001I'm going to call this meeting to order and thank everybody for uh joining us this evening um we have an agenda to rundown with four different items and we are going to start with uh policy 31711 non-aps education fund um You probably recall that we discussed this at uh the last board I'm sorry two board meetings ago we approved that and that the finance team is in the process of opening that account so this here that we're looking at is a policy which is an optional policy but basically outlines the function of that fund that is correct and we um you know we was in part of the board agenda we also have Mike Weaver here uh this evening should there be any questions about it uh it is new uh State Statute um so
002this is something that the board can do uh the policy is optional because it is State statue um but we thought it would be a good idea to bring it forward to the policy committee we are recommending um an addition of this policy um to our dber Board of AD policies but are available to answer questions I I I think because it's a state requirement and now we're doing a policy I think it's a wise thing to do to flesh it out a little bit for us I think it's a good thing thanks for the feedback anybody else hi Kate everyone else hi um in sitting in the section sessions with cab uh it is recommended that we do have a policy regarding this issue um and having looked over the I'm assuming that this
003policy that is presented before us is um I think at the top it said something about cave is it it is a it is a c recommended policy I just scroll to the top Wanita it's P1 uh 31 71.1 correct I um but is the wording Kelly coming from um we just kind of put in Danberry Public Schools the only thing that was edited was our district name in this policy it is word for word the c recommended additional policy um correct the only choice um Wanita and the rest of the committee that we could potentially eliminate I'm going to scroll down is for Regional School Districts this section does not apply to us we are not a Regional School District um it was left in here because it is the cave policy for um
004uh non-regional school districts like ours and Regional School Districts it has both parts um I I don't see the need to include the reference to the regional school districts in the Danbury policy that would be one tweak but we did leave it here so you would see the entirety of the cave recommended policy is it that just one paragraph there it it is uh it's the three paragraphs right here so it's at the end right it's right up to here um so it's I just highlighted it it's the um section that says Reserve funds for educational expenditures Regional School Districts um and there are three paragraphs underneath that that that only refer to Regional School Districts that's not Public Schools so you could in fact strike that out um and then the last um kind
005of paragraph here does apply to our district so I would recommend you leave that in any other um questions comments concerns about this policy so Kelly uh we would take out the those three paragraphs one two three three especially the bottom one that says the board shall an submit a complete and detailed report so that's what you want to eliminate at the end that third part of that paragraph that's correct and the reason for this is this um uh Miss Cooper is referring to if you are Regional boards that's multiple towns it's an annual report that goes back to each town danry okay the the B section we keep down below that is correct keep B section okay um did did any F anybody find that some of the wording was redundant um saying the
006same thing over and over again um I'll try to go to the paragraph uh paragraph number two from the top any expenditure do you see that right correct and it says um any expenditure from such account shall be made only for educational purposes and under the following conditions and if you um look at number two each expenditure from such account shall be made only for educational purposes once again um I I'm just wondering do we have to continue to state that um it in my opinion if if I could um miss canadaa the I feel like it um it is slightly redundant but I also think the numbering one two and three is here are the three components that everyone should consider when we're talking about this account and they want to be very specific
007there um we could certainly alter the cave policy um but I don't think it's I don't think it hurts anything to be repetitive of important or critical information um I guess a quick question I mean the the C policies that are presented to us those are drawn up by their legal team I assume that that is my understanding okay um one of the things that did come out of the sessions and especially on this topic was um and some other policies was the wordiness um of policies and that we as a committee always need to look at um streamlining so that's why I I mentioned that um and um I and we did discuss in our session with my session when I was in the session with them and it came up um over and
008over so I'm glad to see this in this document from cab is that the um the Board of Ed um is the author ized body for the expenditures out of that fund that is correct I don't I mean Miss Harris I don't know if you want to do here you could say um I'm just highlighting here on the screen any expenditures from the non-aps educational fund shall be authorized by the Board of Education and under the following conditions you could eliminate this educational purposes right here that I'm highlighted in blue um because it's specified in item two below if you're if one of the concerns is wordiness I I don't think it loses meaning by cutting that out if we would like to do so well I yeah and so I'm just bringing that to
009the committee that that was something that came out of the session and as I read it um it continued to um you know kind of repeat that over and over again um Kelly could you repeat what you said sure So one suggestion that I have under the paragraph two for the committee to consider is the second sentence there is uh that starts with each expenditure from such account shall be made only for educational purposes you could eliminate that and just combine the two sentences because that point is outlined further in bullet point number or item number two below um so I I'm I'm questioning why they even put in paragraph number two starting at the top when they had mentioned in the first paragraph not to exceed 2% um when they had mentioned in the
010next paragraph just the first uh sentence and not stopping any expenditure shall be authorized solely by the Board of Education and each expenditure from such account shall be made only for educational purposes period and then they instead of having a period there they went on to say and under the following conditions well you're just repeating what the conditions you already said in paragraph number one the 2% for educational purposes number two and authorized by the board I it it just seemed redundant yeah it's redundant wanting to and I think it's also a little bit confusing because when you look at that second sentence in paragraph two it says each expenditure from such account shall be made only for educational purposes and under the following conditions and then item number one is such deposited amount does
