001good evening everyone this is a call to order for the Bridgeport Board of Education regular board meeting on Monday March 13 2023 6 30 p.m at the aquaculture school if we could just have everyone stand for the Pledge of Allegiance thank you everyone Mr secretary can you do roll call yes Bobby Brown present Christine Baptiste Perez Sybil Allen Albert bennahan president acacia kasmir present Michael macaron Joseph sakolovic president and Joseph Lombard present thank you Mr secretary at this moment we'll open up the floor for student representative reports so there are no students in front of me but there are some online so if you can just say your name in the school and then you can start your report hello um my name is Eunice and I'm representing basic high school Basic Black History Month
002concert was held on February 24th featuring memorable presentation from student and staff over 200 of basic students participated in leadership presentation and extended leadership training event on February 27th the keynote speaker for this event was Eric Jackson from transforming's live communities and the world through leadership initiative girl basketball will be playing in this state basketball tournament for the first time in eight years congratulations to all of them thank you congratulations basic our next student representative please say your name and what school you attend hello my name is Michael Hemmings and I attend uh Fairchild ruler I'm a senior so I will start with our trip to Nationals for the track team um we had uh me a high jumper qualify and I came out at 7th in the nation along with our Relay Team qualifying
003and making it out at Ninth in the nation for uh their Club also our course selection is set to begin for uh underclassmen in the next week or so our SAT date is the third is the 22nd of this month our Spring Fling is the 24th and we have 10 it students who will be present presenting their research at the University of Bridgeport rise Forum on the 24th also thank you and congratulations to you and your team uh next student good evening my name is Lindsay Muhammad and I'm representing Fairchild wheeler Aerospace on March 3rd Arrow had an assembly to celebrate students who earned honorable status during the second marking period students were also recognized for tenacity and exceptional efforts in addition to this Thomas Donnelly a senior in the Aerospace School teamed up with
004a central magnet student and won the 2023 NAACP Douglas Garrison debate another student we'd like to recognize is Dan eschevary who went to the indoor track Nationals over the weekend with our own David viesto as coach and estuveri performed well students have also been purchasing tickets for prom as sales will be going on until April and with the school year flying by seniors have begun to purchase their cap and gowns on March 10th we had a school-wide SEL day with various activities promoting social emotional learning with PSAT and SAT exams coming up on March 22nd students have been working very hard in preparing the resources provided and finally I would like to recognize one more person for his dedication to his students school and education our Aerospace principal Mr lip he was recognized by magnet
005schools of America as the region one principal of the Year all of his students are very proud thank you congratulations to your school as well next student representative I'm Antonio Ferguson and I'm the representative for Central High School um first I was going to start off by saying that we finished off our Black History Month celebration with a wonderful assembly that educated students about black success and influence we also had a successful High School fair at Sacred Heart University recently and also a large percentage of students receive honor rolls for the past quarters in which they were all recognized with server tickets special cards to get discounts on game attendance and Proms and things of that nature we're also juniors are also preparing for the SAT Day that's coming up which is going to be
006on the 23rd of this month with like CCR classes and then outside resources um and then lastly I want to update the Board of Ed on the bathroom issue that I mentioned um at our last meeting so first I'd like to say thank you to our principal um Dr Graf for taking a direct step by posting himself outside of the bathrooms to monitor them which have been proven to be very effective and then also for taking initiative to get Central High School a female security guard which overall helped us improve this situation by a lot so next I also want to introduce like a more permanent solution maybe so I remember that one of the board of members mentioned about mentioned having smoke detectors in the bathroom but since we don't I kind of like
007did some research on my own on like what a single unit commercial um smoke and vape detector would look like and for my research I saw that like one would cost between three thousand to a thousand I was which brings me to my big question which is like is there funding to have something like this put into her bathroom and then lastly like to keep in mind that we would be investing into protecting students who really take their education seriously so yeah um question is there a funding for something like this thank you I want to say thank you on behalf of the board for doing your research and looking into that so thank you so much and um as we move throughout the program I'll see if any board members would like to answer
008that for you is that all right thank you no problem uh next time okay uh next next representative hi my name is Evan Arroyo and I'm representing BMA BMA participated in the district-wide SEL day each student I mean each period Cadets had a different activity to complete Cadets had an extremely fun time and we plan on having these events once a quarter the BMA Cadet shadowing event was a great success the Android TC Cadets received volunteer hours for their help and prospective students got a first-hand taste of BMI life the Android TC Cadets are attending a drill competition in New Jersey on March 25th and we hope to come back with a trophy in our showcase a honor assembly is planned for the 16th to celebrate Cadets with first and second honors and lastly on
009March the ptso dinner is planned for later this month as well with a presentation about the dangers of vaping in schools thank you thank you so much for your report are there any other student Representatives hi good evening my name is Isabella and I'm here representing Fairchild leader biotech in the past month we had our SEL day during our fourth period on Friday groups of staff and students visited all biotech classrooms and did activities such as mouth mindfulness reflective circles message balls logo contests and a gratitude law also senior families have been informed they can begin ordering senior caps and gowns information is sent weekly in parent square and we have our Spring Fling which is scheduled for March 24th and finally tomorrow uh March 14th is Pi Day and teachers teachers have planned activities
010throughout the day that's all I have for you today thank you thank you any other student Representatives all right here and none thank you students for sharing your reports and thank you for and congratulations to everyone who completed something amazing this you know past month and weeks at this moment we have no public comment so we're going to move on to the approval of me in minutes uh the meeting that we are approving is the regular board meeting on February 27 2023 is there a motion to approve motion to approved February 27 2023. uh move by Mister so Call of Duty second by well Mr binahan would you like to second that okay thank you any questions comments concerns Aaron none all in favor aye aye any opposed any abstentions Karen none meet and minutes
011have been approved the next is the Chairman's report I would just like to report that the Board of Education will be meeting uh with our um with McPherson and Jacobson on Wednesday this will give us the opportunity to outline the perimeters of the up and common superintendent search what that's going to look like so as we get information we will be sure to report out and also uh keep everyone updated on how we're moving forward that is all that I have for my report currently the next item is committee reports and referrals our first committee is education diversity equity and inclusion Mr sokolovic yes we have not had a meeting in the interim our next meeting will be on Monday at 6 P 6 pm thank you are there any referrals for that committee all
012right thank you the next one is finance Mr sokolovic yes the finance meeting did in fact meet in the interim we discussed um possibility of hiring a lobbyist to help us out um lobbying for funds in Hartford and Beyond um we're going to bring that back to committee at the next meeting and we also had um discussion on an enhanced audit and creating an RFP about about a foreign and we will be bringing that again back again as well at the next committee meeting and also in Antrim we had a Community Forum on the budget which another one is coming up on Saturday and for the first time in a long time I think possibly ever two mayoral candidates have showed up at our committees to learn about our budget hopefully the other two show
013up thank you thank you and then you're back again with governance oh wait I lied any referrals for this committee any referrals all right now governance yes governance did not meet me at Durham but we do have one two three agenda items today for approval seeking approval and we will be meeting Wednesday at did I say 4 30 or five four thirty four Thirty pm virtually thank you are there any referrals for governance all right here and none uh Health safeties and Facilities is Miss Baptiste Perez I'm not sure if she made it online seeing none will hold off on her committee and give her a chance if she does join us tonight uh Personnel contracts have not met we will meet um as items are added to our agenda for the ending of this
014month and we'll keep everyone posted the last Tuesday of the month uh the next Comm any referrals for uh Personnel contracts hearing none the next item is students and families Mr binahan yes March 23rd and 2023 at six o'clock in Central High School and a library thank you are there any referrals for students and Families here and none the next item is teaching and learning that is also miss Baptiste Perez she has not joined us yet but we will revisit if needed when she returns if she does return tonight the next report is the superintendent's report good evening everyone Ela assessments on progress monitoring and Dibbles will begin the week of March the 15th um dibble's measures will be the week of 327 also with the phonics inventory which is the quick phonics screener or
