001we're sort of still in an exploratory knowledge gaming mode at that point so um Kelly I don't know if you want to just run through the agenda real quick and talk about um you know how we want to handle both of those items and what recommendation we as a committee can make to the board absolutely um thank you let me just start by sharing my screen so we have two items on the agenda tonight and we can do them in whichever order the committee would prefer uh the first is a regulation so it's advanced placement courses and changes to our existing regulations so it's not a policy but a reg update um and these when we go through it these are what we post specifically in the DHS course of study guide this is particularly
002related to advanced placement horses at Danbury High School and then the second item on the agenda um is bylaw 9321 time place and notice of meeting this was the bylaw that earlier in the year we had suspended for the last three months and had converted to the workshop and board meeting model kind of alternating and so we need to have a discussion um and make a decision regarding whether or not we want to reinstitute this policy in full make official changes to this policy or lift the suspension whatever the committee uh prefers so um if it's okay with you and then Kate we had also discussed just in preparation for this meeting um if we wanted to spend a little time at the end uh talking about the work of this committee kind of moving
003into the summer and fall for next year that all sounds good Kelly um it sounds like the regulation should be pretty cut and dry since our committee won't be doing anything other than learning about that so if we want to start there that'll be an easy one to cross someone do that thank you that's my screen will collaborate give me one second there we go um so what I did here is I just posted the current language so you could refer to what what currently exists related to advanced placement courses and then I'll go into the the new language that we're recommending um advanced placement courses as currently existing um is considered a full year course with a full year commitment meaning it runs from the first day of school to the last day of
004school um testing fees so advanced placement courses um also require advanced placement tests um and the fees are collected in the fall or in the month of September and in this existing policy students who do not submit the test fees will be withdrawn and will result in a WF which is a withdrawal URL failure um this does not refer to specific instances in which we uh support with fee waivers and so you'll see in the later policy we further spelled it out I want to clarify um in current we are doing the fee waivers it's just not listed in the regulation and probably should be um and then you'll see if you withdraw from AP course after the two-week Mark you receive a WF or a withdrawal your wealth failure for both semesters our typical
005withdrawal policy for all courses at the high school is within the first 10 days of school you must make a decision to stay in the course or to change courses and after that 10-day window um bearing an exceptional circumstance um no changes are made to the courses um so that's how it's currently written I'd like to then go through um the proposals for changes and just for reference we have um looked into received feedback from um Educators at Danbury High School the administrative team parents and families that have had to make changes and we've also looked into the advanced placement policies of districts surrounding us as well as similar districts urban districts in the state of Connecticut um and taking kind of um you know kind of a holistic approach at what others are doing
006and then try to apply it to what we feel will meet the needs of Danbury um so again continuation of advanced placement courses will be continued as a considered as a full year course so no change there um we note that testing fees will be collected in September again the same as the existing policy students who do not submit test fees by the end of the drop window with will be withdrawn from the class um and here we have a little asterisk and I'm going to refer you to the bottom if the AP registration fee causes hardship students are encouraged to discuss this with a school counselor prior to registering and fee waivers are available to eligible students again we're currently doing that but feel the need to spell that out specifically in the reg
007for Access so students are not just heard or dissuaded from taking the course because of the fee there is the provision for the fee waiver um and we do still this Falls within line of our open enrollment policy that all students at DHS will have access should they so choose to taking these advanced placement courses um this is where the changes come in kind of the next uh the paragraph not the bulleted part um students may drop the college prepper honors course and enroll in another course if available within the first two weeks of a school year so typical courses you get that two-week add or drop period um students taking AP courses may drop the course up to the last academic day in September so extending that window to about four weeks um it
008sometimes it could be four and a half depending on the school calendar but to the last academic day in September the reason for this change is feedback from students is that they're not um it's hard to get a taste of what an advanced placement course will fully entail within just 10 school days having the full month of September so usually a couple days in August in the full month of September really gives the student a true picture of the expectations the workload and so forth so extending that ad drop period gives them a little bit more flexibility to make a decision that best suits them academically and if they have enough credits in a given area to graduate because we do not want a student dropping a class and not being able to pick up
009another course that they need to graduate um and we we've put in there that it will be reviewed by either the principal so that'd be Dan Donovan or his designee um that then they may make that change by the the end of that September deadline students may not enroll in a new course class the standard ad drop window of two weeks so they can drop out of the AP beyond the two weeks but they can't add into another class as it'd be too late and students who draw decide to drop after the last day in September so that would be October or after we'll receive either a WP so withdrawal your while passing or WF withdrawal your while failing that's another substantial change um we were always if a kid was dropping it giving the