011not exceed 2% of the total budget appropriation so it doesn't really make sense in conjunction with the the sentence that precedes it uh because you're talking about an expenditure versus a deposit correct so I agree that there's some conflicting information in here the way it's written um um it appears as if paragraph number one already says uh Pro further in provided such deposited amount does not exceed 2% of the total budgeted um appropriation for education for such prior fiscal year pursuant to um and it goes on to give us the statute so it seems as though they're repeating that again in number one in paragraph two um and as you said paragraph two talks about expenditure and yet they went on and number number one talks about deposit right do you see I see what
012you're saying and but I do like the idea that they they pulled it out and enumerated the items which is a lot quicker to read but it is confusing but I like the enumeration if it can be reworked and and kept instead of in paragraph form the uh I like the idea of one two three so let's maybe we can brainstorm a way to um use that formatting and uh rework some of the paragraphs or the paragraph information above it um I think what is confusing though is it's hard to have those three bullet points under one um One Umbrella sentence because it's talking about two different functions right um can we separate them out could we keep that first paragraph and then for the second one say each expenditure from such account shall meet
013the following conditions and then have bullets two and three underneath it so each expenditure from such account shall be made only for educational purposes and each each such expenditure shall be authorized by the danburry board of education so do away with that first bullet point do away with a fair amount of the language in the second paragraph but keep that first paragraph yeah paragraph two eliminate sentence number one if you start with each expenditure from such account shall be made under the following conditions number one each expenditure from such account shall be made for educational purposes number two each such expenditure shall be authorized by the Danberry Board of Ed so that takes care of the expend under that paragraph does that sound okay to everyone I'm confused now I'm sorry I'm confused we're keeping
014your bullets one and two okay we're keeping one and two well we're keeping two and three right I'm sorry yeah it'll be revised to say one and two under paragraph two we still need to uh Teresa put in the expenditure if we want the deposit um so I would propose that we keep that first paragraph it it is a little bit wordy but it it does encapsulate everything and it also references uh the state statute which I think is important so but it will pull out the bullet from paragraph two correct it would eliminate the bullet from paragraph two and to your point renumbering those other bullet points underneath it so just to be clear anybody else anybody else with [Music] comments do you want to be clear Kate so just to be clear we'll
015keep that first paragraph the second paragraph will take the second sentence and revise it to each expenditure from such account shall be made under the following conditions we'll eliminate bullet point one and we will renumber bullet points 2 and three to be bullet points one and two so let's take a quick look at that and make sure everybody's uh in agreement here thank you Kelly for doing that leg work on screen for us sorry if it's a little busy looks good looks good I'm just and then I'm just for Clarity I'm going to strike through these ones as well uh which we already discussed the um Regional thank you um so my only other question is and I'm sure you know we can't see this far into the future but would there ever be a
016reason for this um account to be discontinued do any anybody it's a state statute now I don't think we can well the state statute allows us to open the account that's what it does um it doesn't say that we're required to open the account um the only circumstance I could think that might come into play is if we find ourselves in a situation where we have absolutely no we we spend the funds in the account and then we do not replenish them um I don't know what that means in terms of the bank cost of keeping the account open if there is a cost that would be the only circumstance I could think of Mike could you weigh in on that at all I don't believe that there is um a cost to keeping the
017account open I think that this is um they put in there that you know you have the authority to discontinue um if if you want but I couldn't foresee a reason that we that we would do that or that you would do that would that be something that has to come to the full board for a vote much like the opening of the non-aps account has to come to the full board for a vote it's how it reads to me yeah the last paragraph addresses that such fund may be discontinued after the recommendation and approval of the board thank you yeah that was my only question so this revised policy then looks okay to you one it looks good to me anybody else Terry bye glus any feedback no I you know you guys make
018the decision I'm just sitting here tonight I want to read it more because I didn't have the the uh Authority I I want to read it and digest it more okay what the changes that you're making okay um I guess given that we've gone through this review and we're in uh agreement here I'm looking for for a motion to recommend this policy to the board for a first read so moved thank you Anita may I have a second please second thank you Terry uh all those in favor please signify by saying I I I motion carries at 624 that will go to the board for first read okay so now we're going to talk about uh policy 414 0.2 4240 point2 compensation of central office exempt staff um we had some conversation around the board
019table about this and oneita um I'm looking to you for the feedback that you wanted to provide uh on this particular policy okay um again if I'm and anybody please correct me if I'm wrong um we were told that this is a statute correct okay um but it also is not mandated it's not something that we have to have correct okay you mean as a policy correct because it is mandated we have to follow we have to follow it anyways because it's mandated by the state um and the policy is optional but uh here for you know sort of our information and understanding of how that state statute plays out just like the policy we just looked at also not a mandatory policy for us to adopt but they're just so that we as a
