amount of hours he spent I can speak to this one. So part of the idea is that this would be Is, Tim and I would not be part of it, so that folks felt they could have the opportunity to speak freely, but that we would be staff liaisons. So if there's any finance questions, you know, Tim's team could prop up the data for it, they could furnish information. But the idea is this is something that is bored and community run and not, you know. Tim and I have our own communication plans right. But we would be staff liaisons to

101support and providing resources, and be give you and give the committee anything that they need. But not be attending the meetings. And so it's it's not like they're gonna have less work. They're still gonna do all the same work that they always did. But hopefully, this committee will help do some of the outreach and education that they have previously been tasked with our plates. It's widening it to make sure that we, as a district, are doing a more effective job of engaging the community and sharing information. Given the challenges. So it's really about widening around. Thank you for that. No, this. This sounds great, cause it. It is a lot of work, and you know, connecting, you know, we have this warned, as you know, facilities and budget. You know, we know that we have

102significant facilities needs. We know that given the mechanics of Act 173, right now, we're not in a position to be introducing a massive bond to our community. So I think it's important that we still, you know, bring up facilities. And that it's on our radar. We, the facilities issues haven't gone away. We've just gotten more significant. Financial complications. I think a lot of this committee's work, though, is you know, working with construction aid. Where are we at? With the construction funding committee. I spoke with a legislator about this last week. Senator RAM Hinsdale, and, you know, trying to get our legislators to really have forward momentum with this. We, as we as school districts, need State support here. This is not something. Communities cannot be backing. Bonds of the magnitude that you know some of

103our communities have taken on. So I just wanna bring that back up to the conversation, you know. In the meantime we have our facilities plan. We are, you know, we we're gonna continue to make the we're gonna keep, you know. Patching to the extent that we can. But you know it's not wise to get into renovations for you know, on facilities. If we're gonna need more significant renovation. So I just wanted to connect this to the conversation to say, you know, we had the Enrollment Committee who brought us the Zems. Last year. We, you know, put the zems in place to address enrollment, and those cohorts are going to be aging through our middle and high school. The needs haven't gone away, and we had talked about having a an infrastructure committee. So I just

104wanted to connect the conversation and say, right now. There is not an active in infrastructure committee that we can develop. But that the Finance Committee is going to talk about these in tandem, as we sort of nurture this seed. And again, the advocacy for finance is directly linked to the School Construction Fund. This committee is really going to be doing a lot of education and advocacy around budget and facilities which is not wise for us to separate right. We do this is absolutely one, and Martin Gulick is also on that. Advocating hard for school construction funds. Yeah, I don't know. I think we're a couple years out. I think it's super important, though, that I'm glad that facilities here, because I think there's. Not a lot of. Belief in the community that the facilities are

105still front and center, important and. I think that some of the budget stuff has eclipsed this. For the community. And I think it's important that the message get out. We still have these needs. So I think it needs to be discussed together. Nationwide also. And just because of our climate change, what they. What we know now is that the heat does affect younger children and really like up until, like 9 years old, it it's like to to put them in these rooms that are about 95 degrees. It's bad enough for me. That they have a less water body ratio. I forget what it is. And it right? That's not effective. It's it's remarkably unhealthy. And it's. It's gonna be billions of dollars nationwide. To do this. I think this links back to. I don't feel

106as a board member. I truly could. Appreciate the facilities conversation until I was able to visit the schools. And so I would like to see. An annual opportunity for the Board to do school visits. I did them last. I did them last year, and it was really eye opening, and I actually I felt bad at the time. I had just had Lily, and so I brought Lily in my stroller. And I I had this feeling like, Oh, I'm gonna be that person who has to like try to get the stroller through. And hopefully she doesn't cry. But it actually it showed the ways that any student who needed to roll through the facility would show. Struggle Our high school is not Ada compliant? And I think that's a really big issue. That's an aside. I

107do. I would like to get on the calendar for Fall Board members to have the opportunity to do school tours, so that we all. Can have a have a look at our school facilities, and. And also see our schools in action, which is just a nice opportunity for board members. But. I chatted with Violet about this, and so hopefully. Maybe in September, October, We can get that scheduled and board members can find opportunities to go do school in the in the past or last year. They were able to offer multiple times. So that you know those of us who work. What have you had? Multiple options to do? Different schools, and not all on the same day? So it wasn't like a. 6 h tour, and we also invited our city council and our. City manager

108to also come and look, and maybe that would be a nice, that invitation as well. So that the rest of our leadership has an idea of what our facilities look like. Okay. So I'm sorry coming out of this discussion, or do we have to take a vote on this to move it forward? Or what is that I don't think so. But I I think we should discuss it on our August 7.th And that's where we'll put that on the agenda final decisions. I emailed this charge to you. Please let me know if you think there's any important changes. I think we've covered. Most of it. But I I would welcome your feedback or comments. Okay, anything else about this? For now, knowing that we're also gonna discuss it on the 7.th With Chris. Very exciting.

