10/26/2022 - Azusa Unified School District Board Governance Meeting

001well good evening and welcome to this governance meeting for the Azusa Unified School District Board of Education on October 25th 2022 the time is now 5 30. p.m and we will call this meeting to order and we will begin with our flag this brings us to 1.3 hour roll call and we will begin with board member ariannis present board member Cruz Gonzalez here board member Beau here board member Rodriguez Pena president and I uh Boardman McGregor I'm also here next we move to 2.0 and specifically 2.1 approval of the agenda is there a motion on the floor second moved by board member adianis seconded by board member Rodriguez Pena any discussion hearing none we will move to a vote why don't we go ahead and do a hand vote uh board member ariannis yes board

002member Cruz Gonzalez here yes board member Beau yes board member Rodriguez Pena yes and I am also a yes and so the motion pass is 5vs who knows uh zero knows next we go to 3.0 and specifically 3.1 public comment on agenda or non-agend items I do not see anyone here to leave a comment uh Lika do you see anyone online with their hand raised we do not have any hands raised online okay thank you in that case we will move to 4.0 which is General functions and specifically 4.1 which is our board governance workshop and I'll turn it over to Mr Ortega thank you board president [Music] um I would like to reintroduce the Board of Education to miss Angelina Pride um Angelina as you recall was with us at our last board governance

003meeting and uh so today we're looking to pick up a little bit of where we left off and then uh introduce a couple of new topics as well thank you so we're going to just jump right into this um first of all thank you all for having me back again so we can finish up some of the things that we started last time and um hopefully this will be very easy um and we'll get through some information and some things that we didn't have the opportunity to discuss at our last meeting because we did run out of time we can discuss those things tonight and everyone will be feeling that we got something accomplished so I gave you a packet um I want to start with the first of all the logo on the front

004because I gave you several things um let's start with the one with your logo on um so I just want to recap what we have on our agenda real quick um for this evening as far as the governance Workshop first we just want to do a very brief uh recap of the board self-evaluation conversation that we had last time and um it will be brief I just want to touch on a few things then we will go into our governance handbook which we spoke about the possibility of their needing to see some things looked at and that's all those other papers that I gave you and then we're going to talk briefly about the board protocols and Norms which is also part of your governance handbook and then there's just a couple of topics for

005discussion that may come up as we go through the governance handbook but if not then we will address those at the end as well okay so if you go to your next page in that packet one of the things that I wanted to do was um as we did our board self evaluation last year uh I mean a few months ago it feels like last year a few months ago we had had some areas that were a great concern uh that we spent a lot of time having some really deep thorough honest and um conversations about and so before we get into the other things we just wanted to take a moment to revisit some of those uh tougher conversations that we had the items on there so when you did your board self evaluation

006the last time there was a statement on there that the board works well together and if you'll recall your options were to say almost always often less often rarely or not sure and so at that time last year three abuse that less often once said rarely and there was one not sure but it was determined that the not sure was um someone who had not completed the board self-evaluation so um I asked for you to do a just a quick little mini self-evaluation to see have has anything changed since we were last together a few months ago and from the results of that many self-evaluation it looked like there has been some changes because now on the board the board works well together four of you said often and one said less often which is

007a huge huge jump from last time because remember like I said last time there were three less often one rarely and one not sure so the fashion regarding this you know I think here it should have been in between the often the left often it's my opinion sometimes uh-huh so this is cut it honestly was kind of hard for me to answer often or left off right yeah you know it was kind of like more I was kind of in the middle of that so I just put whatever I thought so I don't know that's an honest answer uh that I put here but I've got some of these should have said sometimes and you know we keep these um these choices for a reason because we don't want it's kind of like how people

008say plus their mind is like oh I'll give it a three plus or three minus we want people to commit to one side or the other and that's pretty much why we do that but um really quickly if you want to tell us why you felt that way because it's because sometimes we do um work well together and sometimes we don't and during the times that you don't or you noticed in a common theme of times that you don't is there a certain no just it's just general just in general in general yes and what can I ask and would you say that you're assessing when do we have that meeting it was like the end of June so your assessment is sometimes since the end of June yeah since the last meeting yeah sometimes

009we do it sometimes we don't but then again you know I think it can also be one way right you know it but and it depends on the topic it depends on what we're discussing and we have been working very hard on many things that we have to have a big decision for making um yes and that we're human being first so yes right and and I totally understand where you're coming from and you have a very valid point when you talk about you know the fact that there's uh some tough decisions being made right now in your district and so there may be tough conversations where everybody is not yelling together uh like maybe they normally went on some of the more routine items so thank you for sharing that any other comments on

010that one I've been the second one before and it's just internal conflict in a in a productive manner the last time there was one less often and three rarely one not sure so this time again there has been some improvement two of you have said often to have said less often one said rarely so it looks like there has been a shift there has been some changes there I know that the last time that I was here there were some invitations to possibly have coffee to talk and and air things out and have some just conversations getting to know one another better and you know to discuss any any relationship issues that were being felt at the time um did any of those take place no it was yeah no well something must have changed

011because like I said two people have moved often in one extra person moved to less often but those are things that um that have taken place uh you can't move forward if you say you're going to do something to help move forward and then you don't follow through with it so um there's still opportunity to have that take place I think it's important even if you're working well today together right now it's still important to get together and have conversations and just work on establishing the relationships to make it stronger so I ask that you please consider that in making that happen Yolanda well you know what I think actually happened is that it is bitter amongst us but I think speaking about it at that time in June and let people know how you

012felt one way or another and I think that was helpful in itself and honestly yes we just talk about it and I think that that made a big difference it really I agree regardless if they met didn't meet or whatever but I think that disdain it was helpful I agree but it's important for us to follow through on things that we say we will do as well so if there's you know invitation that was extended and accept it then it still should have happened um so I would just again that that possibly still take place Gabrielle well I was speaking just from the meeting I remember at the meeting there were two uh so yeah okay thank you so like I said I just strongly encourage that that bill take place um it's not too

013late okay then the third one was board members treat each other with respect so before there was three less often three rarely one not sure we've now moved to one almost always do often and two less often so this is a definite Improvement we have no Rarities and no not sure so that means that um there has yes so and um there was one almost always too often and two less thoughts and you have what what it was before in your hand out so this is this one's huge I think this one is probably um the biggest jump out of everything that um well this one in the next one as well but this is a good time that at least everybody now agrees that you're treating one another with respect and as opposed to

014the last time when the majority of people said that there was rarely that's cute so I want to thank and commend each of you for whatever changes you have made that now show that you are respectful of one another and um that's that's huge because respect is everything and we talked about that at the last Workshop where you don't have to agree you can disagree and that's so okay but just do so respectfully and listen to other people's opinions and thoughts and just be respectful of their opinions and thoughts and when you have your discussions again just be respectful yeah and I'll say I I didn't do it that long ago but if I remember correctly I think I put almost always on on here and I'll just say anecdotally the sitting in this seat

015um and over the course of you know since June I have I I don't know that I can think of an instance personally where there was any any levels of disrespect that went from one board member to another on the on the diocese here from as we were meeting and so that was why I put put almost always because I'm I'm grateful for that and have sensed and felt um a greater level of respect across the board um and and so just want to say thank you to the all of my my colleagues for for that thank you for those words greatly appreciate and then the final one is there's a good relationship between how long the board spends on an agenda item and the importance of the item the last time there was one