020board and the public uh looking at the board knows what uh what's guiding us forward okay um Kate have we and I'm looking to you because you're the chair have we ever had a copy of that statute or can you give me the statute number uh as it relates to this particular policy you mean as it yes yes would you like me to clarify there there's not a statute that says how you compensate your exempt or what we would call employees at will or contract in place there's no there's not a statute about that there's a statutory scheme about how um employers of many kinds may choose to compensate people um this policy it goes back to 19 I want to say It's 1999 it's been with us the whole time and it has lived
021through a whole bunch of um machinations in the law about what employees it will look like and how they're compensated and how they're um how they're employed um many be hired or fired at any any time as long as there are no discriminatory animists that's been around for literally decades and this policy I think was simply a way to put some structure by a board on how to how to issue that compensation so it talks about there being a plan and there being an a board allocation so to answer your question there is not a statute there is not a law per se there is an additional web of laws around what is super intendent responsibilities and obligations are those are in that 10151 section those are all about superintendent um authority responsibility and a
022whole body of case law that goes with it so I don't want you to think that there is some law that we could point to but this is really nothing more than putting some structure around what is a common law idea about employment at will okay I then I'm totally confused because I kept hearing over and over as we discussed this policy that there was a a statute that was the term that was used so I'm confused about that okay and um the other thing then is why aren't we looking at the 500 um policies if that is what you're using to support this no all due respect um um I have never said that there was a statute for this I've never said that what I've described is a statutory scheme around employment in
023general and around a superintendent's responsibilities and a board's responsibilities um but if you look there you know that section 10151 outlines all of how boards ofet are organized this policy again since 1999 is an embodiment of what we call a common law practice of how you compensate people who are not otherwise in a collective bargaining or agreement or contract so I I I have never said there was a statute that this tracks because that's not the case uh I I seem to remember with banita that there was a statute okay well go back I just want to clarify that yeah I I may have referred to it in that way um and and that is my mistake um my misunderstanding of what was being discussed because I know on more than one occasion I have
024said that um but I was my impression that that was a state statute um so I appreciate the clarification this evening there is a state statute around a superintendent's roles and obligations right right that's where that's where this comes in because that and we have had that conversation many times about what is within the um role of the superintendent as CEO of the organization that's governed by Statute and that's 51 series okay so perhaps we're looking at um the wrong series um so that we can get better clarification of if if we're looking at now we're talking about looking at the role of the superintendant um this policy um has no statement in it um with regard with regard to that it is strictly talking about the Board of Ed um the members on the
025board of ed um and um I think that we would be remiss if we did not go back and look at the policy section that Kim is now presenting or or we're we are discussing um because this may not this policy may not be in the right section okay so so 10151 um Wanita is the Connecticut General statutes section 10-11 and that involves teacher the teacher tenure Act and the and the the circumstances around the formation of a school district and the roles and responsibilities so 10151 is Connecticut General statutes section 10-11 and it's not uncommon for um and you've heard or at least people who served on this Committee in the past have heard me say that when you look at a body of policies like this what these policies do is they Endeavor
026to fill in gaps where the statute statutes may be vague or unclear to give you more guidelines but they can never conflict with state law so in so far as they do conflict with state law they're invalid so often what I have said is um better to be a person of fewer words on these step on these policies so as not to conflict with state law but at the end of the day they can never be allowed to conflict with state law state law is supreme Teresa sorry um I'll come back to you one I just find it vague talking about a Compensation Plan that we don't see uh and that and to approve something we don't see uh outside of giving us a number um of you know it just seems vague you know
027how do we know it's appropriate and Equitable there's we don't get it you know just going across the board that's it so um I mean to that end I think when we have and we we had this conversation last time but I'm going Bring It Forward again because I I'm still thinking along the same track which is that when we hire the superintendent uh the review of these folks who fall within the central office exempt staff um are directly under the superintendent purview uh that's their supervisor that's the person who's evaluating them um and so when but how do we know it's Equitable we don't it we don't see it believe that I'm just saying we don't see it sure well I think there's a different way in which we see it Terry and and
028that's in that when you look at uh the bargaining groups that we work with um we see what the percentage is we see what the concessions are that we make for those different contracts and then we can compare that and see what the superintendent is intending to do uh with his or her plan with the central office staff uh in comparison and in the context of those other contractual um Arrangements that are made I don't think we're in a position to evaluate the equitability amongst the different staff members that are part of the central office exempt staff that's again that's under the purview of the superintendent but we can examine the rate the the the uh compensation again for that particular group in the context of the compensation that we're affording the other bargaining groups
029that we're working with oneita so let me just Begin by saying um one of the statements that was made was this has been an ongoing policy um which was adopted on October 27th 1999 again maybe others um were able to look at this policy I really think that as a board we need to dive deeper um we have words that are um placed in here that are not specific and very subjective and um it to it makes me feel uncomfortable to say um because it says the Board of Ed it's what we believe to be appropriate what we believe to be Equitable uh compens compens ation uh the Compensation Plan um you know I I'm I'm hearing you Teresa I I based on what um and so I think I hear what you saying Kate