015letter sound inventory um if we choose to use the close reading survey it will be administered by social studies uh teachers in grades seven and eight and that took place already and this link will share the close reading survey from 2023. our pre-K in pre-k 3 and Pre-K 4 classes um for school year 23 24 the registration continues as well as for kindergarten which will begin on April 1st 2023. nursing just a reminders for grade 6 and 10 families um regarding the April 1st deadline for the submission of the mandated physical exam forms for all of those please be working diligently with um we're working diligently excuse me with our families to make sure that we get 100 compliance for that piece right now um like that early has been working with the nurses to
016update sending home daily reminders as well as principals to do that as well our physical education assessment is taking place for students in grades four six eight and at the high school level um that they are assisting that continues through May SATs we are preparing for our PSAT for grade eight and nine in the PSAT 10 assessments which will be administered during the month of March grade 8 will be taking place on March 21st grades 9 and 10 on March 22nd Connecticut sat school day update grade 11 will participate in the SAT school day on March the 22nd the SAT will be given digitally students need to reboot their devices for the updated app to upload we're working with the IT department to be able to make sure that students have access to everything they
017need in preparation for that day for math we have our second annual grades three to six Math week which will be taking place March 13th through 15th virtually as designated times this event will be hosted by perennial math our math meet for grade 7 and 8 will be held on June 1st from 9 to 1 pm at Sacred Heart University's West Campus Auditorium we continue to have weekly virtual SAT prep classes for sophomores and juniors 4 P.M every Tuesday through March the 21st also we will be posting the um on the BPS website and all school websites um the parent communication hierarchy that was something that was brought up at one of our last board meetings so that parents would clearly know what the hierarchy for communication is in regards to concerns upcoming events uh
018March 22nd is our Quarter Two recognition ceremony for staff and students it will be taking place at Harding High School at 6 pm we have our pack PTO ptso Roundtable taking place on March 29th at Harding High School 6 p.m the focus is restorative practices The Lightning Thief production is taking place on March 17th at 6 30 pm and March 18th at 2 pm and then they're offered to community community um shows that will be taking place this weekend as well in um parent School Communications are going to come in regards to that not parent School excuse me parent Square attendance bright spots chronic absenteeism decreased from last months in grades one two three six seven 10 and 11. biotech BMA basic and Hall increase their attendance rate for from the last month Bridgeport Public
019Schools attendance rate for our multilingual Learners it's higher than the state average so we're doing well there BPS percent of chronically absent students multilingual students is lower than the state average and we're maintaining attendance rate for students with disabilities only one percent lower than the state average the city kudos to all three Fairchild wheeler schools who were recognized as schools of Distinction by the Magna schools of America for 2023. so nice job our spelling bee winners who represented on Bridgeport from both High Horizons and Discovery magnet Mr Matthew Marquez in Ivana Raj Kumar both attended a Statewide spelling bee on 3-5 and represented Bridgeport and though they did not win they said that they're definitely interested in going back and representing for us again the NAACP Garrison Douglas debate winners was Central magnet and Fairchild
020wheelers Clementine natto and Thomas Donnelly and Park City preps Anika fazzo and mianna Singleton um the Bridgeport Foundation Beard award committee selected Teresa Oliveira a biology teacher at Fairchild wheeler and Jessica balzazan an esol teacher abattaya as the two winners of this year's Awards I also wanted to send a thank you to miss Carly Reyes Roca and her team of school counselors for working diligently to host a high school fear attended by 200 plus middle school students at Sacred Hearts West Campus on last week very nice job the students presented they did extremely well and there were lots of community members there as well so it was extremely wonderful event and hopefully we continue on the process thank you Miss Perry are there any questions for Miss Perrin at this time the record reflect Mr
021binahan is in person thank you madam chair I'm apologize for coming later thank you um good evening everyone Miss pairing we can see you I'm having a question but a comment that were they were me a lot and I want to call your attention and control the record that I know our security of Bristol school they're doing amazing job in the working as most possible to have a school safety in the hallways clean but if the security they report and they're trying to work with the other principal assistant principle they don't have the support it's a big issue it's a big problem because if I know the printer security they follow the protocol and the policy they report they know the principle this is what's going on the child goes to the office and then
022the child get up on the office after three or four minutes walking like a haha I win I did it's not consequence I not just depend the situation can be the consequence but some school especially the high school they need to get consequence our kids we're here to be sure they got the education be safety and work as soon as you know better future and be sure they're okay but if they think they're gonna come back at the schools are playing around or let's have fun or walking in the hallway like and working in like a day in the mall that's a big situation but if they don't have the security they don't have the support for the principal assistant principle when they they report that's a big issue now I want you please when
023you get a chance let them know there are principles that I know they're doing a good job I know they're busy but if they don't have the soup you know they don't support our security I don't want they complain later for our securities because they really call me attention parents you know staff they really feel bad that sometimes security they're working so hard and they don't have the support from the school so I want to let you know that situation so please if you can help up with that I have a few questions for you but I'll ask you offline okay and also Madam chair if some mind I just want to put for the record that um last Saturday I was in um the Dominican American Coalition of Connecticut they did amazing perform because
024we want to really waiting for as the board member be there but I have to say this for the record because these people work for our children's amazing in with the parents they have Zumba they have GED they got ESL they have so many programs for our parents and for our students and I just want to put that for the record that if we need help them but they need help or they or we need help for them they were able to help us you know board you know education where our kids they have our program they got people they are for the whole Connecticut owning Bridgeport but right now they have a main office in a Bridgeport Main Street and they will be glad work with us because they have amazing programs for our
025kids especially for the um people they don't know English uh immigration Soma um math a lot of things they have amazing things but I was there they did amazing um Gala so I just want to let them know for the record all right thank you mother and share no more questions no more comments thank you I will say that uh because our meetings are always open they're more than welcome to come and definitely share for the public for what they do thank you uh anyone else have any comments or concerns for Miss Perrin I just have a question oh go ahead Mr Lombard yeah I'm just wondering where we are um with the uh submission of the physical exam form with the deadline happening in two weeks how where are we with that um overall
026we're probably at about 65 to 70 percent across the district um some schools are at a hundred percent of um compliance some are not but the average is about 65 to 70 percent is that typical at this point with two weeks left or it seems like it's a big push it really depends on the school population um one of the things that we do accept from parents and have communicated is that a lot of them say that you know they're not able to get the physical exams complete by the April 1st deadline so one of the things that we we tell them and we communicate with them is we push for those schools that do have school-based health clinics to be able to register their children through that piece because they are able to get
027the physical through that and in addition to that also if they have set up the actual appointment and they have proof of appointment we can continue students on in school with that so most of the parents who are um currently still out of compliance and working on getting one of those two things so that their students can continue on in the process very good thank you you're welcome are there any is there anyone so uh and there's no other questions for you miss Perrin we're going to move on to acknowledge that there is no old business to be transacting we'll move on to new business items uh and just for the record also to all of our committees meet monthly so feel free if you are a parent or a Community member looking to find
028out what is happening before items become agenda items feel free to go to our Board of Education website pick a meeting that you would like to participate and learn about what's going on so when you see them on our agenda they're free and open for you to ask questions and talk to board members if need so um our first item is discussion and possible approval of the Multicultural Magnet School field trip to Boston from May 31st 2023 to June 2nd is oh okay I see staff presenting also board members this is also in your packet and was also at committee just tap yep There You Go song good evening my name is Dr planus I'm the principal of Multicultural Magnet um great to be here with you this evening we I do have two of
029my staff members Sandy sarmiento she's our Ela and Spanish teacher middle school and behind me I have Dawn rice who's also a middle school math teacher and they are the two staff members who are responsible for this field trip and they wanted to speak with you this evening good evening how are you thank you um we have been uh putting together this Boston trip for many years even prior to covid it has a combination of different um academic aspects to it first and foremost history because we're talking about Boston uh the Revolutionary War uh the freedom trail with regards to slavery and we also have math Incorporated in it as well we have science with regards to the science learning center that is amazing a lot of Hands-On 3D computer technology experiences so when we