109Okay. Great. So next, we have community engagement and online guidelines. I would really like to focus this conversation on our public comment and online guidelines piece. I think we've we've had a decent amount of community engagement discussion already today. If there's something important that comes up. Let's chat about it, but I would love to. Spend this time to finalize what we would like our public comment to be at our online guidelines and. Make a plan to clearly communicate that. So that everyone knows what to expect and feels they're being treated the same. The feedback I had from Chris about this is, he is a strong advocate, or very much appreciates the Vca. The the Sba's public guidelines. He thinks they're great. And he thinks that we should consider doing away with the. Time cards, because

110he thinks that it. He just. He doesn't love it. So I'm just adding his perspective to the conversation. If we want to look at what the Vs. And I have a year too. Okay, great. Do you know what page that is in our. Okay, I can find it real quick and. Let everyone know. You think that would be in board operations. I can start the conversation off with. I just think. Public comment here suggested language for board, share. Click. Could be, not. Sure. Let's see. I think I just would like to. I would like to consider that when we know, like we, we usually put 15 min for public comment and. I'd like to consider. If we know that we have less than 5 people who'd like to make a comment. I think. It would be

111helpful. I don't want to be in the business of looking like I'm shutting down someone who's saying something that. We as a board, don't agree with, or. I just. I don't want to be in the business of shutting down free speech. That, said. There is a pretty clear line when someone is saying something to identify a specific person, or that's harassment or. Just is not appropriate. And as your chair I'm I'm committing to trying to get better at being very firm about that. But. I really feel that if someone needs to come to the board and express discontent with the budget, or express discontent with A policy I I think people should be free to share. That's the point of public comment. I'd like to take the example that we had this past fall with

112the budget not passing. We had. You know. 100 plus people in the room. And some of the people wanted to comment about the same thing. And so I'd love to have some guidelines in place where it's when it's clear we have a lot of people where the chair can say. If you're here to comment on this specific thing. Please, you know. Select. This is how much time we have to for this conversation, and then we need to move on with the rest of our board. So you know. Please select. 10 representatives that you feel cover. Your discussion point, and each person will be allotted 2 min, and if you have a if you have a public comment not related to this topic that we. Presume you're all in the room, for you will also be given

1132 min, but we'll have that separate of. Something like that. Where it's organized. We're hearing from everyone. But there's no opportunity for the public to overtake our meeting with public comment, because I think it needs to be clear. This is a public meeting. It's not a meeting with the public. And so it says here, like community members, this is like sample language. We are about to enter the citizens. Comment period of our meeting, all board members, and I recognize the important of hearing from you on topics support. Considering as a reminder, the Citizen comment period is not designed to be discussion, but rather an opportunity for board members to listen to constituents. Yeah, and then and then it can push you. You will have 2 min, and you know I you know I personally have I don't

114believe I'm support on board, and I don't believe, and it seems like I'm not support on the community. Although. Every board runs our meeting this way. You can go to. I listen to a lot of board meetings 2 min. You need to make your point. And it's not. I don't think that it's shutting people down. They're allowed to speak. And it's. You know, and I. So this is just my opinion. I I do think I am alone in this, and. I also think. It's 2 min. Or 3 min, whatever you want it to be, and it just has to be the same throughout. Because what's gonna happen is you get this budget thing, and 100 people show up as they should, which I think is, I think it's amazing. But then, if you say, Oh, okay. Now, everyone,

115you know, then, obviously, you have a different rule. I I do think then, that really does look like. You're shutting somebody down. But fairly standard practice. It's all through Vsba. 2, 2 to 3 min, whatever. Each speaker will have 3 min to speak, and this one says. Each of them is a lot of blank minutes. It's it's up to us, but it it is all throughout their rules, like if each citizen is given 2 to 3 min, and 100 people show up, and 100 people want to comment. They do effectively. We won't have a board meeting outside of public comments, but that's where you come in as board chair. Clearly we have a different situation. Here's here. Here's I want to make that. Now. I don't want to make that when something has popped up, you know. Particularly.