030is then it's based on the evaluation that um our superintendent does of the central Administration um so I'm going to go back to if if you're talking about um looking at other bargaining units then look at let's look at their um plan of of uh appropriate and Equitable um one of the things is is that you're you're probably absolutely right we're not there on a daily basis we don't see uh what the central office staff does and to what level um but we certainly have a plan where our professional Educators must um they they have to show growth they have to show their their work is on a scale it's based on um all of those things I don't see what the scale is that the the how are they rated how is it you
031know what is the scale that is used um is it selective and because everybody is lumped in one big group it makes it very difficult um for us as a board to say well you know okay I guess everybody everybody moved across the board everybody gets compensated everybody earned it everybody but respectfully that's that's what happens with our our teaching staff for example I mean that it's a grid system so that if they stay employed with us because their performance is satisfactory Enough by by the evaluation process they're going to automatically move up whether they're showing exemplary progress or not so it's not really different in that regard I mean I I understand your concern I think part of the other issue is that if you're looking for a similar scale the responsibilities that come
032with a lot of these different positions are different they don't look the same they're not comparable so it's kind of hard unless you're building a single you know an evaluation system for each person individually each position individually um and that's you know that's again where we we look to the superintendent to sort of make those judgments and assessments based on what they need to do and it's it it's part of what governs our our our process too when we're negotiating you know we just did a negotiation with our it team for example and we know we have a fixed group I think it's like somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 employees in that in that particular group um and they got a substantial uh increase U much more so than some of the other bargaining
033units and the reason that the board moved in that direction is because we acknowledge that from a market position it's very hard to hire for these jobs um and if we do not stay competitive then those folks are going to leave our district and we're relying on their employment with us so you know we we do make those kind of um judgments you know as a as a board in the context of what's happening and what we're asking the superintendent to do you know through this policy is to we're acknowledging through this policy that you know the superintendent has to do has to provide a similar function that the board does in evaluating employees and determining you know um what they need to do to keep that their offices running I guess what I what
034I'd be looking for at this point is do you do you guys have some specific language here that you are you know particularly concerned about or that you feel you know might need some adjusting it might be a better reflection of sort of you know what what you what we're trying to accomplish here um because if there is specific language you know we can we can take a look at that but if we're just going to talk in broader terms then I think we have to really evaluate it you know in the same plane that we're evaluating all these other um contracts I I do oh go ahead krie sorry you uh I just uh administrative and support positions are different and I don't see a plan that explains this um I just see everything
035lumped together and that's that's where I have a problem you were talking about it positions that's different that's different from teaching different from janitorial different from office staff but these are two separate uh lines of uh employment and the they're lumped together uh we're leaving it up to the superintendent to determine what's Equitable because we don't see anything we just it's just across the board I just find it it's a little Loosey Goosey that's yeah I hear your concern I I think from my perspective I'm not sure what we can do in terms of tightening the policy on this I think that's maybe a conversation that we have with the superintendent as we go through the superintendent evaluation process to say Hey you know we're looking for um you know a better understanding of why
036you're doing what you're doing and and sort of a separation of you know these different groups right but I think that's where that conversation takes place I'm not sure I'm not sure we can put that into a policy piece because what we're saying with the policy is we're putting it in the hands of the superintendent to make this decision and we're going to authorize an allotment for the superintendent to make the decision so we're we're we're empowering the the superintendent to make those decisions based on you know what she may be seeing in performance what she may be seeing in the job market um and our our reflection or response to whatever she does decide isn't a policy thing it's what our interaction is with the superintendent according to what we her her performance to
037be now I agree with you to that extent but here in the P the first sentence that a Compensation Plan should be established for exempt administrator okay to me to what I see is just a a a broad brush stroke of this is what I want boom there's it's to me it's not professional enough breaking it down um okay this this group here this group here this group here because there there's there's different categories in that certif what do you call exempt staff and it's just too broad um but how how would we I guess my question is like how would we put that into policy right because if let's just say I'm going to give you a hypothetical um rpt staff is part of this group um let's just say that we suddenly experience
038um a real deficit of people to fill those roles and so all of a sudden we have to you know punch up the salary that we're offering for somebody to provide that service because we can't find staff to retain for that particular function and we need to in order to fulfill you know our responsibilities for special EDS Services right so if if we don't have that codified in this policy because we've broken it we've broken the policy down into different categories and things like that if we don't have it codified in such a way that allows us allows the superintendent to make that decision and you know jump that that particular um salary up in order to meet the market demand then we would have to go back and revise the policy so that it