030bring the kids it's not just okay we're gonna go have a great time they are actually experiencing different areas of academic study that they have within the classroom only this time it's live many of our students have not had the opportunity to travel outside of the state for any reason whatsoever so this is another opportunity for them not only to learn about life history Math Science in real time but at the same time to beat with each other and actually learn to socialize covet did a number on our kids and I'm sure you've seen it if you have your own children um but it really did and it's taken a lot to bring them back to where they are right now and we feel that this is another opportunity for them to actually grow and
031um really expand and become more confident within themselves there's a lot of Hands-On experiences with this trip and like I said in Prior years we have done it and it's been very successful thank you I will open it up for board members to ask well I apologize did you want to say anything okay I'll open up for board members to ask any questions are there any questions for the staff at this moment oh sorry Miss cashmere go right ahead hello hi so this is from May 31st until June 2nd correct can you give me a couple of um a couple of things that you guys are going to be doing oh absolutely just really quickly okay so we are going to be doing a a freedom tour tour tour of Boston Proper itself we'll be
032visiting the old North Church which is where Paul Revere had the lanterns saying that the British were coming will be going to following the Freedom Trail which is very historic and there there they have we have our own tour guide who is telling the story as we're going along so it's not just hey guys this is this no everything is very structured um and it's all explained to them we're going to be seeing the Boston Tea Party ships and the museum so they'll be experiencing where it actually took place when um the colonists went against the British and tossed the tea into the to the Bay we will be going to the New England Aquarium which involves um science marine life will be going to um they're gonna one fun thing is the Boston Duck
033Tours which is an amphibious um vehicle as they're traveling through the city they're getting all the historic sites pointed out to them they're told the stories and at one point they end up in the water which totally shocks them but it's really great as well we'll be going to the Museum of Science which is one of the things I said is a lot of hangs Hands-On and in the past I want to say 10 years it is very advanced in technology you have biology you have physics you have chemistry and a lot of it is the kids themselves being right there experiencing um the different elements the different types of experiments that they can do we have as I said before we have a tour guide with us the entire time so anything that we
034might miss as teachers you know bringing with I'm a reading teacher she's a math teacher the tour guide will fill in okay thank you and what are they where do they eat the whole time that you got everything eaten at the hotel or okay at the Museum of Science they get um a bagged lunch provided for them they get a stipend at the aquarium they oh okay I'm sorry um the first night that we are there uh we have dinner at a restaurant um called Fire and Ice um it is uh like a Hibachi restaurant so okay so it's different oh places yeah throughout the trip today we have different places so uh one day it's a bagged lunch or another day it's at a restaurant okay thank you thanks a lot a little bit
035of everything okay Mr Lombardo do you have any questions no no thank you thank you all right at this moment thank you for presenting um would someone like to make a motion make a motion to approve the Multicultural Magnet School field trip to Boston Massachusetts from May 31st to June 2nd thank you Mrs are there any other further are there any further questions all right all in favor aye any opposed any abstentions here and none have a safe trip we look forward to hearing more about it thank you for your approval have a good evening um the next one is discussion of possible pool of high Horizon Magnet School field trip to Washington DC from May 30th 20 20 23 to June 2nd 2023 and they are online and going to present you're mute you're
036still mute oh boy let's try this again am I good we hear you okay so good evening my name is Francine Carbone I'm the principal at high Horizons Magnet School accompanied by my seventh eighth grade social studies teacher Timothy Mann to seek your approval for our trip to Washington DC from May 30th to June 2nd and Mr Meehan can explain some of the details of the trip along with the itinerary and some of the things that make this trip special for our students hi everybody I'm Tim Mann uh this is our age eighth time that we've gone to Washington DC since 2005. uh we go every year because we take our seventh and 8th graders um because it takes both the seventh and 8th grade to really fill a bus um we've also been to
037Philly and Boston um I think by five six times as well this is an educational trip it's the best four days of the year for these kids um safety is the first thing for safety education fun uh if you ask students they would say fun and fun but but we really concentrate on the safety there's a security guard there um all night long on our at our rooms we put we put tape on the doors so we know uh which rooms are ours I have 10 chaperones coming so we're talking um uh really like one chaperone probably four to five kids um the sites that we're going to see uh the U.S Capitol Building uh we just secured tickets the other day for the African-American history and culture Museum uh the Holocaust Museum Arlington National
038Cemetery um Tomb of the Unknown Soldier uh the National Zoo to see the panda bears uh we we end um uh the last night we're there we go to a dinner theater we always get dressed up to go to it uh breakfast is served every day in the hotel the meals are usually by vouchers and um except for the final dinner I think the important thing to say about the meals is everything's included so uh there's no case where you have to wait where kids got to still have money left on on the third day to trip um to pay for the meal everything is included um I think that's it nice thank you so much uh I see a few board members who want to go on your trip I'm one of them I
039want to go I want to go um I can always use some extra chaperones yes I will open any questions concerned in this trip are there any questions Miss Kashmir I have more of a comment I'll be in DC this weekend we're just going to do a White House Tour and we're going to do the African-American Museum too but all of this other things that you mentioned sounds superb and I might do those two thank you Mr Bennigan I don't know question but I can't say you know thank you um everything you do in your school and everyone in your team of course that's the plan on YouTube you know just in case I don't want to get jealous um but I thank you for everything and this is a good experience for the kids
040I really appreciate that so much thank you thank you Mr benihan thanks guys Mr Lombard do you have any questions I'm sorry I can't see you turn around no thank you all right would someone like to make a motion motion to approve High Horizons Magnet School field trip to Washington DC from May 30th 2023 to June 2nd 2023. seconded by Miss Kashmir Al are there any questions all right all in favor aye aye any opposed any abstentions hearing none congratulations on your trip we look forward to hearing all about it thank you thank you very much thank you all right just moving along our next item is discussion and possible approval or entering into a contract with reisap for Barnum school I believe there's the principal here in representation thank you go right ahead oh
041wait all of this Clark is here as well I am but I really was just gonna say welcome to uh to Christine to present on behalf of Barnum this is for their Grant with Rios app uh this grand um is their Sig award and they're um proposing to give a subcontract in the amount of seventy six thousand five hundred and fifty three dollars for restorative practices uh and it's to fund their Student Success Advocate uh when we brought this item to committee I know a couple of the board members hoped that we would um please ask um Christine and Marco I see behind her from riosap to come and provide an update on how the program was in the first year as this is a continuation of the second year yes Mark feel free to
042join her good evening I'm Christine Booth I'm the principal of Barnum thank you for having me here and I'm here just to talk about how wonderful the relationship with Ryan sap has been so Barnum is in its second year um in his relationship with ryzep as nadir seated through the school Improvement grant our Student Success Advocate contributes to the overall culture and climate of Barnum School in addition to working with a caseload of 20 plus students primarily in the Middle School our SSA her name is mistrea implements restorative practices through conflict resolution mediation she works closely with the administration and the support team to support students with students with all kinds of needs our SSA is also committed to the school in general she attends all parent events evening and before school hours she attends
043all basketball games because she has such a strong relationships with relationship with the students through this partnership riasep has also allowed us to have a direct referral to outside agencies for some of our students such as streetsafe and has also brought in workshops for our students including around topics such as vaping and we've also been talking about different kinds of parent workshops that we can offer to our families as well so Mark is here and Sharon is here who also they come to Barnum all the time and directly support our SSA and the programming in general thank you good evening folks uh Mark Donald um executive director various app I'd also like to add that I'm a former principal teacher um in uh in New Haven and the South Bronx so I can empathize with
044the Educators and how we're trying to meet the needs of young people and the pandemic and that's one of the reasons that we developed this program is to to support young people and to keep them in school prevent them from getting suspended improve their attendance and reduce behavioral incidents I'm going to turn it over to my director of school programs here in one second who also has a 092 and was my partner in trying to keep kids in school up in New Haven as a dean of students in an alternative school um but I'm thrilled to say we're not improving the suspension rate at either the schools tonight and it's odd that I would say that but under Miss booth and Miss Carol Hall's leadership they're not suspended kids right so you know it's hard