116I mean. Sorry, so. So my perspective on this is that. We are all adults. And you have to read the room. And if we have a situation where there is a lot of. You can tell. There's gonna be a lot of comment. You have to read the room, and you have to respect that I think we. We. Did a tremendous disservice to the community when I don't want to see disservice, and I want to take that back. What I where I feel. We didn't garner a lot of. You know, good feelings from the public is during the public comment session, when we tried to shut down at any point. There's a lot of people here, and so on, and so forth. The best meeting we had was where we just let them speak. For a

117long time, and you got under. I think it's really important to understand what the topic is and how much emotion there is around that topic. And what? And I agree, though, that you know you're gonna have we? We have the discussions. And you had. 10 people come up and talk about the same thing and say the same thing. Yes, at that point, as I would expect the board chair to say, if somebody has something different to say about this, please come up right. We can't have the same thing over and over and over again, and it can devolve into that. But that's basic meeting management. Right? I mean, we we have to be. I think we can have guidelines. But we have to appreciate. You know the moment and understand that. You know it can

118always be 2 min. I don't agree that it's got to be 2 min you're shot off, and all of that. I I don't agree with that, because I think that that just to adults who are coming up to and express an opinion, and probably have never been to a board meeting and feel very strongly. I think that right there turns people around and says I'm not gonna vote for the budget. Beginning at 5, 30. That's that. If if that is Vsba, when the number of people wishing to speak is large, my authorized chair to use a speakers list. So I so maybe when it's surrounding budget, then you it starts at 5 30. I frankly don't want to be here till 11 o'clock. I have to get up at 5 Am. And go in, and I'm in

119charge of other people's children. And. i i i'm here for a business meeting. And you know, I think we were. I think you know. Yes, people. If if people come up and they everybody takes like 10 to 12 min, or even like 5 min, that's gonna be. A long meeting. And so I just so, okay. And then I will hold on my opinion. I'm gonna that's it. I'm. So I just think the second you draw a line, and you say it's black and white. You're going to. You're you're you! You really run the risk of of turning a lot of people off. And it's just a matter of. Hey? Let's look at the topic. Do we need to allow some extra time if somebody runs over by a minute. Is that okay? I think if you know.

120Again, we have to be very sensitive to the fact that. You know, the community feels this is a very important and and they do. Wanna comment, I again. If they're saying the same thing over and over again. We're done. We're moving on, I think. A place to where I in the past have felt uncomfortable. Asking someone to stop is if. They were having some sort of tech or. Like like they. I I've noticed someone like reading, and then they're they're nervous, and they like forgot where they were reading from their statement. And they are trying to look where they're and they're wasting like 15 to 20 seconds trying to remember where they wanted to. It feels. Harsh for me to be like. Sorry. Your time's up, you know, like, because clearly you're nervous. But you've

121tried to come here, and then sometimes we have someone making a public comment where they're trying to take an opportunity to recognize someone or be very kind, and it feels which, if I'll take the feedback, if you think like. Okay, but you still have to cut it down. It feels just very cold to be like, Hey, thanks for trying to recognize this member of the district. This isn't the appropriate setting, or you you've used your time. It just feels like. And not community building. And then Michael Healy's point, though he they they 2 min. That was our training. So I. Or like. Frankly, I think it's my responsibility as a chair. If someone starts commenting about current or former board members, it's my responsibility to protect those board members from being publicly attacked. That said as

122the chair, if someone has a problem with me. And what and feels the community needs to know that I don't want. I I have no interest in sitting in this leadership position and censoring someone from the opportunity to share with the community. So I'm saying, I I think that I think it's important for me to get better at. At protecting. The people who are not sitting in the spokesperson role. Right? Like it's it's in our guidelines not to identify specific people. But as the spokesperson of the Board, I just I don't want to censor speech about. Me! Because I have the capacity as the spokesperson to say, that's enough. You know you're going into. Well, if we're thinking about the same thing. My name was mentioned, too, and I do have a real problem, as

123you should, and I feel very vulnerable in this chair, and I don't want to come to these meetings to be attacked. My job is hard enough, as it is. And education brings up people's stuff. And. And you know, I'm gonna I'm I'm in the process of just I'm just gonna let this go because I've I've gotten resistance like massive resistance from this. And it's funny. I talked to people from, you know, different. You know, Washington State. They're like, Oh, yeah, we always have time on that stuff like, okay. So I you know I tried and I did. I was going on Michael Healy's training in the Sba. But and we choose not to do it. That's great. I'm just I I just want I just. Please understand. I'm not saying, Hey! We let people go

124on for 5 or 6 min. I you know, at the start of of the comment. Please keep your comment to 2 to 3 min. It's up to us to gauge. You know. Are they starting to ramble? Are they going on? If they hit 2 min, it's appropriate to say, Okay, can you wrap it up. Please, to get to the next person. I think that's absolutely just basic meeting management. But I do think we need to read the room. And if we start trying to say, Okay, 2 min boom, you're done. I think we are going to create a lot of bad. I I hear the 2 points, and I think they both have immense validity. I think what Laura saying is we need to treat everyone the same, because if we don't treat everyone the same, we're opening ourselves