039could be done my concern is those fluctuating conditions are always going to be going on so it's it's going to be hard for us to predict right no no what I I'm looking for is just a structured uh grid with the different categories uh and some sort of you know compensation for this level of group because it's hard to find or this is uh this this category is uh critical this category is not as critical uh so so I just find it's too broad a stroke that's my problem uh and policies that's what they do but here that we don't really see a plan that's my my my issue and and there's no structure for the different groups I I understand you gotta be um we got to Pivot quickly on a lot of uh
040jobs to fill I I realize that's an issue but I was looking at this word comp you know Equitable Compensation Plan be established and I don't see us I've never seen a plan established for this group it's just a broad stroke well to your point though and I I understand your concern I hear what you're saying to me um point though that onus of that plan and that development of that plan falls on the superintendent it's not a function of us spelling it out in the policy committee or even in the policy what we're doing with thec policy is saying it's our expectation that you're going to develop this plan and so that's why I say like during the superintendent evaluation process that's when we say we have this policy this is what the policy
041says and this is our expectation about how you're going to execute that so you know this is what we want to see from you okay but there may be other parts of this policy that feel like maybe they're they're not helpful towards that goal so I just want to make sure as we go through this policy you know that we're looking at it and we had talked one of the the points that came forward was we typically don't see the the spelling out of the allotment until June right when when the budget's already passed the allotment is already part of it and so I had a suggestion that was brought forward by Mr janelli and he suggested that in the um second paragraph it says you know by July 1 the Board of Education shall
042the allocation he suggested that we might add in that paragraph something that says details supporting the proposal allocation um should be provided within the budget cycle preparation so that we would see the spelling out of the allocation during the budget process and have an opportunity to offer some feedback at that point rather than yeah being at the tail end yeah I like that I like that yeah something like that that's fine how about you Lita um I'm I'm still on paragraph one [Music] could I asked the question because I'm sort of I I really want to know what do you want to see I heard the allotment how she is going to aot the money okay and we haven't seen that because she's new we went through the process many years ago and and and
043I'm sort of confused because I really want to know specific words what you want to see we hir superintendent and over the past they have bought and and and and I'm not saying that correct but I've sit on the board 32 years with lawyers and doctors and some of everybody with credentials okay now if we have hired the superintendent to do or make a decision and as a board do that's not our respons responsibility to know every Tom tick and Mary that she's giv a raise to it's within her privity to say okay this group is over here whoever it is and and I get the the the feeling that you want to attach names to a category am I hearing that or I'm not I'm not on the right no not names no not
044names uh titles positions well we have seen that we have seen that over various uh presentation that we have gotten we' seen titles so then we come up with Mr janelli and and I agree would come up we give her the alotment and leave the decision to her as to how she's going to use that alotment if it's a million dollars she's going to use it for whatever purpose we we are supposed to be going on her decision as to how the people are performing whether they're staying out they're not coming in they're good you know we don't we're not in the classroom so to me if she is a leader and we are supposed to be taking her word as to yeah Mary needs to go because she's not performing and and we go
045on I I I don't know maybe I'm not hearing things the way they are supposed to be heard and I just need somebody to correct me one one of the things um that was disturbing to me glattus was that everybody regardless of their title regardless of their position was grouped together and um just as central office staff as Teresa was saying everybody's title and positions um are are different yeah but that whole group came out of central office right the whole group came out of central office as far as I can tell yes yes I would agree and so um Kate asked for some specifics about the policy and so I believe that in that first paragraph going down to the sentence that begins with uh the aim of this Compensation Plan shall be to
046attract and retain competent employees everybody see that okay next sentence benefits for such Personnel shall be equal to those of other uh comparable employees of the school system I don't I don't know who who that is then um I am definitely definitely against the last sentence I think it should come out um I personally don't have any issue removing that last sentence at all [Music] um I mean I don't think when you say when we say benefits for such Personnel shall be equal to those of other comparable employees of the school system um I'm not sure that I know who those comparable employees are either but I think it's just to establish that we're looking at this particular group even though they're not unionized we're looking at them in the context of our other bargaining
047units and saying basically we want equal uh consideration given to them that we're giving to bargaining units so that's how I'm reading that that is my understanding of that as well um you know you have people in there that are similar of similar job responsibility to secretaries Union similar responsibilities to teachers unions similar responsibilities to administrative unions um and so therefore you are kind of taking a look at the wages and benefits package that those unions have have received to make sure that it is comparable or fair and appable yes yes can can can I ask sure go ahead Teresa the secretaries Union for example what raise did they get give us a second we will pull it up to be honest with you as a professional administrative assistant at Westcon for many years my
048rate my raise rate was never comparable to what the administration got never and I was not Union I was you know non bargaining and I'm just floored floored that there it's just it's just the wild west here it's the wild west um I mean I think I'm not sure we can draw a direct comparison to what they do at the University level to what we do here um so I do want to just be cautious about that but um you know in in looking at the numbers again I think the feedback has to be given to the superintendent directly and what we're talking about here is creating uh asking her to create an appropriate and Equitable Compensation Plan so if that looks a certain way to us as a board then we have the communic