045to improve on what's what's next to nothing so we're they're doing a great job creating a school climate and so really where our impact we've seen so far is improving attendance and the young people were directly working with right now we've seen about a 26 percent increase in attendance which is phenomenal from the middle school because traditionally across the middle school Spectrum kids start attending less and less particularly if they're chronically absent beforehand and I'll let Mr sin velson speak a little bit more to that yep uh thank you guys for having me here uh my name is sharonsonvilleson and uh it's a pleasure to be here um as Mark said you know um it's a great partnership uh in regard to working with Miss booth at Barnum uh she explained some of the things
046that um the student support Advocate is on doing at Barnum and basically um providing check-ins with students uh pushing into classrooms and building relationships with the student um classrooms and the students and staff providing circles um you know really being proactive and building those relationships before problems happen you know so um like Mark said we have seen an increase uh an improvement in attendance and that is the goal you know we're looking to have students in school you know we're working with staff um I know you mentioned um with security guards and that's why we want to be in the schools you know when students are having those issues we want those referrals to come to our staff you know where they can meet with a student support Advocate or restorative practice facilitator and then
047they're going back to class as opposed to sitting in a room and not being productive for that day so um we're seeing improvements especially in Barnum and we want to just continue to great work in the partnership and um you know it's a pleasure to be here I'm very passionate about helping young people and I was a young person in an at-risk school so I know having these type of supports is really helpful for young people so it's a pleasure to be here and thank you guys thank you at this moment I gotta ask any board members any questions Mr Lombard any questions no thank you thank you all right at this moment would someone like to make the motion promotion to enter into a contract with riosep with the bottom of the school as
048presented this evening second by Mr bennahan are there any further questions all in favor any opposed any abstentions hair and none thank you we look forward to hearing more about this thank you for your support thank you our next item is discussion and possible approval of entering to a contract with right staff or Dunbar School different okay and thank you very much I'll do the introduction again and so for Dunbar this is off of their school Improvement Grant uh their award that they're hoping to get approval tonight to give to Rios app is for 83 203 and it's for their restorative practice facilitator and that person is going to work with staff they're going to give us an update on how things went in the first year uh there was a little bit more that
049we had to cut down due to funding constraints for the second year but um Miss Carol Hall will just give us an update on how things went during the first year and the Rios app team as well good evening my name is Nikita Carroll Hall and I'm the interim principal for Dunbar it is my pleasure to talk about the partnership of rise up previously at Marin school I have a well um oiled um relationship with rise up and very excited to continue this collaboration at Dunbar this past fall and November our student support Advocate came to Dunbar and primarily for the need of supporting restorative practices and working with middle school students around pure conflict peer mediation and just supporting overall with regulation issues um at the moment Miss Melissa is really interwoven herself within
050the fabric of Dunbar she attends our SEL meetings she also is a part of our srbi team as well as other committees that are geared at supporting student engagement and also attendance she's taking a lead um within the last couple of months and really looking at the attendance um The Chronic absenteeism partnering with our school counselor to support really identifying and drilling down to what are the things that are facing our students and why aren't they coming in and doing some of that family work that is so critical to Bringing students into school and keeping them at school in addition um what we found especially approaching this spring is that our um conflict is on the rise and so in an effort to support our Educators and also building the capacity of them being able
051to really be responsive we have integrated Middle School having morning time SEL sessions where Miss Melissa is going into those identified classrooms which are priority classrooms and really introducing some of those SEL strategies and running circles so I am very excited about the work that we are beginning with rise up in terms of really um stabilizing our middle school students providing a friendly face a place of Refuge for those students who are sometimes isolated and continuing to develop those strategies to support improve regulation in school thank you uh and so I don't want to repeat myself but the one thing I will say about Dunbar school is as as we were looking at the data there's one young person whose attendance is on Pace to improve 57 percent he is on Pace to reduce his
052suspension rate 43 percent and his behavioral incidence 36 percent that's pretty phenomenal in a young person's life but in regards to the Dunbar contract you heard Miss Clark talk about restorative practice facilitator the position over there is actually a Student Success Advocate but not by the contract that we put the difference between our our SSA as we call them is there a licensed social worker whereas a restorative practice facilitator is not but we felt so strongly about the work in Dunbar that the excess cost of the contract where we're privately fundraising for because we thought it was important to get that support in addition to that she's bilingual as well so you know that that's our commitment in the partnership is that you know we believe in the leadership at each school and uh we
053we want to help young people so we're going to do what we can uh in all regards to make that happen and we're grateful for the partnership of everybody around this table yep and I don't want to repeat anything that Mark said but you know um you know Melissa's been over there since uh October and um you know since she's been over there we really try to focus on 10 students and we identified 10 high risk and medium risk students and basically with those students we saw an improvement in 20 26 in attendance and there was a decrease in 34 in behavioral incidents with the students that she's working with so um you know it's really a pleasure to work with Miss Hall you know she's truly a great teammate in regards to the way
054she's leading her school um and you know we always connect anytime you know and I think that you know it's a pleasure to work with her and and I think that the partnership is working really well uh I know we still have an uphill battle but we want to face those issues with Miss Hall and help her improve her school climate and uh work with the entire School Community to just overall improve and we know that attendance and behavior is a big issue but we want to continue to work and make those improvements thank you so much I will open it up for questions Mr bennahan thank you mother chair um I apologize I didn't catch your name good evening Nikita Carroll Hall you know and appreciate you be there to support you know our
055skating and everyone I just want to you know I didn't meet you personal but I'm glad you're here so I just want to say you're welcome thank you nice to meet you yeah question um your program is going to be um working with our staff from baseball school or you guys have um another step that will come working with our our school and student and staff so um I'll let you yeah so when you say working with the staff yeah so yeah so we have myself and uh we have a lead trainer Maury Hernandez and she works with um training the staff when there's requests in regard to training you know new staff or any staff member that has not been trained in restorative practices so we want that partnership and we want to continue
056to provide trainings it's a two-day training about six hours each day and um we just had one last week and we had summer rent um staff um but we're we're open to having you know Barnum Dunbar we welcome it all and do you who do you report do you report for your you know your person working in your company or your report to the principal I report to Mark Donald but uh we work in partnership with uh Miss Hall so we share we meet on a monthly basis uh where we review data with um Lynn Stevens and um other people from the um school district and we just we look at data to see what's working what's not working um any issues that's happening at the school you know um there's a big issue with
057vaping so we provide presentations uh for students parents we also provide workshops in regard to giving parents information about restorative practices and and try to model it what the students are doing in the school so we'll model a circle for the parents so they know what their students are doing in the schools all right I think this is one you know like always say great communication Great Schools that's fall yeah I appreciate that thank you no more questions if I may miss Madam chair um and just in response to the question about the training we've also done school security guards we've done sros we do young people in restorative practices social emotional learning about majority of that is supported by private funding but it's also in consult with the principals and requests of the principals
058and the leadership and and now Captain grec is the one who requested a security guards where we did restorative practices training and they'll tell you it was the best training they ever did thank you for information appreciate it any further questions from board members Miss Cashmere just two quick questions um just for the record and the parents what constitutes a high-risk student uh yeah so uh we really look at like a student that is struggling with attendance uh we also look at students that are continuously having uh behavioral infractions uh out of school suspensions it could also be mental health um social you know not connected with the school we really try to lean on the administration to help identify those students so you know there's no really uh we we have our own metric
059of like looking at what's a high-risk student but we really want to sit on committee some of our staff they like they said they sit on committees and they discuss like students and interventions that did not work and we try to identify those high risks so that's how we base it on a high risk and it could be different measures you know so but it really kind of like attendance behavioral incidents um not connected you know with anyone at the school and that's how we identify just one more question what about the kids that you can't reach you know because I know there's at least one you know maybe the parent that's not functioning and um so you know just like chronic problems students like what you know after you've exhausted everything that you guys