016that said often one that said less often two that said rarely and then there was the not sure and now this time we have one who said almost always two who said often and two who said less often so there's no rare lease and there's no not sure so again this was an improvement last time you had nobody who said almost always and only one person who said often and only one person who said less often and now you have two people who said um often so have your meetings um improved as far as how much time you're spending on agenda items I just wanted to thank the um superintendent and the board president because I know they do sit the agenda and it has been likely and it seems like you know you go

017home like my kids are like you're home already because we have gone home earlier on the last couple of meetings and and well a couple of months I should say and and I know it has to do is how you set the agenda up you know in that kind of you know presentation says maybe one or two there's not like three or four and I I think that makes a big difference so I want to thank superintendent and what president absolutely to make the difference and thank you for acknowledging the work that the superintendent and board president have put in to streamline this process and the discussion about items on the agenda has that changed yes Gabriella so I will add just just one piece of of commentary um that I that I would want

018to direct you uh Gabrielle that I think that they're so one let me say I agree that Miles Ahead of improvement I think across the board they're one of the things we talked about at the last meeting is the the difficulty here in this seat and needing to weigh when you kind of say okay hey like let's let's bring that in there have been a couple of times um that that I have sensed that a need to maybe where where a reining in would have probably been in order but uh again having to choose between is this is is this a a battle worth by going into or maybe maybe we let it we let it go and so maybe I just just call for us to kind of be or I want an example

019of that that took place more more recently there was someone who made a comment I I can remember what she she was here presenting something I I forget that she made a comment as a public commenter and then she sat down and then you invited her back up to the podium and engaged her in a like in a dialogue but that's problematic um due to the nature of our meetings to engage in dialogue with the people giving commenters and it's even been unfortunate because there have been times where there have been people leaving comments or we we really want to engage them and so we've directed the superintendent to invite that person back to be agendized so that we so that we can actually formally engage them um so all that to say I think

020that we've been we've been miles ahead but but I do just want to um point out that I have there have been a couple of of times over the course of the past couple months where I chose to not say anything uh but but uh some of Iranian would have probably been most appropriate on my behalf as that here you were called it and one thing that I would say to the next person who sits in that chair is that that is something that should not um once the an individual makes the public comment please remember that if there's the follow-up or additional questions then you should provide directions to the superintendent to please reach out to that individual or the superintendent can have one of his staff take the person outside and get additional

021information right then and there and um then let you all know what the additional what would you do at the moment what would the board president do at the moment as if someone's talking to in their engagement I mean it's kind of rude just to stop it I don't think you would have to you should stop it honestly because it can create problems and issues um if the person from the Deus says the wrong thing to them or ask the wrong question it can create further problems for the superintendent being able to work with that individual later because then that individual may miss comes through what the person from the day has said to them or the question that that person asks them it can it can turn into an issue well actually the problem

022is that when we've had many questions going on um you don't or I go back to the reorganization but we have people in the audience yell and understand why aren't you answering why are you doing this and we're not supposed to respond so if someone does that then they're saying well that person responded how come the other board members didn't respond when we asked them that's part of the problem and looking at more perception right that's part of the problem as well but when you um open up for public comments and I apologize I did not re-read your statement if um does your statement say anything about not being able to respond engage I know ours did in our district oh that's right does it say that on the agenda yeah and so then the

023board should adhere to that um because it applies to everyone and it's not fair if somebody responds or comments or asks questions of one individual and then not the others um so it's an equity thing as well you see it Adrian it needs to be consistent I don't see or board members and not to permit to respond to public comments so yeah but I'm talking about there so there's a there is a line or there's there's a there's a short paragraph that I I too have chosen uh to read every single time just in case that's not in I don't believe that that's in that paragraph and so I think we should have it added to that paragraph just as a as an added layer so it's on the agenda but it's not in the

024statement that you read prior to correct so then I would make a recommendation to you as a board that that be added we kept that in hours just for that specific purpose because we wanted them to know in advance that we will not be responding whatever you say before someone may have removed it was that do you remember it you don't need I thought it was in there all along too but when the board president reads it they they read that at the beginning yeah and maybe I don't think I read it yet the entire time I've been around that part has been in the blurb that I've read um yeah I I don't remember um but um say something even after like hey like that um and respectfully because it is yeah and I

025want to take ownership for those two parts one as the board president I should have and so in that moment I chose not to and so that was so you're right I should have it so I I apologize there uh to the board and everyone and then to you I apologize I agree with you that's something that I I should have I should have communicated that to you directly and immediately after and um and didn't and so I apologize for that and then saw this as the next best place then to do that because I didn't apply or didn't communicate that to you directly um so I I do apologize thank you yeah thank you to both of you and feel free if there's something you want clarification on feel free to say you know

026super please have someone speak to get some additional clarification on what there's what they're talking about because we've had people come from our meetings and I'm just confused with what they say I'm like what are you talking about and we just get back to the superintendent usually they'll have one of the assistant groups don't get the person they'll step outside have a conversation they'll feel this weekend later in the superintendent and will fill all of you in later okay and then again thank you um uh Adrian for acknowledging that you should have spoken with her at least after the meeting to say something and please all of you whoever sits in that next seat in that seat next please make sure that you do that because when things like start building up and we come

027to the workshop it's like oh you did this this like never told me that creates a problem so let's address it right away as it happens have a discussion about it okay so I'm glad to see that they're was some improvement um in that uh you know like I said this was just a mini one just on some of the Hot Topics is it too much trouble for you to go back than one or two one and two so I could I didn't write it down please sure no problem so for number one the current results were four individuals set often and one individual said less often for number two individuals that often two individuals said less often in one individual said rarely do anybody need me to repeat brand for okay I'm good thank

028you good all right so thank you okay so um last time we talked um one of the things that when we met we were hoping to address a couple of things in the governance handbook and um I had told you at that time that I had looked at your governance handbook and that I thought that there were some things that could be revamped in it so um a few things about your governance Tampa your governance handbook is quite long a 149 pages because 149 pages and um I'll just add that's 149 Pages longer than it was when I first got on the board so the word so it's the start because we do have some positives that you at least have one now I got you so it was like over 10 years ago so

029one of the things that I want to do is talk about let's number one let me just say the purpose of the governance handbook the purpose of the governance handbook is for you as a board to have some place to go where you see your Norms your protocols um all right a cheat sheet I'll call it of the board bylaw and uh you know your mission your vision things like that but the most important part of it is the norms and the protocols because this should be something that when a new individual comes onto your board you can give that to them so that they can refer back to it because they're going to be getting a lot of information when they first come onto the board they're going to be told you know you

030should do this you can't do this you gotta do this you know so that's all in the governance handbook so that they can go back to it and refer to it later and then I say a cheat sheet of the board by laws because one of the things that um we've found with I found with your um governance handbook is that you list every board by law completely written out and you all subscribe to gamut which is the online version and I know some people like to have paper and they like to hold on the paper there's certain things that I like to hold on to paper as well too but keep in mind that board bylaws change and that's the reason why I used to provide a gamut because when those board bylaws change