010WF and that's not indicative many students were passing the course with maybe a b or c but decided kind of holistically that they they felt they needed to make a change um and we don't want to penalize students and make it look like they were failing a course when in fact they weren't if they decide to Institute this change policy um so those are the the changes that we have recommended and I'm we'll pause here to see if there's any questions go ahead Terry I don't like it that it's not aligned with the uh being able to jump into another course it's two weeks you could jump into another course but you could stay on and then you end up either getting a WP or a WF it's kind of kind of yeah I just
011want to jump in for a second because I I want to make sure I heard you correct Kelly you're saying that they can drop the course within that first two weeks and then enroll in another course which is what you said Terry but then they have up until the last academic day in September to to withdraw from the um AP course without any I don't say um any penalty so no withdrawal on the on the record correct correct okay and if that happens they're obviously past that window like Terry's pointing out past that two weeks uh to be able to enroll in another course so that's why you guys have that language in there about making sure that they have to have enough credits to graduate in whatever particular area it is what happens to
012a student who withdraws let's say the third or fourth week of September so they're past that two-week window what happens to them during that block of time that they would have attended the AP course that would typically turn into a study hall period for that student and the reason why we're not able to keep open enrollment for the other classes is we um we have that 10-week ad drop you know being able to switch between courses very intentionally as beyond that 10th day the curriculum is usually too far um you know moved into the course for students to um to successfully enter um so that is why the provision for making sure that they have enough credits uh oftentimes we will see students that that enroll for example in three AP classes and just realize
013that the workload of those three classes are you know too much too heavy maybe they took an elective area like sometimes we'll see an AP Psychology for example um and they may decide that um that you know they're they're going to continue in their core academics which are graduation requirements they fulfilled all their other area intellective requirements and then are going to withdraw to that one one additional class um I think the important thing to know is that this is giving our students more latitude than they were receiving previously it does have the downside of if you are in the third or fourth week of September you do not have the availability to pick up another class but remember you will not be allowed to drop the class if you fall below the threshold of
014being um you know on track and eligible for graduation so that will be reviewed by Administration but all students will know this in advance of registering for the AP courses this will be a publicized policy will be reviewed with students and families so they will know going in that this that they have the two weeks to change into another class and then if they go beyond those two weeks that they can still have another about two weeks uh till the end of September uh to still withdraw without penalty and then beyond that there will be a penalty attached may I ask a question sure go ahead Bridget thanks um Kelly you had mentioned um that you had spoken extensively with um you know members of the school Community could you just expand a little bit
015on on who you talked to and and um you know the process of that so uh to getting getting to this you know um this revision sure um thank you so uh Cara Casimir and myself have worked together along with uh the Danbury High School administrators um Kevin Walston has also been involved in these conversations um so some of the things the feedback I will share with you first and foremost from families is um the WF uh being much too harsh um so it you know even if my student as Pat my child is passing a class um if they are withdraw after the 10-day Mark in the existing policy they're being penalized with that WF um which is um kind of keeping some kids reluctantly in in some of those classes um so that
016was a significant feedback um also talking with the administrators as far as making sure that kids that we are monitoring all kids for on track for graduation and having the flexibility within those first two weeks to make changes is very doable and reasonable um and and help and kids can change after some you know a week's time into another class and still be successful but beyond that two-week period um it becomes very very challenging for them to to catch up with the academics in that course um so those were two um you know driving factors we also reviewed um when we when we talked about the wp and the WF we reviewed existing policies around the area and while there's no one common practice we did see that many districts had um not as harsh
017of a policy as our current policy with the firm WF and that was a big point of helping us to flex to the availability to have a withdrawal year while passing or withdraw your wall failure so those are three kind of key takeaways for that um the other piece that we wanted to highlight in the changes were the fee waivers that is a lot of feedback from our school counseling department on number of students that are accessing those fee waivers and making sure that it's very explicit in in the course of study guide which is this reg for students to know that that is an option for them and also to remind them that registration for those AP exams happens in the fall of of the year in which they are more in that course
018okay thank you very much I appreciate you expanding on that thank you Jerry I've got a couple questions um you said first of all the requirements for AP courses are open to everybody it is open enrollment yes there's no minimum grade point average no so any student has the ability to enroll in an advanced placement course however that said we do encourage that our students are meeting with their school counselors to discuss their course of study paths which courses are most applicable for them and in their best interest to take so there is that School counseling component to Let's uh with students on families so let's talk about what is best for this child given what we know about them academically socially emotionally outside factors um so but it is an open enrollment policy we