060do with the social workers and everything what happens after that what happens next I know Mark said you wanted yeah I mean that that's that's a difficult question but you know at riosup we have seven programs and one of those programs is Street safe um Bridgeport which is really for the most at-risk young people and you know ultimately we do our best never to say we can't do anything anymore um but we are and we work usually with the families at that point it's often beyond the principles and school systems control um but we've worked with uh with Dr Baldwin on some young people and trying to prevent expulsion or prevent lengthy expulsion to support with the re-entry through the street safe Bridgeport program which was it's it's a similar program we were handing glove
061together trying to work young people so okay you know that that's the response yeah I think it one of the things is you know I'm I'm smart enough to know I can't save anybody dumb enough to try and crazy enough to think I can and I would like to just piggyback on that you know we we really like Mark said we try not to give up on any student you know and you know we we as a staff continually take Refreshers and restorative practices and you know so we know like just working with this young person that this young person could be here now but if you continually keep working with them working with them working them it may take a year it may take two years but we want to see that impact over
062time and make a change so that's why we never give up because we know that it can be changed at the end of the road thank you Mr Lombard no questions thank you thank you thank you thank you for presenting thank you no problem at this moment would anyone like to make a motion I move that we enter into a contract with Ryan SAP with the Dunbar school as discussed at this evenings meeting the second second by Mr binahan are there any further questions here and none all in favor any opposed any abstentions parent none congratulations we look forward to hearing more uh next year all right the next item is discussion impossible approval of mou with the Bea for special education support services for teachers I believe someone should be online to present Miss
063Dixon good evening everyone evening yes so before you is the mou for uh for us to engage certified staff to become cross-endorsed in special education this would be the second year we would have this cross-endorsement all right I know that this was also discussed in committee are there any questions from uh from committee or now from your board packets for this particular mou um I know that the O and the U are of understanding what does the m stand for again I remember you know you in mou I know the O and the U is for of understanding what is the m for memorandum thank you that's all I had I hear no questions all right would someone like to make the motion we have to wait for Quorum oh oh Lord Jesus I forgot
064about you sorry yes oh someone like to make the motion make a motion to approve the mou with Bea for special education support services for teachers second by Mr bennahan are there any further questions all right all in favor um any opposed any abstentions here and then uh you now have an ammonium uh thank you the next one no problem discussion the next one's discussion possible approval of mou for the ba for bilingual support services for teachers I believe this is Miss Dixon as well yes and I see uh Miss Sosa Martins as well she's online but yes once again uh this would be the second year we have minimal you in place to entice our teachers to become cross endorsed to help teach um tessell and um yeah ESL I believe are the classes
065we're hoping to gain uh student uh I'm sorry teachers for cross endorsement all right this was also in committee and also in your packets does anyone have any questions all right Mr Lombard I know I don't always turn to you just want to make sure well yeah I don't know if Mr Martin's wanted to speak or not she came on video Miss Martin you're on mute sorry sorry about that good evening everybody um I just wanted to let everyone know that this is a wonderful opportunity for our teachers to become um like the outro Dixon mentioned um they will receive this endorsement in ESL or bilingual or both so this is a wonderful opportunity and we have eight candidates that hopefully will be finishing up in June thank you seeing that there's no further questions
066would someone like to make the motion I make a motion to improve the mou with the Bea for bilingual support services for teachers hey second second by Mr Benny Hinn any further questions all right all in favor aye aye any opposed any abstentions parent none motion carries thank you so much all right our next agenda item is the first read of bylaw 9130 construction and posting of agenda you do have the items in front of you they will also discussed in committee and for those that are online they are in your portal um so this was Mr they separate them they were put up separately then the packet were all the way at the end yeah because the ones that were originally there were not the same thing okay thank you thank you all right
067I'm gonna give this to Mr sokolovic this was your agenda item uh yes before we begin uh unless anybody's interested in reading this word for word I like to wave the entire reading and just focus on the changes motion so go ahead make a motion to wave the reading in the entirety of 9130 and focus on the changes second by Mr Lombard are there any further questions all in favor uh any opposed extensions sorry it's something good um yeah most most of the language changes we change chair purse chair man to change for chairperson we did miss one and um take note of uh please Item B and the first line we missed the chairman to chairperson I think that's the only spot we missed and a material change it also appears in row b
068we added the light we crossed our chairman and Ed chairperson and the following language let me read also it's the final decision as to whether an item is included on the agenda lies with the chairperson and unless the item is requested by three or more members then item must be added to the agenda the rationale behind this was if three board members want something on the agenda it really should go on the agenda and it's a little more speedier process than waiting for the special meeting because we may have some time consuming thing and in the case of a chair who goes Rogue a special reading might not be called and it'll be not saying this chair will go wrong they're not writing for bylaws for ourselves we're writing by laws for our successors and
069it's a protection in place for them the next change is just chairperson chairperson here's another material change to the chairperson I sold the discretion to cancel any posted or regular schedule meeting if in the chairperson's judgment is deemed that doing so would be in the best interest of the public staff or board members as it relates to inclement weather uh lack of a quorum we struck the word potential because there's always a potential every data is a potential rack of requiring so we shouldn't cancel any anticipation of that and for any health or safety concerns pandemic what have you and um we crossed a lack of sufficient information to efficiently conduct business the rationale was behind this is was um each and every day each and every meeting we have public comment the student representative
070reports committee reports and committee referrals our business needs to carry on otherwise it'll back up so if we if those are the only items in the agenda we get out of here in 20 minutes and it's no deal we don't have to have staff present for items that are not on the agenda they won't be necessary for that meeting will just be us in a room with the public giving them the chance to speak horses here and chairperson chairperson although the next um important thing would be to cut off all the times the call to order pledge allegiance and add it after number three student representative reports because when the new bylaws were created they were left off and they had to keep putting them back on hopefully they stick this time and stay there
071forever because we always got to hear from our students and the numbers were amended and the time the times are all crossed out and removed because I've said this before I say it again we're not to drive through another McDonald's drive-through of Governors at Bridgeport we're on the board of education we have to hear items we have to discuss them thoroughly sometimes they may not last long sometimes not depending on the business there should never be an agenda without business in a student in the district with 19 000 students and over 2000 employees and lastly the order of business on the agenda may be changed by a majority voter Portland board members of divorce are there any questions on this on this document I just think we we should have some discussion uh I was
072I'm on this committee so I had some of the discussion already but I think it's if we're gonna oh this is just the first read right we're not voting on it yes just first read okay so I just wanted to discuss a little bit um in particular under Item B the change to um chairperson agenda lies with the chairperson unless the agenda item is requested by three or more members then the item must be added to the agenda just to understanding that currently in Mississippi to delude to this currently if three or more members have an agenda item they want addressed they can call for a special meeting which unless the chairperson goes Rogue needs to be called within I think 14 days is that right yes sir okay so what what this is saying
073is that within 72 hours notice of the board meeting those three members could require that that item goes on the regular board agenda and and skipping the current process of special meeting if I'm not and I'm not at this point saying my opinion on this but I think it's important that we understand what we're reading and with the change that it's doing so that the chairperson would not be in the position to schedule the discussion around that item within 14 days they would instead be put in the position to have to place it on the next regular board meeting is that about right uh uh yeah I got kind of Twisted at the end so so with this what this is saying is that requests must be made no later than 72 hours prior to
074posting of the agenda and so what that's saying is if you have three or more board members that have an item they want addressed where currently they have a mechanism to have it addressed by having a special meeting scheduled within 14 days what this is saying is in lieu of that mechanism they could it would require the chairperson to place that item on the next break of the board meeting agenda or do we address that later where we say maybe not the next meeting I'm not sure where that's addressed so that that that's a little more clear yeah yes that's exactly it um and we did have some discussion around this and like lengthy agendas and what have you and sticking um this and if the agenda is too lengthy and the chairperson is forced