125up to discrimination. But I think your point is very well taken as well that if a community member takes the time to come here to share their perspective, and we just clinically shut them down, then, regardless of if their point is positive or neutral. They're not going to be feeling. Well heard, so I. I. I'm kind of a bleeding heart. So this is a place as a chair where I need to grow, and. Do better, because. I want to treat everyone the same. I want everyone to feel treated the same. But I also am very attuned to like emotions. So I I'm trying as and, Laura, I feel like I I owe you an apology. I I want you to be protected and feel protected, and no one has the right to come to a

126public board meeting and and attack you, and I'm sorry that I am sorry that I didn't. Do a better job of protecting you, and I'm gonna try to do better in the future. And that's 1 of the reasons like. That's a great example. And there's also been emails. And I just don't think just because I sit in this chair, and I'm trying to do my, my very best. And this is a really complicated job. That people just. You know, it's kind of like being in front of my students. I just think they can say whatever they want to me like. I'm not a real person, and I feel like that's what's happening like, we're not real people. Well, we are real people. There's something there's always space and it and it. And I'm and I,

127yeah, you know, grow bigger skin. My skin is thick. Alright, I'm gonna teach it. For 30 years I have 2 children. I've been. I'm on the school board like really, there's nothing anybody can say to me, but I don't choose to sit here. And the. Have my integrity questioned. And that's what's been happening. And I I really, you know. Yeah, it just it just makes me sad, and it makes me feel like. Yeah, just really. Yeah, I, I'm. Like people can now just doors open for people to come and say whatever they want. I propose a suggestion for a way forward. 1st of all, I I think civility is critically important. In general, we teach. You know, our students. This is a big part of respectful communication, and I think it's reasonable. That you know

128we practice it and and respected in return. So I I very much think all around. You know, it's appropriate to ask for respectful communication. And I wanna acknowledge that this is a difficult volunteer job, and you all commit a significant amount of your lives to this, and it's important for you to feel respected. Right? I would propose that we adopt the Vsba guidelines, and that with that. The care has the authority to make decisions in meetings that don't. We couldn't possibly articulate every scenario, but I do think the the Vspa guidelines give enough. Parameters, and with every experience. It is very much the prerogative and the expectation that the chair runs the meeting as necessary, say we have a massive crisis, whatever it is, that we might make the decision packed room to modify the

129agenda, to hear, you know, to expand public comment right. That that needs to happen, we may make the decision to say, Okay, administration. You have. We're gonna cut you off at 15 min of a budget presentation. And we're going to have 40 min of public comment for budget. Right? You can set parameters within the meeting that don't necessarily, you know, so you could modify, maybe that a a again that's specific enough so that there is. Parameters around treatment of folks, which I think the Vsba guidelines have. The reason that the Vsba recommends them is because we have to have consistency. However, as the chair, you absolutely have the authority to make decisions that you want. And you, I think you just. You just, you know, make them based on the situation. I think that there are few

130situations, whereas Chair, you're gonna have to make a big massive shift, but that the guidelines that the Vsba has put out are pretty tried and true, and they're consistently applied across the State. So But that's my 2 cents. I'm gonna add my thoughts. I definitely agree with reading the room. And I think we did that. For instance, in the placebo incident. You just. Decided. A lot of people are here to speak. We're going to choose. X number of people to representatives, because we think things. That's what we're gonna do for time effectiveness. But I also think. We all know as parents that consistency. Is. Drummed into us when children are in bed. Whenever you do, just be consistent. So that when wears to me. I want to go play here. I already know. That that's

131been tried before, and I need to be consistent, firm. No, because this. So I think that we need to be consistent, so that people know that. Maybe increasing to 4 min. You know, whenever we decide, but I think it needs to be. Generally speaking, consistently applied, but I think. Like by said. There will be special instances where you're going. Create the room and say, there are many people here. What do we do? Oh, this is what we do this time this day, you know, and modify the agenda, so that we're still having a meeting that is again within the Vsp's guidelines, you know, so that we can be sensitive to the communities needs, and you know, not. Be here for 6 h. That's just. The way in it, so as as someone who'd be moderating comment in

132the near future. I think. It would be helpful still for me to know. If we could have a timekeeper like Laura like, if you could still tell me when it's been 2 min, and then I can utilize the the space between 2 and 3 min. You know, and I've gotten criticized for that, too, only because I don't feel the support from the board, and it is really hard, and particularly when there's a student there. I think people think I like this. Perhaps there's a different timekeeper for the next coming school year. That's a role that's rotated. I mean somebody else wants to do it. But I I can't meet resistance from all of you and from here, so I'm happy to let it go. If somebody wants to do it. Great if I mean, I'm also happy