049and the contact through the superintendent evaluation process to say again this is what our expectation is this is how we're looking at it this is what our lenses and we're looking for you to reflect that back in how you're going to use this allotment and the benefit of putting that allotment review during the budget cycle is to be able to offer some feedback before it's enacted right because again our I think the pickle we find ourselves in a lot is that we're looking at this allotment and the breakdown and how it's going to be used in July and at that point you know we in June rather at that point it feels like there there's really no control or or influence that we can have on that process and exactly yes that's the the feedback
050that I'm getting from from um this committee certainly but from other folks as well on the board so um so let's can we can we do this um can we take out that last that last line in the first paragraph additional compensation and benefits may be provided in recognition of meritorious service yes um I will have to do it offline and and I can display it on the screen right now this document I don't have um the edit access is is off so as soon as I pull it off the screen I can make the edits okay now Terry you you're getting that record as well right because you're doing the here the last the last sentence of the first paragraph correct that's one we're going to remove that one okay um and then um
051do do you does every do the committee members uh feel like we could add in some language uh like Mr janelly had suggested um He suggests details supporting the proposal allocation should be provided within the budget cycle preparation does that language sound okay but the the question becomes will it will she be able to provide it within that cycle you just can't say provide it she might be able to provide it in May when she won't be able to provide it until July I think that's incumbent on the superintendent to to give us that feedback um but this is also a conversation we' had with the superintendent and to that point you know I think part of it too is how do we make determination what that allocation should look like as a board if
052right don't have any sense of you know what the super intend intends to do with it we're just gonna say okay here's a lump sum of money we're just gonna put it aside no I didn't mean it no there is a lump s of money and and again I I just don't feel where you're going that's my only question leave it like that okay because it's you know whether it's on the agenda again it's up for discussion so committee members what are what are we thinking at this point here I go ahead Teresa no go ahead W go ahead if sorry I I agree with the suggestion to add in um have to be yeah what's the wording that we would add in um and I can do it in live time now if you
053want me to add it in just tell me what you want thank you um what about something like the board requests details supporting the proposal allocation supporting the proposed allocation proposal allocation be provided within the budget cycle preparation this is the sentence that you just dictated that I wrote and just tell me if you want it adjusted thank you yeah that I think that's fine I think that's really what that would be a big help knowing ahead of time instead of the last minute what do you think Wanita and that's not to say that um an allocation will not be made um I I think that we all are appreciative of the work that the cabinet members in the central office do um so I don't think it's a matter of um compensation or not
054allocation or not um but it I think it's a matter of a transparency and discussion prior to July 1 now I do want to just address one thing that glattus said um which is that you know the evaluation process takes place over over the course of a a school year and so in asking the superintendent to provide this information UPF front um you know six months before we get to the end of school um I think we as a board need to understand that there may be adjustments to that allocation before the end of the school year depending on what may happen um so I I think there needs to that's why the phrasing is the way that the phrasing is here we're requesting details that support that allocation but we understand as a board
055that there may be adjustments to that proposal correct I agree could another word be used instead of uh request what are you thinking I I'm not thinking because I'm you know that's not down that's one of my forte to me when I see that you you're asking somebody for request that's more or less demanded there should be a pleasant way and maybe you know maybe I can't think of a pleasant way to say it we're quiet how about the Board of Education uh a review of the details yeah you know this poliy committee yeah I I just don't like that word request i' I've never liked it or the Board of Education shall review shall be or shall be provided details okay could provide details to review yeah yeah be provided there so it just
056reads the Board of Education shall review details supporting the proposal allocation within the budget cycle preparation how does that sound I like that better one un it sounds okay to you sounds good to me I just have one other question sure you ready for my question Teresa sorry I'm run as fast as I can no I just I want to make sure it sounds okay to you oh yeah yes it does okay go ahead oneita okay so my question is is that you know the next part that begins with the letter [Music] R the uh yes that is we've we've uh established the policy that's the what and so the how is the our part the procedure how that is there uh any time that we would be able to in our meeting with the
057superintendent to review the existing how because it was back in 1999 just to give suggestions because she is the one to come up with the um Compensation Plan but that how that's old also just to give suggestions sure Kim when we when we handle uh when we handle reviews for policies that have regulations attached to them uh my experience so far on the board we've not made any changes or adjustments to a regulation can you talk about that process a little bit and how that that might work yeah so I think one's idea is a good one I think that you know if you want to have a conversation with Dr casmiro in the context of working with her on what you would like to see this plan look like that's I think I I
058I would have that conversation first and then have the regulations modified to meet whatever it is you know whatever you like it to look like um the regulations are typically actually in every case they're just internally crafted set of procedures um so they're not you know they're not anything that you would have to vote you would have to do second reading all that that's really why that that's arranged that way so um I think to meet you know the goals of this conversation I I think I would have a conversation Express what you would like to see and come to some sort of you know understanding about your expectations so nobody's surprised when it comes around the next year and then we can backtrack and and modify the regulations there's no need for further action