031gamut automatically update so you may go through your governance handbook because you like your paper and you may look up a board by law to see what it says about um the notices but a California law has changed that's not going to be in that paper copy that you have otherwise you're going to have to hire somebody just to spend time updating your government and sand book every time a bylaw changes so it is what I started doing when I do governance and books is I don't put all of the board bylaws there instead when you go on to gamut you see us cheat where it says board alert bylaws you know nine thousands this this and it tells you what that board bylaw is so then all you have to do is just click

032on it so if I want to talk know what the board by law is about meetings I can say okay where is it ah here it is board by law 9320 and I can click on 9320 and it's going to give me the most updated version of the board bylaws um related to meetings and notices so one thing that would cut your um governance handbook down by about 127 pages is to just put in the sheet and embed the link so you can pull it up on your computer at any time click on the link to go right to the board by law I'm a little confused because I'm looking at the handbook and that's what's in there now when I looked at it oh thank you uh to this board agenda item we attach

033the proposed changes to the board handbook but if you go to your to our website it would be the 147 pager which is the the last one that that we went through so on on this board agenda item is the proposed changes to exactly what you say which makes it a 20 Page handbook sure thank you yeah and that's that's the easiest way to do it to make sure that all of you always have access in the public also have access to the most recent board by law and it's just more convenient because like I said gamut updates it automatically for you you just click on the link and you'll have to know that you always are seeing the latest version of that board by law any questions or concerns about that if we change

034that permanently for your government in Tampa you guys just saved about entry foreign thank you um so the other thing that we we looked at that as I looked at when I was going through your governance handbook was um that I gave you the one that says core values and this is good the core values there your board meeting Norm the Norms that you have down here are good and again I'm only given suggestions my suggestion would be that these board meeting norms um that we reformat it in some kind of way so that they're given more attention the way they're listed here right now it's almost like you know they're bulleted but I think that these deserve a lot more attention they seem right now to get a little bit lost under the core

035values at the bottom of the page and these are essential to Effective Government so they need to be given a little bit more attention um I think that the board meeting Norms that you have here are solid I just think that we meet the the revamp how where how they're shown because they're they're important and they shouldn't be buried at the bottom of them in red or something like that no so like right now they're at the bottom of the page what I suggest they have their own paid because right here there's the core values which is great but then it's like this is at the bottom like it's not as important and it is important so it's not gonna hurt to just do a one page that says boardweed norms and then just list

036them out there yeah so I also want to just suggest um before we used to have them like printed on a laminated sheet that we always had at each board members table and so we just had it there I don't know if it was both values and Norms but I know at least we had the norms and then it was just here's a reminder for all of us I think yeah we had both of them yeah that's a great idea and we used to have that as well and um our assistant our superintendent's assistant would put them out on the dance for us before every meeting that help keep us in that frame of mind thank you for bringing that up is that something that you as a board would like and then especially with

037the new trustee coming on that would be helpful to them as well because it'd be right there in the Forefront um in looking at your board meeting Norms that you have here and like I said I looked at them and I think that they're solid is there anything that you would add um or anything that you would elaborate like um the only one that I thought that I thought maybe could have used a little bit more explanation was in the middle column the fourth check mark stay on task um I based off of our conversation when we did the Board self-evaluation review at the last meeting I would suggest that maybe you add something about the amount of time spent on items you don't have to put you can only talk for one minute or

038but just be mindful of the amount of time spent on agenda items and again what I'm asking you or throwing out here is just suggestions it's up to the five of you whether that is something that you would like Sabrina so with that um and I I agree with underscoring that idea would that be captured in the second bullet the second check mark modern time be effective and efficient middle column yeah but I think it needs to be dated like where are we talking about that I would say I would add in at meeting um you know to make sure that you're honoring time so you might want to say something honor time be effective and efficient during board comments and discussion because remember anytime you have a new person come onto your board this

039governance handbook should be a kind of a guide for them so if if I'm new and I'm this is my first time being a board member and I read that statement women be like oh they want me to be on time to the meet that might be my interpretation of it whereas your interpretation of it is know watch how long you talk at meetings or you know things I think that's the same thing with the stay on task the untest of what exactly so according to test on the meetings on what we're saying on things so you might want to say stay on task with the agenda item right yeah so that's that's where that extra little piece of clarification can make a difference um but is that you your thoughts so um for the

040honor times they we can say honor time be effective and efficient with with discussions on agenda items and public comments or someone have another suggestion for the wording they don't have control over I mean our limitation on public comments the three minutes I'm sorry board comment thank you for a minute board comment my apologies so are we okay with fan honor time be effective and efficient with discussions on agenda items and board comment I think that's great only question I'd ask is are we seeing multiple of these that we would want to try to word Smith because if if so I I would probably suggest that we not try to wear Smith them all now like if there were a couple that we saw I think we can we can do that but I probably

041wouldn't want to go too far I didn't see a lot of them that needed to be changed those the ones that I that I saw was um the stay on Fast and then also the honor time So like um Yolanda just said stay on task with what so I think that we need to add on there with the agenda talk comment good with that even on the um this degree agreeability ability would disagree agreeably yeah what is that I kind of mean I think that one is like kind of like just saying agree to disagree oh because you have also down here it might be easier to put degree disagree when this doesn't except for you guys but and like you have down here also assume good intentions which connects to that you know we

042talked last time about positive at that assume good intentions is your positive intent then do we need that oh we keep it I think keeping it makes sense yes and even worded the way it is as opposed to degree uh I think if you if we put agree to disagree it would actually communicate something slight nuanced but a bit this one's more professional are we good on the norms awesome from moving through this so um other things that we had [Music] um or topics of discussion um was last time when we met there were a couple of things that came up that we just did not have the time to talk about and the board agreed that it was worth um putting it off so that their the conversation wouldn't be rushed and those two

043things was um were board meeting scheduled and rotation of board officers so if you look at the other accounts I provided you with the board bylaws 9121 which is the blue Highlight which just talks about the duties of each author I like board bylaws 9320 which talks about meetings and notices and then I gave you the board bylaws 9220 which talk about um governing board elections and how you do your board rotation so and um how the the boards are elected and if I could just interject just for absolutely a greater level of tremendous Clarity so these topics I don't believe that either of these two topics were were left over from a previous conversation as opposed to uh when when we were meeting and discussing what would be discussed in this meeting here are

044there are two topics that I wanted to make sure that we brought forward and had some some time to talk about and so one of them is board meeting schedule which we which we'll we'll talk about and the other one is rotation of board officers um the reason why rotational board officers is because we'd already put some a lot of work maybe two or three years ago into updating our language to to allow to ensure that there's greater levels of equity as it pertains to the rotation of officers but we're finding ourselves in a unique Place uh because Sheila Neen who is currently sitting as the clerk and and will not be on the the board after um the board by law says that that she would then move the vice president and it there's

045there's language as to how we would appoint a clerk and how whoever sitting in the clerk seat would would kind of progress to become president but we don't really have any language that speaks to what happens if the sitting clerk does not progress into a vice president and so rather than sitting or you know the the board sitting and trying to Fumble through that at the organization meeting um saw it as valuable to have some conversation here so that everyone would be on the same page and avoid any weirdness at the at the meeting thank you um so the last time that we were together um it did come up briefly because I remember I shared with you guys um how we did our board rotation um in my district and what we did was