133to just keep time, and just like, give you the signal. If you wanna do it. I mean I could do that. Because I I sense that they're almost done. And so I just wanna let them finish. And so I'm not trying like. I'm not trying to be resistant to you. I think it's. I could try like. I don't think it's you, Chelsea. I think it's the the collective board since I've been on here. I just think it's and which is fine. It's just fine. People don't agree with that. Completely fine with that, I think if, as a team, we would like for each individual public comment to be 2 to 3 min, it would be helpful for me, as the person leading the discussion, to know when it's been 2 min, so I can try to find

134an opening within the next minute to encourage the person to wrap up. And then consistently be done there, unless there's some kind of. Extenuating circumstance where we need to modify the agenda to have more time for each session. I'm a complete jerk when people are having trouble with the technology which is going to happen. I mean it's not I. I feel like. This is. This is just about consistency and and fairness, and I realize I'm I'm alone in this room thinking like this. It's I don't think you're alone. I don't. I don't. I don't. I would share that. My perspective is that we need to be clear. 2 to 3 min is standard. It's recommended. I think the consistency piece is something we the board needs to agree to. And I think the Board needs in

135the chair need to. Be, have the understanding that the chair has the authority and the expectation to modify as necessary. So it can't be every board meeting, but when there is an extenuating circumstance where our community needs to be heard, the chair will make an organizational decision to extend discussion as appropriate. That could mean if they're 100 people in the room that the 1st 10 people. To sign up. Maybe it's hey, guys, we have 30 min for comment. You all can. Everyone can give one, you know. It's 1 min each, or you can decide on 4 speakers. And that's, you know, an organizational technique that a lot of boards and chairs use an extenuating circumstances. I think there's outliers where the the. The chair leads the meeting and makes the decision. However, it's not going to be.

136The A, and and that could be an example is alright. We've heard enough on this topic. So we are going. I'm going to open it up to others now, so right the chair. The chair has to have that latitude, and does under our governance. Model. However, I boards who have Pg. Have the Vsba guidelines for a reason. And that consistency in general. Will suit the board well. Yeah, and. I I mean, Laura. I want you to understand. I am. I am not saying it should be a free for all at all, and the content of what's being said is extremely important. Right? Somebody gets to continue to talk or not again. I am. Really concerned with ensuring that people have the opportunity to speak. I also, you know, having sat on the other side for

137years. So I I think it's also. When you do have new people come in who may not have been here before. They don't know how it works. I think we do a good job at the start of saying this is how we're gonna accept comment. It's printed on the agenda. It's very clear. I think we're we struggle a little bit is when we get into certain topics and we ourselves go over time so that we put the pressure. And and people want to comment on those particular areas. So maybe of a. Policy or whatnot. Yeah, we've taken up all of the time. And now we've kind of put the pressure on. Okay, well, we really don't have time for a comment, but we need to. So we continue to go over and over. Your questions.

138Chelsea is building in 10 min per each action item, and we need to be very good at leasing ourselves to. If monitoring reports or presentations are going long. That would also be the chairs responsibility to keep us on track. Education, though, is that? And I've heard this from a number of constituents. Now. They make comments and resets. Well, it's not discussion. So I think we need to stress that. It's not discussion. You comment. We hear you, but but not if not, we're not react. Sometimes the act like, for example, public comment on an action item. Sometimes it's a question. And. We for a while tried. We're not engaging in discussion at all, but it it was creating. More confusion. And often when somebody asks a question, they're not the only person to have that question. So,

139for example, with a monitoring report or an action item or an administrative presentation. If a community member has a question, and and the administration present is able to answer it in real time I think that that we should. I think it's just efficient. It makes sense, I agree, public comment, because it's not during the public comment, but during when public members of the public have the opportunity to comment or have questions about something specific. We can always encourage them to also do email. But what I like about when a public member asks a question in a presentation, is anyone listening? Has the opportunity to hear the answer, whereas email. We would have to make time to read out that email for everyone to hear the answer. I prefer the opportunity to address those in real

140time, too, cause oftentimes I have to follow up with a bunch of meetings and a bunch of emails and people separately. So when I know the answer to something I would. It is best to share that with the community, and if I don't I can say great, let me follow up with you. I think I also, though, need to get better at, you know. I think. There have been times where we're talking about a budget and a community member has a great question, and both you and Tim are engaging in dialogue about the answer to the question, and it winds up running long. I need to get better at saying, can we try to focus on answering the question, and If we real, if you know, if you turn around, you say to somebody, you