019allow anyone who is willing and able to take on the challenge to do so and my other concern is we've increased the graduation uh number of credits needed to graduate um and now I I saw that not only we have uh that other course that was passed last year that's required now there's a climate course that's also going to be required in Connecticut that students need to take um if they take something like this and end up dropping it and going into study I don't see how that helps them at all um giving them you know that we have to have all these two required courses now for our students to graduate I I don't know so there's many required courses right there's a specific number of core academic courses so you have to take
020four years of English you have to take X number of years of science social studies mathematics Etc um I think you're referring to the personal finance course which was added as a graduation requirement as well um you have a Civics course you have different elective requirements so all of those are true and have have been um some of as the number of credits have has increased towards graduation some of those requirements have also increased but the reason here to have review by the principal or designee is to prevent exactly what your concern is Terry to prevent a student from putting themselves at Jeopardy for not being able to graduate on time so the student will be strongly encouraged to make a decision within that first two week window right because that is when they can
021go from an AP chem course to just a college prep or honors chem at that point in time right those first 10 days they can change across you know the same content area but into a college prep honors course um after that if the student still feels it's too much they will know in advance you will not be able to take pick up another course the principal or designing another administrator would review that information and if the student does not have enough credits to be on track for graduation we would not allow them to withdraw from the class so they would have to have a you know pretty heavy load um which many of our students in this situation do um and take into consideration the global picture of how they're going to be progressing
022towards that ultimate goal of graduation uh by instituting this policy and extending the withdrawal period a little bit longer we are certainly not looking to put any additional children at risk for graduation we're just looking to open up the options to make sure that we're encouraging kids um to try these AP courses that's a good experience at mimics a college-like experience for students we want as many students to try that as possible but we also recognize that for some um they they get either you know too much of a workload as far as a number of courses that they're taking or realize that that particular content is a little bit of a stretch for them and this just gives some latitude for that thank you thank you very much um Kate if I make sure
023go ahead um Kelly would you mind sending me uh what you have a bottom of the screen uh tomorrow morning if you don't mind absolutely it's also linked right within the agenda but I'll share this document okay it's not I didn't see it the version we got yeah I will reforge you the linked agenda you'll have everything thank you awesome thank you very much appreciate it I apologize that it wasn't in there yeah you explained it beautifully thank you uh are there any other questions from either committee members or I'll open this up all such non-committee members as well okay thank you um so it sounds like uh that regulation is definitely going to be an improvement um just offering our students more flexibility so appreciate you taking the time to put that together Kelly
024um did you want to move on to the second agenda item I can do that great thank you do we need to vote on it or no this is a regulation um and so it's you know it's you know done in in accordance with policies and it's something that is a regulation that they use to run the schools so it's really under the the purview of the administration and not us okay but um I assume it will assume it'll appear as a point of information on the uh the next board meeting it will so yes it will just be for information on the board packet but we know that this has been something um it is going to be a change that we wanted to bring to the entire board's attention um and so we
025will put it there for information and can certainly answer any questions for the full board at that time but it there's no need to take action on that particular item thank you Kelly so the second one this is one that we we do need to take action on um this is the um uh bylaws of the board which talks about um the regular meeting schedule um so if you recall a few months back we had suspended a portion of this um to allow us to move to the um Workshop followed by a board meeting within a given month so that one meeting a month would be a workshop one meeting a month would be a board meeting um and so this is coming back to the policy committee for discussion uh to see if you
026would like to go back to the previous practice of having two board meetings in a month or continue what we've trialed for the last few months with one Workshop one board meeting um so I will open it up to discussion um amongst you and can certainly be here to answer any questions you have about what the revisions would look like all right who who would like to kick this conversation off go ahead Terry no Bridget it's Bridget [Laughter] so um I'm gonna go back to what I said at the board meeting uh gosh a while ago I just don't I I don't feel like we've trialled it for long enough um if it was uh it is my inclination to try this model for at least a year so that we can see if it
027works for us I think we've had a sort of a a taste or an introduction to this model if you will for the last few months and um although I I think it's been working I think that um the ebb and the flow of the work that we do as a board um we'd be I think we would understand the ebb and flow of of the this this setup better if we gave ourselves at least a year to experience it um I I would I would uh Advocate that we do it for a little bit longer to see if it is something that continues to to work or not work for us so my two cents thank you virgin Tara um I don't see any difference to be honest with you still seems like a
028regular board meeting whether it's a work difference maybe having it longer you know extending it on further I would see more of it but it's to me it's still the same yeah I think I think yeah I agree with you Terry I think a lot of the the content of those meetings is the same but I don't believe we've been handling action items at the workshops um because I don't think we we technically can um so the workshops you know don't include like okay we have to have approval of previous minutes or if we have like a policy that comes before the board that would only happen at the official board meeting um that's been the most substantive difference that I've noticed um one of the things that um when this idea was introduced that