075to put it on the agenda could be less the motion could be made to table or postpone at the meeting that that um tool is still available to the board members so I remember we discussed something about by which meeting it would need to be put on was that in another bylaw another Community right yeah that was under the special meeting and I know we're gonna have to put that back in committee because I found some issues with so then for regular meeting is this saying that this would need to go on the very next regular meeting or correct yeah I I to me it I I have reservated now I'm sharing my opinion I have reservations around this I feel like it's forcing the chairperson a bit much this is my opinion um where
076that that she would have to put it on the agenda within three days and like you said link the agenda so you could table it maybe but nonetheless those items would have to go on the very next agenda and when there's already a mechanism in place for a special meeting to be called um and this this does not take away the fact that any board member any one board member can request from the chairperson to add an item to the agenda absolutely that hasn't gone away um that's still there but this is saying in the event that the chairperson is not in agreement and doesn't want to add it as long as you have three people it can be added and currently we have that with special meetings so I'm just concerned about the timeline
077if this would have to go on the very next regular board agenda it might be something that the chairperson understandably so would need time to get some resources together before it's on the very next agenda for the regular board meeting so uh I'll also too um as reading this and just only been sitting in this seat for such a small period of time I do think that um this is a tough tough um letter only because and I'm just going to speak from the system that I've been trying to create and just from being here so you know you guys can say say your thoughts but just from sitting and being chair and working with the superintendent staff I do think lengthy agendas do happen to happen because I'm given items like in like when
078they're happening and it throws off the office and it throws off the secretary um the the executive executive staff with providing information I would personally and it's just my thoughts the special meetings I think gave us Grace and just a little bit of space and then I and and I'm not speaking for any chair past chair but just for myself I don't see that there's no item personally me would not add to the agenda if it has to go from a special meeting or whatever the case may be but I do think just for the system that's trying to be creative to not create chaos um and it gives her time so I'll give you a perfect example and I'm like I said speaking from my perspective we put the agendas together at least almost
079a week in advance because of the lack of not lack but because of the issues with stuff being given to us and how we're still in transition and we've created that system in itself I don't know what the next chair will do but I do know that if there is some type of system that a special meeting doesn't take place on these items we will have lengthy agendas and I think to Mr Lombard's point it does support to have a special meeting if if all needed because those agenda items which we already see and we already know about have grown so much and that's just my perspective from being the current chair that was able to be handled today and you mentioned I am trying as chair right now you're not gonna be you may
080not be chair two years from now four years from now five years from now or what have you we'll have a new chair now rather than deal with the issue tonight in an immediate fashion the simple thing is you're not going to get three people to sign on to a ridiculous item three people I mean I've gotten I'm probably the only one on the board that has actually rounded up three people for special meetings and haven't always been successful but they were important and time sensitive items now why did we have to call special meetings because the chair was refusing to put them on regular meetings so what happened then we had to have staff come out we had to incur costs for I.T to come out we had to incurred course for any hourly
081staff we may need for the item above and beyond what would have happened at a regular board meeting this can possibly cut down on the special meetings and if the current democracyu was may not be clear at the time we none of us may be here when this comes up um I think I have no information still on the agenda got a 72 I had hours ahead of time staff was unable to put it there and that'll be understandable you have accountability in front of the public that hey yeah it came late weren't able to put it and motion to table a motion to approve and I could see any reasonable board member supporting that motion at the table because you can't fool somebody for not having like if we're asking if somebody asks for
082Reams and reams of data 72 hours in advance of course it's not going to be met and nobody would be able to live their ridiculous argument that hey you failed yeah I was just gonna say I I really so it's it's my own recollection so I'm not positive you said it was about the special meeting but I thought this discussion was around the regular meeting as well I thought they kind of overlapped each other I I feel hmm so you know again we have something in place this is another thing if the chairperson is Rogue and is not going to hold a special meeting why would they put it on the agenda either either way they're breaking the bylaw so I I feel like this is trying to really clamp down on a really rebellious
083situation when there is a mechanism already in place but that said if there was a desire for placing agenda items on to the regular board meeting agenda I would feel more comfortable with there being a addition a clause within the next two regular board meetings um that could mean as long as a month or as long as two weeks if the next board meeting was within 72 hours and it didn't make it on that one it would be two and a half weeks but I would make it by now something where it's not a last minute thing even though it may be time sensitive it's not pushed on to the next agenda very quickly I I don't think that that's a good uh structure to have in place something where it gets could be pushed
084on especially if it means this is something that the chair doesn't agree with because that's what we're talking about we're talking about a situation where where a board member asked for something to be added and the chair said no so if it is something that contentious I feel like having a little bit of a cushion of time to say within the next two regular board meetings would be a helpful addition to this edit to the bylaw I I got a proposal before I make that proposal uh proposed edit I just like to bring up it right now if the seven of us Miss Brown as an example because she's currently here if the seven of us seven additional board members present all want something done and something put on the agenda currently Miss Brown has
085the power to overrule the whole entire board by not placing that on the agenda and there's nothing we could do to stop her at a regular board meeting just using her as an example now not that she would do such a thing and now now that I said that um you could also call like you said we could also call it a special meeting the problem with the special meeting and the two meetings and all that about it goes past the um statutory requirement to call the meeting within the 14 calendar days we had pushed it often although that's why I pulled it back so I'm going to propose the following language on this one uh in addition to I think it'll help chairperson unless the agenda is requested by three board members then the
086item must be added to the regular agenda or on a special meeting as State what's that Buy Low number I don't have to buy low in front of me um or or at the next regular and then do you have that button Miss Baldwin yeah I just I just don't support this the way it's written I I would like I said I feel like it being mandated that it goes on the next agenda is not enough time for everyone to work through I feel like there should be something saying within the next two regular board meetings that's how I feel about it we met at committee last and spoke about this I think Mr Lombard it does have an accurate memory of the conversation because we did talk about um that it's not uncommon I've
087I've seen boards that have this provision three or more people can ask for an item to be placed on an agenda so that's not uncommon but what is uncommon is that it has to go right on the next agenda and so we did talk about some sort of consideration or review where the chairperson would acknowledge that the chair heard from three or more board members about an item of interest that the chairperson would then give a tentative timeline or date of when it would be on the next agenda that would likely occur through consultation with the superintendent because as you stated Miss Brown you're already working on the next agenda you're building the next meeting agenda so you have a sense of what that might look like you could then respond to the requesting three
088people that the meeting it can be on the next agenda or it could be on two weeks after that that you would provide a tentative timeline that that was part of the conversation that I think we had at committee and that we talked about maybe creating a letter C under the construction of agenda that said just that that upon review the chairperson would inform the three board members of a tentative timeline for um reviewing what was requested on the on an agenda thank you yeah I personally uh that makes more sense and more clarity just for organizational purposes but that's just my thoughts anyone else would like to share their thoughts on this item yeah I would like to say something right away I mean now that that's brought to the surface the discussion of
089what was going to be brought tonight had this letter C and that's why right away I spoke up because I'm thinking something's missing and so this isn't actually what this isn't what I recall passed through the committee so do we know what happened to the original documents I forwarded my loads to the war because I wanted in the packet so yeah it was I guess those changes were captured I'm not I'm not certain I'm trying to take notes as best as I can but uh so changing this as we go along and adding the letters but there is also something there's something in the special reading as well that was captured so I thought it was captured there rather than here so we could we could add a c right now but um well we