141send me an email about that. And you know, or I'm gonna take that question down, and I'm gonna follow up with you. Those responses should potentially go into our meeting minutes or or into some sort of document available from the website, so that if somebody is going and watching the meeting afterward, or they're looking at the materials. There may be a a parking lot. Document that answers some of those questions for them. Right? They always get nuanced. I I and you know who knows about consent. If the person wants. I I think the best way to do it is to is to share, you know, if I know the answer, or I can speak to that, you know, within a timeframe. The budget web page, anyway. You know what I mean. That question can be

142put into the minutes, as like this person asked this question, and usually the minutes would read like so and so asked this question. Nichol said she would follow up via email if there's like an opportunity where that question is restated and your response, if it's if it is very personal or personal response answering their specific questions, then don't. Don't share personal information. But if you have, like a general answer to the question that you email to them, just copy paste, that where community members can read it just looking at the time. Here we have about. 10 more minutes until we've got to get to consent. Agenda. I'm sorry I'm talking about effective meeting management all the time all the time. Yeah, I do, I mean in in terms of public comment. I feel like the

143consensus is adopting the Sba's guidelines. I have some pretty clear feedback from the board about managing public comment. I do I I do have a question for the Board. That I. I feel like it's worth the time. So a lady brought up the the non renewal, Mr. And the public comment that that drew out. I was the chair at the time. And there was a question about my ethics in that process, and I really feel like trans for transparency, since there is so little I can say about. About there's I just felt like there was almost nothing I could say to defend myself, and to shut down conversation about it would look bad, and so I was trying to do anything and everything I could to be as clear and transparent while not sharing anything

144that I can't share, not because I don't want to, but because I can't. And if a situation like that, because we all have close to our community, if a situation like that were to arise where it wasn't me the one sharing the meeting. If it was a board member whose ethics were being called into question. If, like I'm I'm sharing. From my personal experience I would want the questions to be stated. I would want community members to share, because I would not want it to look like I have something to hide, but that's my personal feeling. And so if in a situation where like that were to arise where there's some. Community tie where a board members are being called into question. What do you all think is the best way to handle that. Does

145that make sense like I I did not like. When we're talking about, you cannot identify a specific person. I was fine, with a public comment about me. But what happens on the public comment is. About a board member. Do you just want me universally to say you cannot name a board member. Specifically. Or. It's in our guidelines. Right. I just. I guess the reason I'm asking is because if I had just been a board member and not the chair in that specific example. I would not want a chair to shut down questions about that like. Does that make sense. I I think that's another. It's a judgment that you're gonna have to make as chair. And if it's a situation where someone is getting unreasonably nailed. And it's really in civil. You're gonna have to

146jump in. If it is a situation where we, as a board member, as a human who makes mistake, and it's a legitimate thing, and it's reasonable and and civil. That's a it's a different thing. I think this is a board chair judgment. I I mean, I just feel like the public comments I I did feel like the public comments about me were civil. The points the points were, yep, we're fair, and I think it was appropriate to hear that. And and again it's reading the room. If you were watching, I mean a board member has said they were getting crushed, and it was it was, you know, if if it's. You it. You're gonna have to use your judgment here. I think it's not here. So. I just I. I did you say it? Let

147me park my camera. I have a little blurb, but it's not on our agenda. Right? It's I just have it in my meeting notes. Even the guidelines. Here, then, then. Totally match what we say. That's fine. I think I just think, following this discussion, I'm more sensitized to. If I hear a board member's name, I'm going to stop the stop the comment and say, don't identify someone specifically, keep your comments to the full board. I think the the reason I'm asking is in this specific example. I would not want a chair to shut down that comment specifically, and I guess what I'm hearing is read the room and figure it out, and. I fully anticipate to get nailed at some point so. I'll I'm just. I'm just gonna continue to do my best. And and

148please do give me feedback if if I don't handle it in a way that feels right to you. Please tell me so that I can try to do better. Yeah, I mean, I think that's pretty obvious to me. If it if it's just crude and mean and unprofessional, that's pretty easy. But. Yeah, okay. I do think the guidelines that we have on the agenda. Totally match. What we say, so that. It's. One to one. So adopt the Vsp guidelines 2 to 3 min. Someone is gonna let the chair know at 2 min, and it will include 3. Bar, and when the community, if there's a big event, the chair will chair the meeting and make appropriate modifications, including amending the Board's discussion times, so that we're not necessarily elongating the meeting. Knowing that crises will come up,