059we just put them in great thank you all right so Wanita the answer is yes we can do that okay all right right um so I feel like we've had a fair amount of conversation on this but I certainly don't want to uh move forward until everybody is comfortable uh so let's take a consensus here um does this policy look look okay with folks now yes okay um then I will look for a motion uh to recommend the first read or sorry this will be a second read at board level with these portions um Kim just from a procedural standpoint we're okay to send this for a second read with these amendments um I think what would happen is when it comes for the second read what I would recommend is we put in kind
060of a motion practice right there to have one of you it could be you as the policy committee chairperson say um that you'd like to amend the second red you know the version as second R to make these changes and have people vote on those because in between the first and second read is when that dialogue is supposed to happen when anybody might suggest changes so it would be appropriate for them as the policy chair it would be appropriate for anybody else to suggest them and then you can vote on this as edited or as you know as amended in your conversation okay and just to be clear once it clears a second read it at board level it now becomes policy that's right okay thank you um so I'm looking for a motion to
061recommend this uh amended policy to the board for a second read is the motion to move this recommended oh God second I I think maybe even you might just be you might just take a consensus of your group that it's the consensus of the group that at the second read that you is the chair will make the proposed amendments or the proposed changes what I'm saying because you already got it out there pending so really what you're trying to do is you're trying to get consensus around this group that someone is going to change the first read to this language okay so we don't even really need a motion out of committee okay so consense I think you have a consensus to move forward with these CH recommending these changes is that is that accurate
062want you to it is all right Teresa that's accurate with you as well yes a consensus to move forward to GL are you in agreement yes yes I'm here to amend the first read so it's a consensus Among Us that uh we will bring this policy forward for a second read at the board level and that we will recommend uh changes discussed this evening Elly okay it but the second the second reading is the fin the final reading yeah correct it would be the same as if anybody came to that meeting your next board meeting and they say here it is for the second read and someone says I move to amend it it would be the same thing um Kelly if you can put that added language in red or something that will distinguish
063it as added language I saw the strikeout language is I it's done I highlighted it thank you so it's a consensus to move forward to to recommend for a second read y uh to the full sorry to the full board for a second read of policy 414 0.2 42402 uh with amendments discussed this evening okay all right you got all that where's the site facilities all right okay so moving forward policy 513 1.8 electronic devices uh Kelly did you want to introduce that conversation um yes and I think if we could just start with an introduction and a discussion this is quite a mey policy so I uh you know we could do whatever uh the committee's pleasure is but I think it's just important that we walk through what happened with this um electronic
064devices policy essentially a cell phone policy um we heard from the state department um of Education that there was a position statement and policy guidance for personal technology use in schools in Connecticut um and cab came up with two model policies um that uh reflected how districts could implement this um and essentially it was a choice between using one policy or the other under uh superintendent casemiro's uh guidance uh we convened a committee that was representative of uh teachers administrators parents um Board of Ed members uh and a community representative uh to really talk about uh this um position statement from the Board of Ed uh talk about current practices in our schools uh K12 uh with cell phones both uh the advantages and disadvantages of it um and then review the two model C
065policies and give some feedback and suggestions um we met on three different occasions across uh September into I believe it was early October um and essentially um the recommendation of the committee uh was to move forward with one of the two cave model policies uh the committee was um there was some differences of opinion Parts they liked from each one um but felt that the first policy the first recommended policy from C which is the one you have in front of you tonight with a couple tweaks to clarify language um was the one that they would like to see move forward um so this uh what I would like to ask is that all committee members spend some time it's quite a lengthy policy looking through this uh electronic devices it's not just cell phones
066it also goes um to you know the SmartWatches and and other devices that we probably don't even know exist yet that will come out um so that we can provide some regulations around that um it is very important to know um very similar to uh what Miss Harris was just asking with the regulations on the previous policy we will still need to develop some regulations underneath this that helps our administrator Institute and lift this policy um educating families educating students and um you know what should happen if and when the policy is violated uh so this is the the hard work of the um the committee uh the cell phone uh committee subgroup that met um really to bring this uh first model policy from C forward like I said with a couple minor tweaks
067and changes um and I just want to publicly thank everyone that took um quite a few hours out of their time Kate I know that you were there to participate with us um as well as Al and uh really it it was a very um strong you know good dialogue um essentially uh everyone on the committee recognizing the advantages that technology brings our children for sure but how it can also cause a lot of interference um in you know in learning in school in the school environment so um it is the pleasure of everyone that was in that small subgroup committee to move forward with instituting a policy in the district regarding uh personal electronic devices for kids so I don't know if there's any questions about the work leading up but this is like