029Mr Walston discussed was the idea of having the workshops take place at different locations different schools um across the city um with the intent I guess of you know having a presentation you know like we've have we've had you know the um individual schools come in and do a presentation on their program or an aspect of their program that they want to share with the board um you know we talked about actually being in the other uh schools to try to see them and have the receive the presentation there um so that would be something that I think you know could could benefit all of us on the board and so Bridget as you were talking about not having enough time to really test this um that that was my thought like it would be
030great to to sort of realize this in the way that it was originally proposed um I think that would be really helpful I think that gives us a contextual understanding of the buildings the building needs uh you know it's more than just having uh what's on the agenda we're actually seeing um more of the district and I think that's really useful I think that'd be great if we could do it that way too fine with me I'd just like to see something different well I think um you know again like I think the bigger question is what is our what does our workload look like in the fall uh in terms of you know different actions that we may have to take as a board um you know what frequency we're trying to handle different
031policies for example or different uh you know aspects of things um and I'm not sure the policy I mean it makes sense for us to have this conversation with the policy committee obviously because this is something that we've done on a temporary basis but I think this is probably a larger board conversation as far as you know how we want how people feel about the way that things are operating right now with the format we're using versus you know what we how we might handle it differently um Kate could we could we possibly thank you um could we possibly recommend to the board you know instead of voting on this for a yes and or no um you know for from our position on policy could we recommend that the board take this up as
032a discussion item um at the next regular meeting I that's what I would be most comfortable doing yeah that's what I would be most comfortable doing um Julie do you have any thoughts Gladys did you want to chime in I'm sorry um I was going to say I feel say Mr Risa I mean and I also feel the same as Bridget I feel that we haven't actually given enough time to decide it and then I feel the same as Theresa I feel I don't I don't feel much difference right now um based on the time on the um while we touch on Basics on the meaning so I'm open to either um running for a longer time to see if more people are interested or um stop with the trial I mean I'm open to
033both suggestions okay thank you thank you Gladys yeah oh I could go for a longer time to see would it will it work uh I have a problem with we as a board making [Music] um an item to discuss and as we used to do this at the old board members is the the chairperson will bring this item back to the board to say this is what's going to be on the workshop and I think why it to me it feels like we're doing the same thing as we're doing at a board meeting versus voting and taking I action items on thing taking action on an item is we have a hat and a part in what we're going to be discussing and and I feel like if we're going to talk about the Career
034Academy you say to the board okay that's our Workshop is going to be about the Career Academy and I haven't unless someone else is getting the information besides me you know we don't know until we get to the workshop what the workshop is about to get the information uh I felt within the last couple of months and maybe because I really wasn't applying myself 100 is in between the time that you have the board workshops and in between the time that you have your board meeting there are certain committees there are certain duties there are certain obligation that you really need to do and we fall off by the wayside we're really not not that I want to have more meetings but it's got to be something that's different and I don't know what that
035difference is only thing is I can tell you right now I'm not comfortable with the board Workshop first and then the board meeting so I have to sort that out of my mind thank you for the feedback Terry I thought we were going to have like experts like the lawyer the it's the gentleman lawyer Mr Money yeah come and talk to uh you know kind of like expound on some educational law uh you know that type of thing to work to make us a better board that's what I was thinking when I think of a workshop at thinking more in that vein that I thought we were going to do but I'm not sure if I got that mixed up with something else I think you're you're on the right track I mean um you
036know in in looking at what a workshop is supposed to function as there's supposed to be like sort of a targeted subject that we're there to discuss and that may result in bringing in someone to speak with the board about that it may not but the idea is that we would you know we would be focused on a very specific area you know for the majority of the meeting and I think you know there there's a needle that the the group is trying to thread here in you know making one of these um meetings a workshop so that it's sort of a confined timeline first of all um and still accommodating some of the things that folks on the board Express concern about I know that one of the things that came up was we
037don't really want to eliminate opportunities for the public to come in and speak with us about what might be happening in the schools and so you know they they were that was the start of adding you know public comment at a workshop which normally would never happen um you know we we talked about adding in you know the the superintendent's report because we want to make sure we were continuing to get updates from the superintendent regularly so slowly what happened is that that model of a workshop sort of morphed into this like Middle Ground between an actual workshop and a board meeting um and I think that's why you know it's hard to sort of differentiate and we have you know a lot of members of our board who um you know have have only
038been here for a certain period of time and so I'm I I can understand why there's confusion here because they're that's sort of like the normal experience for those folks um and that makes it you know a little bit harder to to sort of have everybody weigh in on it um but I do think I really overlooked it as a committee here to to try to move forward with a decision on this because I think it's a it's a the same as it was a full board conversation initially before we even looked at this policy and suspending this policy um you know it's I think to go back the other way is it requires the same level of uh involvement from everybody so you know I I agree with you Bridget should be I think