149there will be outliers in general. We will consistently apply the Vspa guidelines. And the timekeeper. Is someone else going to take a turn at that for the following upcoming year. So let's. Yeah, I'm happy to monitor somebody and like, say, Hey, you're kind of approaching time. So I think it would be helpful for me is, if you just let me know when it's been 2 min, so that I know I'm looking for an opening in the next minute to encourage them to wrap up. That's how I'm gonna and I think more than that, I think it's being clear. We're gonna let you know it. To finish your thought, the ex, you know, and that, and then rather, you know, just to be. That is your buffer. Yeah. Conversation which we'd had. Because after the training with

150Michael, I was trying to institute. What he has suggested. And. I did keep asking like, How do we do this? I took this from city council. With how we, how we manage our. The the form for the, for the, for the candidates. And look at, but we know we've never, this is 1st time discussed it. So I appreciate conversation. Could we consider adding a blurb at the top of our agenda? Michael Healy had suggested this at their meetings that he helps facilitate. They actually print out pages for each seat. That's a waste of our printing, and just something that says like, welcome thanks for coming to observe your School board at work Could be easily modified, or Somebody could. Yeah, okay. So next steps on this, Do so. Chelsea, do you wanna just let know

151what to specifically put on the agendas? Okay? And I was just gonna say, it's Clark, I mean, if if I'm gonna monitor time. Speaking. I will also monitor time as far as our discussion, and let you know when, hey, we kind of hit a time. Right? Monitoring report. For instance, we got way trapped, and I was getting questions that have. But I'm in a position where I have to answer them, and but we needed to go back to the orders of the day because we were. Pretty off topic. Ultimately I'll try to do better, but it would be helpful to have that support. And Tim is really good at that copy editing, so is Elaine. Can that be done that can be done? Offline anything should be off, done offline directly with the liner. And

152cause she's the one who types those up and so we work with the lana directly on those. And then same thing with like. We don't have to read the policies 3 times in an open meeting where they go in the board. You know, minutes. They're they're published and written form. We have to read it the 1st time. Okay, and we don't have to discuss. We shouldn't be discussing non substant like copy edits. But but Jim and Elaine are really good, absolutely. I've worked Jolina to line up types those up and prepares those work directly with her. Okay, should we consider looking at our board plan? I think that's an appropriate thing to finish before we go to consent. Agenda. Does that sound good? So this is. This is the calendar that you have. And this

153is designed to spread out our work across the year. So we know. Like. For example, we've received just a few emails about cell phones in schools. So instead of trying to figure out how to add that to the agenda right away. What we would do is, we would say, where does cell phones and schools. Fit under policy, governor, or monitoring, we would look for that time, and then we would like make a note to ourselves. This is a discussion topic when we're monitoring this policy. Just as an example. I think it'll be important to put I just made a note on my calendar for under monitoring for July. So with the Retreat, I think we should put the Policy review schedule, and then in parentheses, in retreat. I'd like to add that if that works

154for folks just. Plenty of helpful discussion points to add, and in future we'll have 2 more people, I think, trying to do the self assessment and a policy review is going to take more than. 3 h So I think we should consider how we would like to divvy up that work, but perhaps make a plan for it in July. I mean, does that feel fair like. What we, the the survey. Going through. The survey itself took over an hour. So it but I think it was important. It helped me to understand. As a group. What, what. Where the deficiencies are, where our pros are and what we'd like to improve, and I think we could restructure that to have it be, you know. We'll learn the routine, but have it, you know, be completed in advance,

155and then like, look at the results beforehand, which I you didn't have the opportunity to do today. So through no fault of your own but you know, and then maybe a sharing, high, level things. And I think that's how we can operate more effectively once the board expands, is kind of. More asynchronous work. It's sort of housekeeping. And I I think I would make sure that the full results are available to the full board. But then, as the leader of the discussion I would try to tease out what I think is important. Is that what you're saying? That other chairs recommended is that this. Retreat. Each board member kind of take the charge on facilitating the conversation for different topics that way. It's not just like, I mean, this is very much like our normal

156meeting, right? Like as chair I like, organize the discussion and sharing that. That so that it feels more collaborative and less. Authoritative. Absolutely. Each board member could take a piece of that. And again, as we expand, I think that'll be important to have everyone has a. Okay? So, looking at this, we're trying to invite like in terms of our advocacy. We're reviewing new legislation. Now, the Bsba is sending that out to all of us, and then we would invite our legislators to discuss. You know what are our. Advocacy, pieces of November ahead of them, starting their new session, and then we invite them back in June to tell us about how the session went, and. What they worked on. That's just the advocacy piece. And monitoring. You can see, like where we monitor, which policies