046um we basically just did just that a rotation um our seating arrangement was a bit different from yours so it's hard to say it with the seating arrangement we set a superintendent president vice president clerk member um but so think of it that way our um president vice president clerk the members everybody just shifted a seat each time for the board um author positions as far as when new people came on the board if one new person came on the board they took the last seat and that's where and then they would rotate each year they would bump over a seat now let's say we had two new people come on the board and those two people would take the last two seats but how do you decide which one gets that feed and which

047ones gets the seat what we did was top boat getter so whoever was the top boat getter out of those two they got that seat and then the other person at this seat everyone had the right to say no thank you if they did not want to take on a position they did not want to to rotate up to the next slot they can say no thank you and rotate back down to this seat um there were times when um some of us did because our work um kept us busy and we didn't have the time to devote to maybe being the president so and that's okay individuals can do that but that's just what we did which you all have to figure out is what will work for you and I really take my

048hat off to Adrian for wanting to address this now before your organization meeting Yolanda I was going to say so the reason I I I've always just said on this side because I am Deaf from my left ear and I hear my calling yeah they don't really rotate that way like 15 because I am deaf and and if I still like and she don't need this kind of hard for me to hear oh yeah I know and that's why I I I always said on the no I was just using it as an example to explain how we rotate it yeah especially the way your room is set up with the president in the middle it makes sense yeah so your room is fine yeah okay that's no word so you don't have to like

049shift beats or anything like that I was just explaining how we did it because we said understand differently yeah and did you have that all spelled out in your bylaws everything that you just said was the top boat Getters and everything all that was spelled out um I don't think the top book getter part what I'll be honest on that I don't think that part went um I can't recall honestly but I think that part of it was but the other part was that it would just be in a rotation yeah so I will say that was our practice until the last couple years that when I got on the board that's the way we did it for like I mean I know like back in the whole day but but I'd say for the

050first but until 20 so recently that's where we did you know why it changed you can ask other people here I can I mean I can speak to that I think and this is not intending to uh you know dig up old kind of kind of stuff but but I I'll say from my vantage point only I do think that there are have been instances where um there have been some individuals who have or for whatever reasons um whether perceived as legitimate or not who were prevented from um being able to hold office and even though there was a rotation um they were excluded from that rotation and so the there has so the more recent updated language was intended to to ensure that there is greater levels of clarity um to when when looking

051to rotate so that we don't have any individual who is not included in that rotation in a given year and then one year you also had that it was I forgot the name of that word that you used with the D this if um that you could select anyone you wanted to if oh yeah it's that's some deviate yeah that's still deviation you used that one year and then they changed it back to the other way and then it's been kind of going language hasn't changed at all it's still there but what it I think that there is something in there that says that is it is a rotation unless there is a you know for a specific reason then then one has to it has to be communicated if there's going to be a

052deviation that it has to be communicated moved and and voted for but but the why has to be communicated um but but I don't I don't remember I guess it'd be right here right uh a language that is that is not the correct one it's 9100. thank you can you read that part for us please yes I apologize so the two sections that that really speak to this is that uh at the annual organizational meeting uh the board shell elected president vice president and a clerk from its members following the protocol listed under election of officers below and so that new protocol says that the board shall each year elect one of its members to be Clerk this member shall be one who previously has not served in office unless all the board members have

053previously served in office after after serving one year as a clerk the elected member Shall Serve one year as vice president of the board and the following year as president of the board no board members Shall Serve more than one consecutive year in the same office my suggestion is that um several of those the SE worked out I don't think that you want to say um that an individual cannot serve also more than one time because think about this during covet if you had a president who was working closely with the superintendent already and they're they're having a they had a good Groove point where you know getting information out and work together during that that craziness of that time do you want to bring in a new president at that time if that person

054is being effective in the job just because it's time to how come you couldn't say hey Adrian's doing a great job right now with um working with the superintendent on this let's not mess things up during this time he already knows what has to be done what all the rules regulations are for online meetings let's just get through this you know get through covet and let him stay in office you need to have those opportunities so to tie yourself down to that and create problems however if you go through the rotation then you know is going to be automatic that somebody moves over there but maybe you can add something in that says you know unless by this you know decision of the board yeah I thought that so if it's not in there I

055thought that there was some language that said something like like that there is a there is a recourse for some type of deviation you know for a first special circumstances but but if Arturo just read that and it's not there then then that means that it it's not again yeah it must have been changed yet sometime which I don't recall yeah officially is that what what the process was do these boards that um board by law looked like if the same as when before when you all did a rotation or do you think it should change so it has changed in the last couple years yeah okay we spent a lot of conversation I mean there's a lot of conversations formally changed okay so it wasn't just that the mighty decided hey this is not

056what it so I I you know was Seated on the the board four years ago now this is not what was there four years ago so um everyone here except for except for Sabrina was was at the the table when when the language was was updated I just don't remember I do remember like you said Yolanda that there was something about deviation that now it's not there and I don't I don't remember us taking that deviation language off but but that that's the only thing I do know that we changed this but it seems like there might have been two two updates I only I can only remember one and even as you mentioned the board president that was stating during the pandemic and then the second one came on it I'm just speaking for

057myself Discord there was no no problem just came right in and just doing a great job that was doing for the prior president just just moving forward there was no and then not you mentioned the reorganization and all the you know schools and so forth it just turns over and just yeah we're okay great um that I also remember uh and uh there so I don't wait and if I remember correctly it was something along the lines of well either way we still need to update it because even if we have that and add the deviation language I guess with the deviation language then allows for anything to happen but we still find ourselves in an interesting place because the bylaw doesn't speak to a situation that we're going to find ourselves in in December

058but the language said something along the lines of um in the event that a board member wishes to deviate from this standard uh rotation uh they they may move and provide explanation for as as to why and and uh and it has to be voted or there's something along those lines where this is what happens unless somebody has a is able to articulate a reason as to why so you could one could articulate and say I move that we actually don't rotate officers that we keep it the same or in the middle of covid and so because of cobit I think that we just keep things as as they are and that we we wait to rotate officers until next year and then that would require the entire the the board to vote on that

059um before it happened this process shall be followed unless the Border proves the deviation from the process no that's I pulled up an old one is that that's the sentence that we're looking for yeah that's a normal one okay so going back to the process of um electing your board officers do you want the process to stay as it currently is or is there um opinions that it should be changed foreign that that's the conversation that um well we so one thing we could do is have a conversation to say what are we going to do this year that that's that's one thing but but I think it may be it may be more helpful for us to look at how might how might we update the language in such a way so that we're

060not just trying to figure out what we're going to do this year but update the language so that it lasts Beyond us or Beyond this particular organization and that's why my question is is there um a feeling here that the process should be changed would you mind actually engineering it was really helpful when we met and you you talked about potential disadvantages of of appointing someone to be clerk their first year um because of what could happen if they find themselves as president the subsequent year that I thought that was yeah um when Adrian and I spoke and when I read that party or he read that part to me I was like hmm I said that is a concern because let's say I'm a brand new person just selected to the board and I