039I my my best recommendation would probably be to have a discussion about this with the board I don't know you know I don't want to get into like a 20 30 minute conversation about it but I also think you know we need to have a sense of what the whole group is thinking about how this format is working or not working because it's it's I think the way that it was initially presented we've moved away from that to try to satisfy some of the concerns that were expressed but we basically just kind of reinvented the wheel of what a meeting might look like so I'm not sure it's served its purpose and if that's the case then we may as well um you know reapply this policy because we're just having meetings anyways go ahead
040Gladys but wouldn't it be fair overboard and like I said I have sit on this board of many many years to say to the board members what would be your idea for a workshop this month and I and I'm trying to say we have no input in that and it might be and I don't want to pay Mr Mooney to come down here and talk but it might be some board members that want to ask a particular question to Mr Mooney that we feel like that we can do it at a workshop I'm just set back in the way that we gonna have a workshop and no board members you have uh 11 board members beside the chairperson and there's no input as to what that Workshop is going to be like you know maybe
041we don't want to hear Dean talk about the Career Academy this time maybe we want to hear about special ed the way we want to know about the ell students only only within that Perimeter at that workshop and and we set a time frame from 6 to 7 30 and be done with it because it's to me we're into the same cycle that we're doing at a board meeting yeah yeah so if I'm hearing you correctly you're suggesting that part of this conver a second component of this conversation be how we uh how we create a space where everybody on the board can make a request for different uh subjects for the workshop piece of this not so much everybody I don't think you need to go to 10 board members that ask them what
042you want to talk about I think you need a consensus as to you know glad you want to talk about yeah our student this this yeah you know children that are bringing home bad lunches you know there's some other things going on in the school system beside uh you know some of the things that we talked about at Boardman I'm just saying if we had the opportunity as a group to say okay and it's a majority let's talk about special ed okay that's just where I'm coming from I think the question then becomes do we want to continue to do regular meetings second and fourth uh Wednesdays and then supplement that with workshops I think the reason we had moved away from that is people were feeling a little bit overwhelmed by the frequency of
043committee meetings and board meetings um but I think that's the reason that's a reasonable question to ask just huh I hear what you're saying I I and maybe that's a maybe that's a question of us you know having some way that we brainstorm you know uh a list and then we have you know some process by which we narrow that list down and pick you know three or four things during the course of a year to have a workshop on um but I but I it it you know we're still not answering the question here and again I don't know that it's appropriate for us to do so do we want to move back to the way that we used to operate it doesn't feel like we've moved very far from the way we were
044operating before I don't think that right now would the the newer people that's on and and even some of those that have been on a long time they don't understand uh you know the procedures of the board and I would say at least at least another six months or a year to make that decision okay because you know come uh you know and I don't want to throw this in there but come November you could have a whole uh new set of board members that's absolutely true yeah so Kelly let me ask you um no I you know I I just think to go and say yes now we're going to do the workshop I think we can continue on doing it the way we're doing it right now and then after the election in
045January we should sit back and say okay you know we we know who the players are and uh if we want to do a workshop and do one board meeting and try it I that's just where I'm coming from um Kate if I may go ahead version I'm sorry Bridget sorry no can you hold that thought for just a second Terry was was um how many people are up for re-election on the board seven so you're gonna get a maybe new crop we're not going to be familiar at all well what's transpired the last couple months um I would I would suggest maybe uh from August to October try that format and then judge judge it at that point with the board that we currently have if you want to do it that way or
046just wait until after the election and make a final judgment on it uh with the new members it just seems um we don't know how the election is going to pan out who's coming back because that's a that's more than half the board right that's um so that's uh you're affecting the whole new board uh I would say do it maybe another three months you know August September October uh but do something at a workshop component like we were originally talking about um uh special ed um discussion a ell uh discussion you know in those three months just to give us a taste of what it should what it should look like um just my thoughts thank you Terry Bridget um I I just uh given the fact that the election is coming up it
047does seem kind of precipitous of us to make any kind of recommendation about this so you know hearkening back to what I said earlier I I kind of and listening to what Gladys had to say and what Terry had to say and what you had to say Kate um it does seem like it might be best if we just continue on with the model that we have adopted and then the board and our recommendation as a policy committee could be that we the board take it up as a point of discussion in November or December um it just it just seems uh it just seems like we might be setting up you know a new board for or you know possibly uh for things that they don't know about and it feels a little awkward
048especially not having everybody's input on this you know agreed with that I agree with that so Kelly um in looking at this policy now we suspended this policy is that correct so if we were to just not take any action on it it would continue to be suspended until he came back to revisit it yes I do need to double check though I think we originally said on the vote and I I would need to call those specific meaning minutes through the end of this school year so you would need to make a motion to advance that if you wanted to continue the suspension into the next school year can we do it as on like an indefinite basis or do we have to stay a date um you you can make any changes that