090could strike the whole thing all together because and just have more special meanings because with the suggested timeline I could just get three weeks whoever wants a special meeting could just call a special meeting and there's no hope of getting it on a regular board agenda and that's it that'll be quicker than going through the process has been suggested now I don't know I feel like even with what Dr Baldwin suggested I I understand exactly what you're saying but I'm also like that time in between if if it can get to the agenda but it just needs time because the staff or the people that are preparing it so if there is a I can give a tentative date that would help push things forward versus you know maybe if if you stop um referring
091to I might be a little helpful because it's not a direct attack I understand that well I'm saying eyes because currently you said put it in the sense of like who's here now and I'm only thinking even if it's not me or if it's not this current stat it just makes sense for whomever else is sitting here to probably have time to do those things because we've had agendas in the past where there was tons of research that needed to be done and then if it wasn't on the agenda it caused a big hiccup so we don't want that to happen if we want if you're three individuals or the three individuals come and bring it before the board make sure that they have everything they need to present before the board not have information
092which is what could happen with this currency I believe okay so let's go through can I just go through a scenario quickly let's say oh okay oh I'm sorry did I coach no no go ahead um let's say on Thursday three of us put in an agenda item we find it's not off on the it's not on the next agenda because we had him in calcitri and then why bother even going to the regular agenda when we could just call a special meeting and statutorily by law you have to put it on in the next 14 days why rather than put it directly towards the regular board meeting and have to be forced into a special meeting for us to call it or be in violation of State Statute to put it on that regular
093meeting that's the only reason in the bypass I'm actually not comfortable because we still have the other we still have the way to get around this either way with the special uh special special meeting and state statute so I'm willing to just strike that whole paragraph and just change the verbiages because it does it just doesn't make sense because it's another process to do that to make sure we have a meeting unfortunately it will just inconvenience everybody if we can't get it on a regular especially not just trying to not get extra steps Mr Lombard and I was thinking of this even before you made that comment Joe so I want to ask you this in all sincerity from your perspective being on the board the longest what would be a reason for three board
094members to prefer one or the other a special meeting or a regular meeting sometimes one would be more preferred sometimes the other more preferred because if there is an instance where one is more preferred then there's a reason to add this this this uh Clause because because where you want it to be addressed is in a regular board meeting or if there's not in the special meeting is just fine then maybe there isn't a reason to add this like you're saying so yeah address that uh because currently a special boy I mean it's 14 days we're looking to change calendar the days and what have you but again I so you're talking about 14 two weeks plus four days 18 to 20 days to schedule a special meeting board meetings are two weeks apart that's
09514 days it's a savings of six days and you know if something's not going to be put you know if the special reading is not going to be called so it is just the time A Time Saver and just a check and balance I I would suggest or just adding a language or at a regular ad or add a special board meeting called at the date or otherwise it's just gonna call it's just gonna make dual things but but I was trying to ask and I probably wasn't saying it's what I'm thinking is there a preference for a special meeting for someone to have their agenda item addressed within as opposed to it being addressed on a regular board meeting for any reason well right no well I'm retired so it really doesn't matter to
096me um seems like a lot a lot of y'all working may have trouble getting out to a special meeting club for a special purpose and I don't know if you noticed but we did have long agendas recently but we haven't had very many special meetings because things are being put on a regular agenda and being dealt with at one meeting if everybody's preference is two meetings that's all well and good but just just this the Dual track that we're gonna set up by doing it this by doing the way uh that's being proposed is that I'm pretty savvy I'll put in two requests I'll put in a requests with the board for regular meeting and then I'll put in a request for State statue at A special meeting and then either way it's getting hurt
097in the next 18 days so we have another meeting with everybody who has like all these careers and times time sensitive issues in their lives have to come out a special second day or do we put it on a regular board meeting so to me it sounds like it makes no difference in other words the the businesses will be conducted in either meeting either way they're open to the public either way we now have um you know public comment either way so so really there's no preference for it to be on a regular board meeting so I feel like if we're not going to require it to be on the very next regular board meeting then what you said maybe does make sense and just strike it all together um because you already have the
098mechanism right either that or I mean because this would encourage the chairperson to put it on to avoid a special meeting or at a special meeting to occur according to state statute or the bylaw what's by law or okay I lost it apologies construction special payday special meetings I I I I guess I'm thinking it through I can imagine there being a preference or a special meeting at times because then you know that is the agenda item that will be discussed and instead of it being added to a very possible long agenda item at a regular board meeting and it ends up getting tabled so now you've waited however many days for it to show up and then it got tabled anyway so so maybe maybe it actually is better to get it onto a
099special meeting but how about that let me um bear with me for a second um special let me just read off the special meetings on the 9140. 2A special meetings may be held when returned by the board when so called by the chairman or upon requested three board members as scheduled at a reasonable time and place to be determined by the chair to occur within 14 days of such requests now how about if bless this effort and I'll be quiet after this then we just insert that language as C and put an or at that point so I'ma just asked you to just repeat that again just in Clarity because I I see look faces looking like what okay so call about it okay this is the current language call by the chairperson unless the
100agenda item is requested by three or four board members then the item in then the item must be added to the agenda or a special meeting so-called by the chairman or schedule that or at a special meeting to be scheduled by the board within within um as according to buy low 9140. okay 91 30. oh we tracking this at all well I'm waiting for a little bit more right no but it might make sense and we can work on a language if I make it because it don't make sense to work on a language unless we got an agreement well if Mr Bennington had a question so Mr bennahan thank you madam chair um I'm received a test message like crazy and I'm a little confused too so let's go to the Clearfield point because
101I don't want to take too long talking about something you know because we have more things to discuss so the special meeting is like to have the special meeting with approved with the chair person or don't have the the special video so I want to clarify that that part so I can tell you something else well currently we have regular board meetings and special meetings right right now the only way three people the only way we can assure something is on the agenda is that a special meaning that the chair doesn't want to put on the agenda so three of us could call a special meeting we've done it I think twice we had to because the chair wasn't putting stuff on the agenda so that's not that was the only mechanism we had we
102had I was just trying to create an additional mechanism because sometimes we might need to address something before 20 days at the chair future chair may not want to address and just that's just a creation of an additional manner traditional track for us to get things on the agenda if we're in a position because who knows we got an election coming up with six seats up maybe two people left and maybe we might get six crazy people coming but uh um we have done the bylaws they said about the special meeting had to have a three board members you know sign and stuff like that if we have that why we gotta um who's gonna break that policy who's it going to be somebody's there of course you know I'm not gonna do it because
103the chairperson that the experience we had before but you know we keep going so I feel that if you haven't in the bylaws they say that training said you know the three board members that can call it a special meeting we had to keep going if the chairs say no the chair had to give you a good reason to say no because he's breaking the policy so and then this means we're going to have some issues with that chairperson can be Miss Brown they can be whatever can I come how you stay you know so stuff like that so and I know you're not gonna do that but my point is you know this isn't the bylaws I don't think so it happened you know to change it whoever come is Miss Brown state or
104whoever come had to follow the bylaws remember we are board members now that we're not going to joke we're not going back and forth we're going to stay too long crazy board occasion and whoever comes I know him we're gonna stay here you know working with that person to be sure that person is followed the bylaws the way it is nobody's here is going to break the policy like before we you know people did it before so if we haven't done that in the bylaws I don't think so we you know we didn't want to break in and we have to follow that's you know that's my opinion you know so I just want to say that for the record no more here um I was it Mr Lombard I don't know yep go ahead
105it was yeah I I I I I what this shakes out to be is shortening the 14 days you know this is this is this is aiming for it to be put on the very next regular board meeting so there goes the 14-day grace period that would have been available to the staff the chair the superintendent to prepare so I I feel like it's probably not a good idea so that's kind of how I think that's how I feel about it but at the same time I wouldn't mind a little bit if if she wouldn't mind a little more input from Dr Baldwin who indicated that this is not unheard of that some districts do have something like this where things go on the regular board but from your knowledge do they also have the