061get in and um because everybody else is there I end up being the clerk for that first year well then the next year the person whose Vice President says I don't want to be president I can't take that on right now too busy sorry then it moves to the clerk possibly to become president well they've only been on the board for a year maybe they haven't been haven't even finished training on what it is to be a board member so let alone a president I think that there's some concern there I can tell you I've worked with a lot of boards where a new person came in and due to you know issues on the board they elected that person as president and it did not go well because um it takes time I think

062all of us would agree to figure out how to be a board member and so you can't figure out how to be a board member and how to be a president at the same time not in my opinion that's a huge responsibility and you need that experience of sitting through meetings you know to understand how operations work from that seat so that was my concern with that isn't that where the deviation would come in I guess I don't know let's see do you want to have to do that every time instead of just revamping I I would think that um the process being the word president um uh we did in the past was you know by experience you know the person's been experienced been on board a couple of years Pastor Meg went to

063the WordPress Workshop you know and that's how we would like first and that experience really um so I I mean I'm fine with that but I think I would just turn to Adrian and Gabby and say have you changed your mind then right because this is very much something that you guys wanted well so and I'll say even the the problem even as as you shared Yolanda about you know if based enough of experience or Basin off of if they've gone through the train or they've gone through I mean there have there there have been instances where there have where um I personally have not experienced this but there have been instances where there were board members who were told that they weren't able to attend a president's Workshop and so if once we start

064putting those things in place where we say in order to be president you have to do these things but then there's mechanisms there are there there it adds it adds other layers and then when the when that person either hasn't or or in some cases as has happened are prevented from being able to do so then when it comes to organization meeting you point and you say well it could have been you but you didn't you didn't accomplish this thing so therefore we have to move someone else and so I I would I'm talking about training though I'm talking about the person who have the proper training and I I remember when that happened that only happened one time that doesn't happen like all the time but I I I'm sorry no no and I

065would just say I don't think as far as my experience here like we've never said you can't be president if you haven't gone to president's training like actually when I became president I didn't go to the training until two months into being president I've still never been to the training so right and you know so that's not so that I don't say so I would just say in terms of fiduciary responsibility do I mean if we have a new board member come in brand new and they want to go to the president's training do we say oh yes we're going to pay for you to go for that because it's important for you to know that I think that's a different conversation to have I'm not so I don't want to conflate issues here and

066that's what I think I'm hearing so so let me so let me be here's here's what I'm saying as so as to not complete issues I'm I am I think that having a rotation is is perfect but I feel strongly that that there needs to be language that that uh protects against the rotation of officers ever becoming any type of you know some people voting or allowing or someone if someone is on the board then then they that means that they are somebody who's been trusted by the the community they've been elected they've been you know whatever that that is and so therefore they should be in the rotation and so once we start adding additional layers um I think that becomes problematic uh there should almost be no surprises when we come into an

067organization meeting as the as to who the the next person is and so um that would be my hope and so if we know that Sabrina you're going to be uh you know president next then then that the work can be done ahead of time to ensure that if there are things that you're if there are trainings that you need or or anything that that happens ahead of time so that you are equipped and prepared to to serve in the president's role so so I'm all for I'm I'm I'm I'm a fan of you know I recognize that sometimes you and this is what happened here I'd say when you're trying to address one problem you can create you know another problem or whatever and I think that that's what's happened here but I I

068would not want us to go back to what could eventually become the same problem I would instead say how do we now recognize that both problems exist and so have language that addresses both and just really quickly um in in regards to your your statement Yolanda about the training having completed some things usually um csba will offer boards president training at the conference but give an example of what you two are concerned about um right now our words president Workshop is sold out there's there's a waiting list um that they're just not even going to get to because all these other people have paid we're at capacity of almost 200 people in that Workshop so if somebody wanted to go through it right now or after the December meet you know I don't know the

069conference is before December meeting but somebody wants to go to it right now they wouldn't be able to and if that was a requirement then they wouldn't be able to go no not actually chemical Department wouldn't pass the vice president would always go to the word president works okay yeah I thought she said that you haven't done all of that was right on paper I'm just giving my opinion but one other thing I can say though also is that the mid trainings um if covet did nothing else it became a benefit to many school districts when we went online because what we found is that majority of the people prefer now to be online for Mig and that for a lot of our smaller school districts who can't afford the travel um that they've been

070able to now participate in Mig and so it does give us opportunity to offer the classes more frequently and reach a broader um audience for that so it's more flexible for individuals to participate in that training so Angelina do you have sample language or does the csba sample language I don't remember what sample language the SBA has if it's just the boardshell elected officers or if it I mean I I think would probably be helpful would just be have sample language that with the book that not with me but I'm happy to send you um the emails to all of you several different versions of um but what I need to know is are you looking for sample language for a rotation where you know vice president becomes president clerk becomes Vice President are you

071looking for that kind of sample language or some other type of that's why that I would be in favor of of language that gets that rotation that that kind of that compels us forward with that rotation um ex but for you know extenuating circuit uh there's something uh next in this next year we're we're we're we're in a closed Gladstone Heights 2020. the reconfiguration of 7-Eleven committee and so forth and so forth and so I am going to suggest that this next rotation um that we do have for and on board I'm just for that for that you know for that because of the fact that we need a strong leadership vicarious fourth in the next year and so I don't know if that kind of um you know you had mentioned uh you know

072Sabrina's president the rotation president Italy the board member Gonzalez is not going to be here we're supposed to move up and so that creates the two it's like vice president right away and or and so um my suggestion is to have the rotation be board members that are in in um in this room at this time right now just for the sake of our reconfiguration and for our team too strong and that that makes sense and that's a conversation we we can have the conversation about what what to do this year keeping in mind that there are up to two of us who will not who will not be there at that at that meeting and so so with with that in mind like we it we can't really make it and it wouldn't be

073this iteration of the board that makes that I guess we could we if we if we updated the policy now that's fair yeah and you bring forth a very good point with those tough decisions process that's going forward and then I just want to flag something else though so the top book at a piece would not work because we're by trust the areas now so you wouldn't you'd have to figure out something else for them all right if I hadn't even thought of that part yet but you're but I mean I could just say so back in the day with that normal what happens is what Angelina just said right is that so like I'm just saying theoretically right just based on who's here and if you were here Adrian it would be like Sabrina

074would become president Yolanda would become vice president because she's like because she most recently hasn't served as the officer Gabriela would become the the clerk and because you're president right now you would become member number one and then the new person being member number two um and then if it's two new people then you guys would have to figure out which one is and we don't call a member number one number two it just I know when you have the list they're in that order and that's right that's the way you do it in your District too right yeah did you bring up a good point now about the at large uh and that could be flip a coin or I mean there's there's anything there's anything that can go in there um that that

075makes sense I'd say as I would I would I would like there to be I would prefer that there's language that says some that that kind of clearly communicates that that is the that that is a rotation again because if if what we're saying is that that if we're saying that that was the understanding of what happened I don't think that it that it always played out though in the past well yeah and I would say in recent years it didn't I think people clearly I think people articulated why it didn't happen it wasn't I don't think I mean so yes there were some deviations as you like today but I think that they were I mean they were purposeful it's you know the board always has the ability to do to decide right who's