157and what reports we can expect to hear. Community linkage is kind of We could add the I don't think the listening sessions need to be. Added to this calendar. Unless this is just board plan, we have 4, like we have. 4 scheduled, and then I think we were gonna. See how I think it's basically, do you want any reports moved around? It's something that typically happens. March, we have our special board meeting new Member work session, which is what I would think we would do. Our policy governance training. We have lots of time allocated for budget. From November to March. Anything that you guys, I mean, does this calendar work? Does everyone see. How we're like. Spreading our work around any changes or. Edits you'd like. I know negotiations don't happen every year. But it's

158a huge, because it's huge thing, and I don't see it here anywhere. And we. Somehow. Yeah. So negotiations aren't a part of our open meeting agendas. We typically have. Negotiation updates in our executive sessions. And usually the chief negotiators on behalf of the Board are just updating the board about how negotiations are going and asking any questions as negotiations proceed. But that's not typically something we talk about in an open meeting, and they're not meetings that. Happen synchronously with open meetings. So I think this is meant to be like our open meeting schedule. But I appreciate the. The idea, like. Where can we that that work is also. It's hard to predict, like it's hard to predict how long they'll go on. So it might be difficult to find a place in the year, where

159it's like the easiest. They also have to be open to negotiating at that time. So. Can I ask quick question? So when we look at the monitoring. So 2, 6, That's going to be in our next meeting after is 2.1. Is that how that works? Okay? So it's split across. Let's just do one reading. Okay, great. That will save your voice. Tim. Well, these are the The monitoring report. So this is where we go through the are we. Got it. Okay. Any other feedback or questions. About this. Glad you all have it kind of helps. I just. I'll add the policy review piece. Thank you. So. If we're ready. Consent. Agenda, we're gonna have to the board structure conversation. I I don't think was. You can do policy, governance training. Yep. Consent. Agenda, I think.

160Okay. For me tonight. So agenda. Item 5. Consent agenda. Has everyone had an opportunity to review the accounts payable vouchers, 1,018, 1,005, 1,009, 82,083, 1,085 and 1,086. Yes. Any questions. Just a couple of general notes, and I'm sorry Tim's not in the room. I like the format that was presented. I thought it was very easy to read, and to go down through. My only request, and I could ask him to do this is that could we include the account number in the table? So I can map that back to this. The the subtotals. But I I very much like the the new format. It's much easier to. To go down through and. Glad to hear that. Yep. I will, I will follow up on that. Then my only other. West. Just a clarification question at

161some point doesn't have to be today. In 1079 I'm not quite understanding why the different fund accounts were used. The was all. Vermont State teacher. Retirement, yes, Trs, or whatever that is. And it was split across the different funds. And I was just trying to understand. Why, the. The pay was paid out of a lot of different funds. It was. A title, 2 fund, title, 9 fund, different funds. I just wasn't quite clear. I'm not questioning the payments. I'm just trying to understand why it was split across those funds. We'll have to get that response. Do you want to shoot him any? Just email him with me on copy. Any other questions about the Ap. Orders? Okay. The Ap. Orders are approved. Do I have a motion to approve the check to the Howard for

162human services, and the amount of $246,968, 20 cents. I move to accept. Laura will start a second. Second. 10 seconds that check to the Howard Center for human services. Okay. Next, we have lunch. I have a Roberts rules sort of question. Can I? I hate to keep all the tech people here for an hour, and then we come back and read the motion to go and take executive session. But we're not going in right away. We're going to lunch, so do we have to go to lunch. Come back here. That do executive session? Or can I make a motion for executive session to make it clear? We're not starting until one. Yeah, we can close Exec open session and make the motion to start executive session at one pm, okay, so And I can adjourn

163the regular meeting now. Well, so I'll do the executive session first.st Do I have a motion to enter into session for the purposes of discussing labor negotiations and real estate contracts under Vsa. Section 3. A for real estate and. Which one is. Early in summer. Rachel, yeah, sorry. I usually write this out, so I'm not like negotiations. I said negotiations. I'm just wondering which chapter that's under. Oh, it's a 3, 13, a 1. Okay? And premature public knowledge would do. The districts. Do I have a motion? I move. Laura moves? Do I have a second. Second. 10 seconds. The motion. Passes. My God! Any discussion? All in favor. The motion passes unanimously. Tim, Laura, Elaine, Chelsea, Violet and Joe Mcneil, our attorney, will be entering into executive session at one Pm. To discuss labor negotiations

164and real estate contracts. In the meantime, we're gonna go to lunch. Do I have a motion to adjourn the regular session regular. Session. To return. Laura moves. Do I have a second. Second 10 seconds the regular session is adjourned. We will not return to this room. We will meet for executive session at one Pm. Okay. Thank you. So everyone. Alright now, thank you. Alright. So, Joe, we'll we'll see you all upstairs at one joe will be here. Okay. Folks. Thank you, Nick, being here. Thank you.