049that you want as long as you play some motion and vote on it so you you don't have to put an end date okay but I believe the first time we did it I know there was a hesitation on how long this goes making sure we have a defined time to review it um in the easiest way and you could also you could also you could make a motion to suspend it for an indefinite amount of time you can make a motion to suspend it for a you know defined amount of time you could also make a motion to change it and you could always make a motion to change it back I mean those are your different options um I think what I would put forward and I'm curious to hear what other people
050feel about this is I would put in a motion uh to keep this policy suspended um through the end of October next year um I feel like at that point we could revisit for conversation if we have to what do folks think about that Jerry I think sorry go ahead Bridget no I wait I'm sorry I don't want to talk over you you go first sorry I just um I kind of like that because I remember when I first got on the board I was lost I wouldn't know what to rule on so giving that the opportunity for the new people to make this I think it's a major decision going forward we could still keep it like you said till the end of October and uh suspend suspended to the end of October and
051then the new board can revisit it when they're ready okay if we if we did just to clarify if we did this through the end of October um the new members of the board potential members of the board won't be seated until um December December so we've been aware sorry yes that's correct January 24th January 2024 would be the start of their terms so we would still have um a meeting two meetings in November uh during which we could discuss this because December we typically don't um conduct any business other than the elections so um we would have if we if we keep this through the end of October it would still allow the current board that's in place to make an assessment based on their experience which I I think is probably the smarter
052way to go okay I agree I agree uh just to confirm the motion would be if someone were to make it a motion to continue to suspend our current meeting policy through October of 2024. yes to extend to extend 2023 2023 sorry thank you Terry and if I could just interject we just suspended um the portion of the policy that talked about the two meetings a month um being board meeting so it was I would I would specify that you're suspending one c um because that was the part that we removed not the entire policy um because there's other pieces that still apply absolutely yeah thank you very much Kelly thank you Kelly Gladys good yeah and this has kind of bothered me uh if we're going to move forward and and we're going to
053suspend it and we you know and and I'm looking at this and you know I know the board is not um shouldn't be a political thing but again we're talking about the new board members are going to be seated in January so why not suspend this bring it before the board in January and let let them make a decision as to how they want to move forward with the workshop foreign than to do except October November so I think I'm getting a little bit stuck on that Gladys because I don't necessarily like if we're onboarding new members in January they're not going to know the difference between these things they're going to have had no experience with the board or with any of the the meetings hypothetically um do we does it make sense for
054them to be making a decision about this why not if they just got elected to come on and serve for four years you know I I I can play you know we can sit here and talk about this and we can go back and forth you know whichever uh one that you're comfortable with we can move forward with but to me it would be more logical because whether you got seven new people on or one new people person on you know uh they they should be able and their partner should be able to explain to them that this is this was a change that the board because I've heard it already in the community from Community leaders this is what the board is doing one Workshop a month and one board meeting a month I'm
055just saying to me and and maybe it's me an old age you know it would just make sense to bring this back in January and say okay you know election everything is done and uh you know it could say the previous board decided that this is the way that we were going to move forward with the the the uh board meetings and the workshops I don't you know I I don't I yeah I can I can understand both sides of this I hear I hear what you're saying does it make sense for for folks who may not be continuing to sit on the board to make a decision for the folks who are coming forward after um and I understand that point as well um well let me let me ask amongst uh the folks
056on the committee here uh what would what do you what do you think of of that um dilemma would you be more in support of holding it through uh the end of October or through the end of December okay go ahead um I personally like the idea of having it through October and with our review in November and that and this Korean boy can make a recommendation to the next board this is what we determine and let them decide as Gladys wants but I think we sh because there's no meetings you said in December and they're still and this current board is still on board in November this will give us time to uh gather input from the whole board from The Last Cup last three months what's going on okay that's my feeling okay
057so you would you would keep the suspension in place through the end of October with the idea that we would make a recommendation to the incoming board in January uh but it would be a recommendation it would not be a hard and fast decision right half of that report right okay right I didn't know this would this would sort of let us revisit this conversation at least at the policy committee level um in November to have that conversation yes I would you would have to have the conversation my recommendation would be before the end of the suspension whatever date you decide that right because you would have that before absolutely yeah take action on before the pal before the suspension expires otherwise by default it will go back to the typical model okay okay so
058it would have to be through the end of uh be through the beginning of January then it could be any time period that you that you designate I guess what I'm saying though is if it's going to expire at the end of October for example you'd have to you'd have to propose to the board at some time in October before it expires and making a recommendation one way or another and I think you would only have probably a handful of board meetings maybe like four under your belt at that point in time okay yeah okay sorry I didn't mean no no that's helpful that's helpful in the timeline yeah and you can always take action you could sorry Bridget you could always take action sooner so let's say you suspended it through pick a date