076going to be in what position um but it is an opportunity just to go back for the way you know the way I think the way it works very smoothly right Angelina I just think that it takes out a lot of the politics a lot of the factions developing you know um I've seen that in a lot of districts where um just the election of foreign officers divided the board into two factions because these people wanted this person these people wanted this person and then it becomes you know a really personal thing where people whose feelings are heard and people are angry and it shouldn't be like that and I and I would say if we were to have so let's say hypothetically that there was a board member who was censured I think that

077if what we were to communicate is that being formally centered by the by the board comes with the inability to or to be pulled out of that rotation and unable to to be in that rotation for X number of years or the remainder of that term whatever that is that that then to me makes sense but then but then again there's Clarity there's Clarity around if if something like that happens this is why but if instead there's a let's say hypothetically there's a cincher and then on the other side of the center we come to vote and one feels as though because one has been censored they should be pulled out of out of the rotation and that conversation happens and is for the the jury of the board to determine at that at that

078moment I think it can it can very far too easily turn into a a yeah factions contest and a popularity contest as opposed to defining it on the front end and then being held to those definitions that that were predetermined but keep in mind if you censure someone it's it's been writing you can put in that censure that this means removal from committees right um you know you can't hold office on the board right or like you said so that would be in the censure so it's not right but my point is if it's not in the center except to the board to make sure that if that happens it is so our superintendent knows now too to make sure should that ever happen hopefully it won't um but should that ever happen in your

079District that it is in the language but it wasn't in the language right yeah so that's that's where that's how that happened in our board here and your attorney should have told you that as well um so that's that's important that that is laid out in the censure itself and then you don't have to worry about it because they have a piece of paper and that's right because that would make sense to me if there if somebody if someone on the board was formally censured and if and if as part of that censure it was communicated that as a result of this you're you're pulled off of committees and you are ineligible to uh to hold office for the remainder of the term if that was communicated to that person and voted voted upon in

080in a meeting then it makes sense and there's no surprises if it comes around and that person is not if we don't include that language and then we get to the meeting and and someone moves that but but that was not a part of the the Accenture then then does that person ever hold off like because I would even be I I would have a problem if somebody was censured one year and 16 years later they're still on the board and but because they were censured 16 years ago they're now unable to hold office so I so I think that there needs to be clear language on on what that what that process is and and I would say I guess what strikes me is if if someone is voted in if someone is voted

081in after being censured again and after being and and from my perspective that that that kind of resets the uh typically I will say from the censure letters that I've seen um that it had a Time limited um there was one just recently and it said that they could not hold um office for three years so there was a time limit on um so I think that we just asked like since your language in the board bylaws that needs to be made clear of what your policy is on that and it should stay there in your policy that you know that these things are consequence of Accenture and then you guys inside you know can't hold office for two years can't do this they have to be removed from committees for one year or whatever

082right you decide as a board and as long as that's in your your um policies as far as what happens during Accenture then you should be okay and like you said if that way if they did their two years without holding office and the public re-elects them they can hold office then right and so I I would be me personally I I would be comfortable with that if if we were to say that there's a rotation that that happens in the way that that we're described describing um however in the event of a of a board member who is censured there's a you know I don't know how we would I would phrase this and then if we spell that out but a censure comes with these things to have that entirely spelled out I

083think would would be clean and then it's no longer a matter of is again hypothetically is there someone who I have a personal problem with or someone who I have an issue with instead if this person has been formally centered this is the con one of the consequences of right of that Center yeah so for something like that absolutely personal feelings just in general you know no since you're just personal I don't want that person to be president that shouldn't have a role massological question um only because it was brought up like hey we can move we can move forward with amending the board by law now and so I just want to make sure I understand does that mean November 1 bring this particular board by law as an info action or does it

084mean 11 1 bring this item for a first reading for input yeah yeah that captures what it is and then at the regular board meeting slash study session it comes for approval or something else I would say the latter of those two so if we bring it to the next to if it comes to November 1 as a first reading then there's an opportunity to see it fleshed out and recommend any any adjustments and then it can it can be formally adopted at a at the the next regular flashlight session okay and I am sending myself a message I will send you that um that language sample language either when I get home this evening or first thing in the morning so I'm sending myself a reminder send myself a calendar reminder right now that

085you need that ASAP you're doing just ask vacation and what I suggested did we and um we speak about what I suggested about this next year's rotation I don't know it I didn't get a clear um response I well I think if we if we move to what's being suggested here what's on the tip which we can give Clarity to I think what you're asking is addressed within it as a so again as opposed to we can as but as opposed to addressing this directly because so what what is being suggested and sorry can I back up and and request because I'm the only one who said this but it would be please feel free board to turn this to say no to this or whatnot but I I am strongly requesting also that we

086include language that clarifies um Center and and how a center would cause us to to deviate from that that rotation um so just just so there's clear I would I would like to see that in the in the updated language that that comes forward um but if we but what's what's talked about here is there are in essence board members have will have numbers and so I I don't even I don't know since I'm let's imagine if I'm still on the board and Sheila means gone then that means that I go to as Chilean said the the back of the line but but a new board member would come after me and then uh you would then sit in a clerk see Yolanda would sit in the vice presidency Sabrina would sit in the in

087the presidency in the next year things would just shift over one but but as there are new board members they just kind of shift and get back in the back of the line behind whatever sitting board members are there so that's the language or that's the process that's currently on the table and so if that's what moves forward with which it sounds like it is IT addresses what your request and keep in mind again that anybody can refuse to take on the seat just because your next in line doesn't mean you have to take it and then I just I wanted to ask ourselves do we have essential policy because I'm looking online and people have a 9005 a that talks about Center and I don't see that in ours that's something I would recommend

088that you add I'm looking at the policies and so um and I'm not even sure then what other maybe policies that the SBA has in their sample policies that we don't have in the Paul in the board policy manual I don't think they have one we had a censorship on this board at one time but there was no taste no Clause to it like what if you know your attention you don't have ABS you see your data we just discussed but no there was no no nothing there just there was a censorship but there was no Clause let me pull a couple of those as well and send them to you too in the morning as well and I'm looking at this and some of these like the roles important not that it needs to

089be updated but they haven't been updated since 2007 which is the last time we did like a full review of the manual and which one yeah and that's how I said to say what you might want to do is since next year is an off year as far as the elections you won't have to deal with that that would be a good time to schedule um a board Workshop just to focus on the governance handbook Alone um and just go through and make sure that everything is what you want it to be and look at those items so I would um I would prefer that if we we do the um the first reading of the revised by less for election of officers and then separately um develop the sensor uh censure policy so that

090the Central Language isn't in rotation but it's separate so if if this happens then that member would be not able to rotate into office but not combine them that's how I have in my notes to do two separate things um because as long as there's censure language in your your or bylaws then if you ever have to do that hopefully you won't but if you ever should have to do that again you would have guidelines to follow to ensure that those things are put in it and also shouldn't it be it shouldn't be on the mou or when the the person is giving the censorship on there um so the person knows that you know I don't know at that time uh to let them know that they're um due to your censorship you will