106mechanism where they can request a special meeting so they're doing both the double whammy or um I'm not familiar with the ability to request the special meeting and I think just to sort of frame the conversation again the uh policy that we're talking about is construction and posting of the agenda and the big idea around construction of the agenda is the shared work that takes place between the superintendent and the chairperson who represents the other members of the board and so the chairperson really does need to be facilitating conversations one-on-one making sure that the chairperson is hearing what sort of business of the board do my board members want to hear about the business of the school district and so that letter a is an important component of this policy framework B it is not
107uncommon for to have a provision where three board members can ask for something to get on an agenda I have experienced that and so what happens though is when and as you know the business of the district there are certain things that have to get to the board for approval whether it's a financial report some other pressing business that the board has to review at a time in a timely manner so thinking about this provision here where three people come together and say we really want to hear about niask accreditation at our high schools or we really want an in-depth report around sat performance so the chairperson then speaks to the superintendent you know we need these two reports when can we do it and then get back in a reasonable time frame to the
108board and so I think what I'm hearing is there there's been so many experiences here where people have asked for items and and perhaps it wasn't heard and so the construction of this provision is trying to um make sure that that doesn't happen and what I would say is continue to invest in your conversations continue to invest in uh in the dialogue and the collaboration and in the committed role that you each have to this work because then um we'll feel more confident about how this uh three people asking for an item and trusting that it will get on when the district leaders and the chairperson can find a reasonable place on the agenda and not hold people off and not you know just poo poo it so to speak it has to be addressed
109thank you so so so in other words you were you not that you're aware of was there another mechanism for them to have their items addressed that is correct okay yeah all right okay thank you yeah now where do we want to go with this because apparently it's we're going to go around a circle for quite a while do we want to add a c or do we want to strike the language altogether and just rely on a special media and as far as the special meetings we cannot eliminate them we cannot touch them there's a state statute that they have to be called within 14 days so that's going to stay no matter what we're doing here today so where do we want to go does anybody have suggested language to put or suggestion
110to strike the whole sentence altogether any thoughts yeah go ahead Mr Lombardo So currently it says any member of the board in normal situations the chair is working for the rest of the board members normal situations that's what you're hoping for and so if there was some reason that it wasn't going to be making it to the to the board meeting and there were two other board members that really wanted it as well since we now they can request a special meeting I think I think we kind of have something in place that that takes care of it it seems you know that that's how I feel about it so Mr uh Mr bennahan sorry thank you I agree with Mr Lombard said I'm I'm up with him you know let's get forward and I
111feel that the chairperson is there and you know is working with us and everything they don't need to stop or say no because our other members trying to do a special meeting because the chair person not put in an agenda you know they have to have a good reason so I'm agree with Mr said any thoughts no Mr still calling me yes let's um just strike this whole sentence and like I said we're not always dealing with the other board and everybody still has the right to call it a special meeting within the 14 days uh we might have a good level in uh chair at this moment but we may not always have such a chair so we always will have this special meeting available to us so I was just trying to give
112us another Avenue apparently start to taste it apart so I would make a motion to strike the last sentence last part of the sentence and leave it to end that chairperson and remove the rest second second by Mr lumbar any further discuss any further questions or discussion all right all in favor we got to structure this um motion to accept the first read as amended is there a second second by Mr banahan are there any further discussion Miss Cashmere is it microphone put your mic on just a quick question about 2B so so I remember that the weather was bad and it was decided that the meeting still wanted to go on so most of us I think were not most of us but they were a number of board members that were online that
113night wait hold on hold on where are you because uh to to be to posting of agenda B and then B who the chairperson has the whole discretion to cancel and he posted her schedule oh okay so so hold on okay so let me just finish my question so like that night that we were here and the chair person had to be in person at the meeting and everybody else got to like stay home because the weather was bad like does this eliminate that and say that you can go online instead or no you have so you literally have to physically be here eat you know although you like you said okay let's still have the meeting even though the weather is bad so if you make that decision then you still have to physically
114be here like you can't be online or all of us can't be online I guess that's what I'm asking yeah oh that that was an interesting meeting the chairperson did have the discretion to cancel that meeting but there were several time-sensitive to several time-sensitive issues and because of the way the storm fell we also bumped up against a statue that she could not reschedule the meeting in a timely manner to make it virtual so that's fine another problem with her but if she doesn't if she decides to hold the meeting and not reschedule it then that's why I was asking like can she can all of us like be online instead of her being here and it's like a snowstorm only if it meets the time requirements for the state gotcha thank you that's it
115yeah all right go ahead Mr Circle that's further discussion okay uh so it's been seconded um all in favor any opposed any abstentions Karen none motion carries all right I believe we are on to the next item which is a first read of bylaw 9170 Quorum and voting procedures then there's oh Mrs okolovic there's only one change on here but go ahead yes this one should be quick because everybody's going to agree with me right yeah we uh I'll make this same motion not to read this in his entirety everybody's read it there's only one uh motion to wave reading 9170 in its entirety and just highlight the one changes made second second by Mr lumbar are there any further questions all in favor uh any opposed any abstentions hair and none motion carries continue
116okay this one has only one change uh because everybody looks at 1A the majority of all Language new languages insert currents and then in parentheses should there be less than nine members of the board shall be necessary to Quant constitute a quorum for the transaction of business now we've ended up with um I don't know if everybody saw the city council in the issues they had with two-thirds people voting and all this and that we're down to eight board members if we drop one more board members we got seven so in order to have a meeting is that the majority of all members of the board which could be construed as nine we would need five but if we have seven board members the change of the language would mean four now it may seem
117like a ridiculous change but you'd think you would count only to members that exist but that didn't happen at the city council when they went for two-thirds vote uh for the charter change so I thought it would be prudent to put this language in here just for clarity's sake I think it's very crafty I like it are there any any other uh questions concerned in this item go ahead can you just give me one more example of what you're talking about with this give me tell me explain that again uh majority of all current reporters now if it says majority okay take out the red in your mind right majority of all members of the board shall be necessary to constitute a quorum for the transaction of business now if a down one board member
118right now saying it into room before we get another board member somebody somebody else resigns and then we have seven now as majority of all members of the board we're a nine member board two seats are empty if we get four people according to what the city council did got to count everybody in votes and quorums okay this is just saying we're counting the current members current existing board members if there's seven our Forum would be four I actually understand that thank you thank you all right Mr bennahan any questions all right would someone like to make the motion motion to accept the first read of policy 9170 exactly as it is second second by Mr bennahan any further questions all right all in favor aye aye any opposed any abstentions here and on motion
119carries last item first read of policy by law 9190 with public hearing this one is just okay I'll read the whole thing this is very very short public hearings may be held before the board at such times and places as the board May determine at least five days notice shall be given to the time place and purpose of doing such hearings the board will schedule public hearing at least once a quarter for a two-hour period for the purpose of highlighting Schools staff and student achievement the here's where the change comes in the chairperson superintendent whether designee will plan the agenda for and preside over all public hearings the reason this change was made because chairperson is gender neutral and changing the old bylaws in every single place where it did say chairperson the old board
120assertive chairman instead of chairperson in every single location so we're changing that back are there any further questions or thoughts on this item all right someone like to make the motion motion to accept the first read of public hearings by law 91.90 I mean is that 91 yes 91.90 as presented second second by Mr Bennigan any further discussion all in favor aye any opposed any abstentions hearing on is there a motion to adjourn so moved by Mr binahan is there a second everyone have a good night good night God bless you all