059you could always decide two months prior to that you want to take action and change it if you've got enough feedback from the board okay okay so maybe maybe we're better off uh setting that end date through let's say January 15th because my hope would be that we would have a policy meeting prior to the January 15th in the new year yes we'll see maybe not work out that way um uh Bridget and Julie what do you guys think of it um I'm comfortable with the with uh suspending it through the January date knowing that we're going to be you know talking about it at policy meetings prior to that so I think that actually beats both um both what Gladys was saying and what Terry was saying so you know we we get to
060um to January and we make a more informed decision January but we've gotten to that point by having discussion about it too so um so I'm I'm comfortable with that and if I could just possibly read back the perspective motion to make sure that I have it um written the the right way um so a perspective motion would be to continue to suspend policy 9321 specifically section 1C through January 15th of 2024. yes okay that would be the motion um Julie uh does that sound okay to you as well yes it makes sense all right um so who would like to make that motion resistance you put it together you wanna okay um Let me let me bring close to my eyes to not wearing glasses um to so the motion would be to continue
061to suspend policy nine three two one section 1C through the end of January 15 2024. through January 15 2024. so there's an emotion made by Brigid and Terry's going to second that motion thank you all those in favor please sign by saying aye all right any uh anyone opposed many abstentions emotion so carries thank you very much all right Kelly thank you for walking us through that and letting us uh being patient while we sorted it out there appreciate that thank you Gladys yes thank you so um I'm sorry if I could just add one thing Kate um if there are particular things that that this committee the policy committee or the flow board would like to see um in those Board of workshops there's definitely things that um we put on like the data
062presentations related to State assessment or chronic absenteeism and so forth so there's definitely things that um you know Kevin uh superintendent Walston and the cabinet you know feel are important to update the board on throughout the year um but certainly if there are additional topics that you're hoping um to see workshops on um now would be a good time to think through that for the fall um and certainly for that information to us so I know that was something else that came up um to make sure that the the workshops are useful and meaningful that that's the intent of it um so if there's something that you want to see on a particular topic whether it be related to Mr Mooney doing something or something more extensive on you know special ed ESL whatever it
063may be um academies we can certainly meet that need just let us know what what your thinking is there thank you Kelly and that that certainly uh you know reinforces what Mr Walston himself did share with us which is that he's looking for feedback from the board about areas of school operations that we want to hear about so hopefully we'll all put on our thinking caps and come up with some some some things we'd like to see um I'm going to segue to to the close of this I know Terry you've got to get going but um you know we're getting close to seven o'clock here and we finish the items on the agenda there is one more thing I just wanted to discuss and uh you know Kelly and Kim and I spoke briefly
064about this we are scheduled to have another committee meeting on uh June 21st and we don't really have um any policies that are Urgent to review at that time so I think we're going to cancel that meeting um we don't we don't it's not going to serve any function for us um with that in mind I just want to talk a little bit about sort of where the status is of our our current situation with policy and sort of like you know what direction um we need to be moving in as we come back uh in the fall um the key uh so Cabe has been hosting our policies we made a decision to invest in their services and have them uh pull over our paper policies onto their digital platform we have them digitally
065on our website but they were not easily searchable and uh just kind of a cumbersome setup so we did make that decision to work with kabe on this and um it seems like when the information was pulled over uh to their platform that there are some some gaps there um and really what it requires is that um some time is spent going through and kind of comparing our existing policies and the policies that Cabe has posted as our policies within their database to do some comparison I mean this is our first time using a service like that and I think we're still trying to figure out how to effectively use that service and decide whether or not it's really the most efficient method for the way that we want to handle our policies so um
066you know I think what's going to happen is over the summer Kelly and Kim and you know perhaps some other other employees will be taking a very hard look um uh at comparing the two sets of policies and kind of coming forward with you know a strong assessment of um where where things are and whether or not we should continue to invest in this service um and I think you know it's also going to give us a good layout for how we can start to tackle each of the series of policies there's policies labeled from the zeros to the nine thousands I believe is the the numbers um and each one of those sections handles different things and it's the it's the responsibility of this committee to go through those policies on a regular basis
067to make sure number one that we're staying compliant with any updates that come down from the state or the federal level and two to make sure that they're up to date uh to our current situation so if we have circumstances that change like we went we did when we went through um uh the pandemic and we had to make adjustments to you know like face mask policies and bring those forward um but there are those kind of changes happen on a much smaller level as well um but we just need to make sure our policies are staying current to what our situation is so that would requires us to do a regular review of those policies and to make sure also that they're notated with the current uh the current date that we did our