091not be able to run for office in three years or however and that's what the censure language yeah it would state that you know yes that they are notified that this is the the consequences okay and Two Pieces Just for clarity because it may have just been like uh this may be semantics here but you said to notify them that in three years they can't run from office so just to be clear we're just throwing something out because it depends on what we're talking about if we're talking about run for office election wise there's nothing there's we can't prevent money from running from office but what we're talking about is like in the rotation of officers on the board right I'm not talking about running for office okay just just for minutes 30 yeah and

092then uh the other thing is we unfortunately there's precedent here as well that we may need to consider like is there is there Progressive policy where what what happens if someone is censored multiple times what happens if someone is censored twice so if if the if the punishment if you will or what I don't know if the consequences I should say the consequences for someone being censored is all of these things and they're censored a second time and the consequences are the are the same I mean are we just comfortable with that or or should there be some type of progressive consequence would it be longer I mean we'll say what is it the first time we'll say three years we'll just say if they get sent it the second time would it be six

093years I don't know so yeah and I and I would sorry I just think looking at the other District it's it's less it's not very prescriptive it just gives you the ability gives you the context and talks about some of the things that you can do it's not like this shall happen very specific and I would recommended that you keep it that way right and like if you feel as a board to decide how egregious it was and what what you feel fit so I hear what you're saying you're saying to keep it pretty generic um but should a tagline be added the I think Yolanda's concern was the last time that there was a censure in this District that she felt like there was no consequences given and what I'm saying I'm looking at

094these samples and they're much more about the process Accenture and not the what you know what what is in the essential resolution I'm not saying that in this I mean so that normally wouldn't that be it develop with your attorney yes it should be definitely um one thing I would recommend note is that um you do put something in there to say that um if a trustee is censured that they um you can put may lose their privilege to hold office that gives you some lead way if it was something that was just a slap on the hand versus something that was really bad um or you can just say they shall not be able to hold office um on the board or a time limit to be determined except for you guys I have

095a kind of like a background question um we seem to be giving a lot of air time for this topic of being censured and I'm maybe I'm missing something like it seems like it's really really important and um I haven't quite understood why that part is is important so I'd love to hear the like why we want to really get it yeah I just feel it's very important and I'll tell you I mean it I sent you someone and there was no Clause there was no um no no I mean there's no there was no process the person was censured and the person went on to become president and went on to become you know just there was no consequences that's the word and this is why I think it's very important that we do

096have these consequences in writing and that we're aware and the person also that's receiving this mou showing that because the board agreed to Center the person also we had to vote on it and everything but there was nothing even written you know you would not be able to run for office for three years or however we decide so that's why I really think it's important because it's personal but that's right are we talking about this now because now we finally have the the time and space to talk about this is the time kind of like deeper things yes this is the time because we're not able just to do it just anytime but because they're talking about governance is the time to in the handbook right this is the time to to either edit or

097change the wording or okay yeah and I think the reason why it's relevant what because because it wasn't the intention to talk about it here but but the reason why it's relevant is because in the past when there when there hasn't just been a a rotation um one one of the things that's pointed to is the fact that that one of the persons who was not rotated forward had a was was censured but it wasn't communicated to them as part of their Center that that this was part of those consequences so so it it it it it definitely seemed um it seemed unnecessarily punitive because it was not pre-communicated and so by by having it communicated ahead of time and in language then it's it's just an understood part of the the process and and

098not do this uh unnecessarily putative Gonzalez what was that number there was new board members and board members there was something and writing to let them know you know and of course they voted her on Instagram for president and and I was like you know at that point they knew what what does it exist [Music] s yeah good so are there do you feel like you have it do you feel like you have something to to run with to bring back at November one for sure for uh board by law 9100. um we were just uh we were just uh looking at the censorship uh board by law uh which is nine zero zero five a and I'm I'm assuming here I'm making assumptions but I think probably the reason we don't have it anymore

099is because uh csba is no longer no longer has that uh as a board by law a recommendation uh based on their sample uh board policy and based on uh board member Cruz Gonzalez when she looked it up it looks like it wasn't touched since 2007 and so maybe no no this one yeah this is 2005 the one 2005. okay yeah and so that that could be a reason why it doesn't exist in our district I'm making assumptions but typically I know like in this role if if we see a deletion a deletion in csba then we actually bring it here as a deletion as well um and I'll check on that the why or if they have something else that they feel covers that okay I'll definitely look into that for you so as

100to be able to to move forward then and and to allow to allow a process to come forward I guess we could do one of two things we could just say um we could there could be a subcommittee that checks in with our with our Arturo to it doesn't have to be a meeting but it could just be via email or something just to verify and say yes let's let's go ahead and bring something forward um or we could just ask our Kudo to evaluate it and bring it Forward is there is there a sense follow [Music] I um so is it is there is there anyone who feels strongly that they would want to be on to be part of that subcommittee me this is a subcommittee for the the censure policy uh to

101determine whether they will look at it what the central policy would be for our first reading if there will be one that comes forward and what it would be we're going to have to move really quickly because you're right is November 1st yeah yeah so that means conversations and and and um emails like in the next 24 hours well I'm gonna spend this ASAP um I'll send an email tonight definitely to try to find out about the essential policy and hope we all have an answer by morning okay um but I'll get that to you as soon as possible and then the only thing I'll say to the subcommittee is it would I I would love there to be one um let's let's look at the that Define something in the Divine defines even if

102it's options or but that gives greater levels of definition there but I'll look to uh Gabriella and Yolanda to determine if what we hear back from csva is that there's a legal reason or some kind of reason why it's deleted then but I'll I'll Trust y'all can we add it as they're bored as our own protocol you you can um you have the option if you don't if if csba says oh there was this legal reason there was a lawsuit whatever whatever so then you can still add it to your governance handbook as a um a protocol um that states this is what our district is going to do so it's still an option thank you for putting it in there so just to recap make sure we're all on the same page as far

103as the roads the language you all have agreed that you want the rotation policy and I'm going to send language to superintendent um he also has jotted down some language and you'll work something up communicate that with Gabriella and Yolanda and they will bring something forth for the November 1st meeting for the first reading and then you guys can discuss it and then it'll go for a second reading or an approval or approval at your board study session slash board meeting later in the month and then I'm going to essential language so then we only have one other thing that we need to talk about and thank you guys for good discussion on that um and that is the board meeting schedule um there was um I remember last time we were here I asked

104how many meetings you have a month and uh and there was some discussion about that and that was something that was an interest of the president to bring forth again to to talk about so um I'll let you go ahead and address that yeah so so I'll I'll say that um my own personal assessment and and then it was brought up to me by by another board member um on on their own um Yolanda who who said it on on her own which is why I saw it would be valuable to bring here so we currently our standard number of board meetings that we have per month is two and then after we have two meetings per month there will be some months where is there additionally a study session or if there's two meetings

105to start with and we find ourselves needing to address other business and so we'll schedule another another one in between and that puts us like even now we're we're we are in a four meeting um four weeks in a row with four meetings stretched and some of these meetings have been outside of the the just the business of opening and and comment board comments and some of these things I mean we we've spent maybe 20 30 minutes doing doing business and so the some of the questions I have with Arturo is around what is the is there precedent what does it look like for are there districts that have is it even possible feasible for there to be one meeting a month as a standard uh and then in the event of us needing to