068I said quite a medy policy that I I think everyone should spend some time reading and maybe bringing back particular either a questions or B suggestions um of points of clarification or additional language that might need need to be added to this policy did anybody look at other school policies like Waterberry torington yep so there are some other uh policies um we did uh we did some research on other policies that have been put into place many districts that are implementing this is quite new um so these are newer policies um but we did uh feel that uh kind of in an alignment with our work leading up to here that the cave policy again had the statutory references language um really clear and spelled out and we went along with this there are a
069number of districts that have already implemented um you know a a noell policy um in their districts thank you so um Kelly are you thinking that we'll revisit this at the next uh committee meeting um unless people are prepared with questions and suggestions today I think it would be best probably to revisit this next meeting Wanita Teresa glattus sure is that okay with you all I think it's great I'm sorry I didn't hear the question I'm babysitting that's quite all right uh we just were saying that given the length of this policy and the how much there is to read and look at uh it may be better to move this to the next policy meeting so that folks have some time to go over it and really review it in depth and then bring
070back any questions or uh uh additions suggestions they may have for it I agree okay all right Kelly thank you for bringing that forward and I also just want to thank the folks that met for that committee um it was really informative and helpful to hear from uh different stakeholders within our community about how they're feeling about those Electronics in the classroom so oh I was just gonna add sorry I think to an extent in a variety of different buildings we've already implemented some pieces and practices of this policy which is good news um but it's bringing consistency and uniformity across the district which I think is is really important absolutely all right we're going to keep moving down the agenda to the last item here which is the discussion about uh Middle School attendance
071at DHS football games so this item we thought would be a good one to bring up at policy uh we are not asking for a policy to be devised around this um but there was uh there has been some recent concern um happy to report that the last game went much better um but a couple a couple weeks back um we have seen an increase in M middle school students participating in High School athletics particularly in this season we've seen it at football games which is wonderful we encourage the participation of our middle school students you know they're excited about entering danur High School it gives them kind of a taste of of some of the extracurricular offerings and activities um but what what we did notice is that many students were being dropped off
072um and we did have some um challenges with behaviors at these after school activities and it was mostly of middle school students that were on the high school property or grounds um we are not alone in this the CIA has reported other districts um that are having similar um things so what we did um is we reviewed the number of you know police officers we have there the number of Staff we have there the administrative team that we have present in supervising and and um while we could always do more we do feel that we have an adequate number of supports in place and we did speak with our athletic director on that um we felt in on October 21st uh the superintendent set out this letter to our Middle School families um essentially talking
073to them about we think it's wonderful that middle schoolers are coming and participating in these activities but we are strongly recommending you can see right here um that middle school students attending an event at DHS be accompanied by an adult um and part of that is for some some monitoring we are not saying that it has to necessarily be their own parent or Guardian um it could be you know a parent that is bringing a couple of students to participate in the event um but we just want to make sure that we can continue to allow all students to safely participate in these um these athletic events and other activities um while keeping you know um the the crowds at Bay and and kids um and and Spectators and and athletes safe so this was
074really more a fore information in case there's questions that come out about why uh we did this another thing we did is we did look into surrounding districts there are some districts that require this not all um but uh like most often was in response to similar circumstances um we had as you know some of the um DHS athletic facilities up at the high school we've been fortunate enough to have some upgrades um we did have a group of students and again I think kids being kids but they were running as a group and charging offence and you know some that that could destroy property um a child could get hurt um in the process and those are the types of things that we're trying to avoid so you don't need us to act on
075this just for discussion for your information we felt that um it is an extension a reminder um to our parents um we love participation in extracurriculars we want to see our students involved whether they're engaged in the event as an athlete or spectator on the sidelines um but that our discipline code um you know does stand at other extracurricular activities and we will enforce it and you will see that in the paragraph above um you know and again uh we we hate to have to put a more strict or stringent ban on on this um but safety will always be our priority absolutely so really just an FYI um no policy needed at this time but um in case there were questions about um a lot of times people will use the word policy because
076we sent out a notification to notify uh families and we just wanted to make sure that this committee um was aware of our guidance regarding this thank you Kelly committee members any questions oneita so um no question just a comment um I'm so glad to hear that the same message is being sent over and over again I know that um at the uh Citywide PTO glattus has been very consistently reminding people to review with their children um the our code of conduct and so it's good to hear here that um Kelly thank you that you are putting we're consistently putting that message out um that we do have a code of conduct we will stick by it and it knowing what it is hopefully that will curb some of the behaviors and this was put
077out and thank you U Miss Harris this was put out in advance of our homecoming game and all reports are that um things went well at that at that last event so I think it had a very positive reception um you know by our community and we're really just asking for parents to partner with us for the benefit of their children good news any other uh questions on on this all right I don't see any so it is uh 7:23 I'm looking for a motion to adjourn please motion to adjourn thank you Wanita may I have a second second thank you Terry all those in favor please signify by saying I I I