068last review because if you look back and and Kelly thank you for bringing this to my attention um there are some policies where um you know we've done a review of them since the last you've probably made any formal changes and can you hear me you froze what was the date okay I I didn't specify a date I was just saying that there are policies we've reviewed since the last time that changes were made to the policy but we haven't updated them with the last time that we did a review so the reflecting old dates but they have been looked at since then and it really for the benefit of anybody who might be looking at that information it would be beneficial for us to put the date that we last did a review on
069a policy even if it stays the same so that folks understand we are continuously reviewing these policies and making sure we're staying current with where we're supposed to be um so that's that's sort of where where things are at go ahead Terry uh I'm very familiar with keeping a policy book and while that's a good suggestion I never changed the date on a policy uh when it was approved I never ever do that I changed the date when it's approved so you know this is the policy that was approved back in 2017. if there's an update then you on the thing you say updated in 2023 I have never ever uh said you know across the board okay I reviewed it on this day um because I consistently did it every year um so I'm
070very familiar with keeping policy books like at wescon uh even at the live the little Library one we have uh I think that's you got to be very careful um you could say policy book in the beginning uh reviewed on this day but I don't touch policy dates approval dates at all that's my strong recommendation okay thank you for that feedback I might be using uh not the right vernacular here so that could be part of you know I'm just communicating a little bit um but I think it's fine it's fine no you do want to show that you reviewed it and I think Rachel would have touched on this last year and we never did it and I'm very I would be very hell uh happy to help with this except I work during
071the day there was off you know different hours I I would be glad to help um like I said I I gotta which Kira gave me a hard copy of the book and the policies that we have approved I've appended to it and I kept the minutes to the policies that we have changed since in one year so um I mean that's that's what I do and Kara was very kind she she updated she just she gave me the policy book but I agree with you we got to be in sync with cave and yeah and Rachel said their policy is a little bit off than what we we have yeah so and you got to have somebody who knows what what's going on like Kelly yep um and and you know Kelly and Kim
072you know have have provided us excellent guidance um on this committee uh so that we can we can come to the table and make these decisions um I just think we need to make sure also that we're making other folks aware in the district that we're paying attention to these you know this information we're doing our due diligence it's our responsibility policy is one of the biggest responsibilities I think that the board has and you can see that the recommendations we make out of this committee that go to the born level um you know they have on occasion been some that come back to the committee for further discussion or for you know changes that they that the board wants to see as a whole but um most for the most part the board does
073end up adopting almost all the policies that we'd recommend at this committee so it's a big responsibility that we have and I just want to make sure we're honoring that and and making sure that folks are aware that we're honoring it because that's our accountability so kid if I could just add I went back the order yes um and even in the um you know the midst of the pandemic perfect over 30 policies um in that time so our first priority was to make sure that any um policies that we needed to Institute ASAP were done um and we have uh taken care of those and so now it's really looking through it series by series um to determine um if there's any revisions tweaks changes or just a general radio that's okay thank you
074Kelly um so I think you know that's that's sort of where things are at um and the hope is again in the fall to come back to the table uh kind of fresh and make a decision about how we're going to proceed to go through these policies and uh and sort of lay a course for the coming year um one thing I do want to mention to the the committee members here um you know it's our it's very helpful if we can come into these conversations having read through the policies and sort of having some notes jotted down about sort of what we're thinking about them and and um you know to be able to start and jump right into the conversation we've spent there's been some committee meetings where we've spent a lot of
075time Ford smithing um and and kind of going through on a with a very fine-tooth comb um that makes it really laborious to go through these I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't pay very close attention to what it is we're doing it's just very helpful that people can come prepared um but typically when we get the agendas there are clickable links that we can go through and take a look at those policies um and you know being able to come to the table so that with with a common understanding of what that is just makes it easier for us to have those conversations it just makes the whole process a little bit more fluid so I just want to mention that out loud to folks so that you know as we start to go through
076the series of these different policies some of which are very extensive um and and really will require quite a bit of time um that we that we come to this the meetings prepared and and ready to um you know move through the discussion and take action okay um I don't think I have anything further Kelly I just want to make sure if you there's anything that I left out or if there's anything uh you need to mention that you have an opportunity no I think you covered it all well so Kim and I will work hard over the summer to kind of get an updated lay of the land um and be ready to go for the start of next school year school year wonderful thank you so much thank you all and Kelly if
077I can help in any way let me know like I said I took care of the Wisconsin faculty handbook uh for 20 years uh so I'm used to but I gotta know the to compare it to what what is accurate and what isn't it and I'd be glad to help and meet after work I I know that's tough for you or even before work I could come in thank you I appreciate that sure all right if there are no other concerns or comments from committee members I think we're going to look for a motion to adjourn please so moved so moved by Terry can I have a second please second Thank You Bridget all those in favor signify by saying aye aye