106add an additional meeting there are we are still able to to do that what does that do for staff is that is that something that's doable are we able to project ahead the work that needs to get done and our Arturo seem to indicate on a surface level that he that he thought that that would be doable from a from a staff level and then when Yolanda you know commented on it and brought it to me as well I I definitely saw it then as valuable for us to to discuss here and consider that shift I guess I got off the board the wrong time Angelina so I so I think no I've heard of districts going like like I've heard um I think Compton has moved to one meeting a month and they are

107so much larger than it right I think I heard that they said that they well if you guys recalled when I was here last time I told you that we only had one board meeting a month and then we scheduled um study sessions um each month but not every month we scheduled I think and and don't hold me to this it was either eight eight or nine study sessions each year so there were like three months where we didn't have study sessions we only had just the nine the just the 12 board meetings and nine study sessions um three months where we didn't have a study session only the regular board meeting and here was our thought the the regular meeting was of course to take care of all the major business of the district

108the study session was to be able to have that time to spend on the deeper topics um so for example you all are going through a a big you know issue right now so rather than have your normal board meeting have to spend you know an hour or something just on that topic you can have your regular board meeting take care of all your normal business and then at your study session meeting that's the only topic just that one thing it gives the public more clarity um you don't feel like okay it's 10 o'clock why am I still here um and it also is an equity thing because it allows the public to be more engaged than what you're standing discussing on that and the reason I say that is because think about your regular

109meetings and as you go through all the the normal things on there and presentations Awards you know things like that so then by the time you get to the meat of a certain topic a lot of people are like you know I gotta get home I gotta feed my kids I can't watch this you know it's their bedtime gotta bathe them whatever so if they know that this meeting is a study session on this particular topic and that's something that they're interested in they know okay that that's where I need to be I don't have to go to hear them approve you know how much fuel they need to pay for the buses and this and this and that I want to go to hear about this topic and so we had really good turnout

110at our study sessions depending upon the topic if it was special and more special ed people came you know and they got to hear a more detailed report because we didn't feel like we would be sitting there for a long long time and then the board also had the opportunity where we felt like we could ask more questions because that was the only thing on the agenda now don't get me wrong sometimes there were things that we did add to the agenda that were important like let's say we needed to hire a principal and we found this great person and we want to approve them we might still do that one item before we started with the regular business of the topic of the study session but we didn't overload it it would just be

111like one or two things that's it and then the rest was just that one topic so just the thought and that's what I seen that we needed a special meeting this is why there are special meetings with 72 hours prior uh notification but I I I felt regarding well like I mentioned about um what president Greer and superintendo Ortega how they've managed we have like four small meetings when we could have did it like that one reading instead of just we've been here like you know and I mean it's okay but I just think that it would be great it would just I mean I would rather stay if I have to say to 10 and finish business then just go every day like you know just go two three hours two three hours two

112three hours I I just brings you the necessary necessity in it not really I really like your idea of um kind of having the things that need to be approved to to move the district forward um and so forth and um and then having the study sessions to have like you know a community know this is when we're going to be speaking about you know 7-Eleven committee closures foreclosures and so that way they're able to to be here and it not be all together and so being able to separate that would would help with the discussion as well and I do see the benefit of us moving forward with that Tony so I I do want to say um Having learned about what Hacienda La Puente would do we we are not I mean not

113I mean Roland sorry Roland so we did attempt to do that in this District um I'll just say my advice is that you have to be very disciplined because back then the staff always had urgent things they needed to put on every study session agenda and so it didn't work very well because we ended up having a full agenda and then we had prepared to do a study session and so I think it's important for there to be commitment right with president and the board and the and the superintendent that that will not happen and it has to be an urgent item um because it that's it didn't work we tried to do it and it and it ended up not working thank you thank you thank you for bringing that up because the first

114superintendent um had that happening um but then when our news superintendent was hired it was definitely like no if this isn't urgent it'll wake Gabriella Mr Taylor can you give us your I know you did research on other districts can you let us know what you told me yesterday regarding other districts or neighboring yeah um like board member Cruz Gonzalez said uh the The Sims to be a pattern uh that's happening I believe Bassett is probably the closest District to us that recently moved if I'm not mistaken uh from two board meetings uh to a one board meeting and then others have established already that that pattern uh for a while um and I don't think it discriminates I think small districts do it big districts Do It um so I I don't think there's

115a there's you know some factor that says oh no if you're this or you're for that um and so we definitely we definitely know that that it exists and we definitely know that it can happen and we as staff um are prepared if the board does the board direction we're prepared to uh to to Pivot in that direction Tony oh I can wait till if you're going to say something okay so what I I hear uh Angelina the what what you're describing and even the model of if there's one business meeting if you will regular meeting and and one uh study session per month that's already pre-scheduled that is that is one that is one mechanism or one way to get at this I that's actually not what I would personally what I would suggest

116I think that how can we simultaneously work at being more more efficient in in and then we have been continue to be you know efficient and bringing things forward in a timely manner so we don't find ourselves in a position where we're needing to make a last minute thing that we have to squeeze in and get here understanding that those are going that is going to happen from time to time but how can we you know mitigate that um we have no problem and if you've if you've been on the sport for a few years we have no problem scheduling additional meetings when need be that there's we have no problem doing that so so my my point is if we were to as a standard say that we have one regular meeting even now

117we have uh we we have study sessions or governance uh what are we saying six six per year so we're so we already have those and so if we're going to stick those in in between and but now we're going to instead of there being three meetings in that particular month now there will be two meetings on that month I I wouldn't necessarily see a need to to to do more than we're doing unless we encounter a certain thing if we're if we're doing if school reorganization was happening and there were some big decisions that were needing to be made it's it's there's room for us to say we need to add some meetings and and it'd be crazy because we would actually have some Tuesdays to do so when we have every single Tuesday

118scheduled and there isn't even margin to to schedule those meetings so I'm actually suggesting that we that we not necessarily move to two meetings a month but as a we have a default of one meeting from per month but but uh adding governance and study sessions as an additional meeting as we would normally throughout the uh throughout the course of the Year anyway and the last thing I'll say is which is another concern for me as somebody who works in non-profits who has as a board as well that I have to you know do the work of preparing for for board meetings for and whatnot and know what goes into that I I want to acknowledge like um ausd operates on this cycle of every two weeks there is a your staff is always in

119essence then scurrying for a for a board meeting agenda that they're putting together and so I even wonder what it does for or staff to to allow them to to get to to to do work as a as opposed to every two weeks or weekly um doing the work of preparing for an upcoming board meeting I agree I agree in the model of our president Greer so just two things for you to think about as well so one is and I just remember this happening right I think as a board you have to just realize that you'll have more ratifications right because there'll be contracts right now and we've we've had a commitment where there wouldn't be right because there used to be a lot so just for you to realize that would probably have

120to happen and then two um no I kind of thought I forgot what I was gonna say it was something it was related to that though if I remember I'll bring it up but I do want to just talk a little bit about calendar and adoption process and maybe Angelina asked you about it because the last couple years oh not by like five to six years um we have this practice now where we adopt the board calendar in December and then every time a meeting is added we re-adop the calendar and so there are never special meetings it's always regular meetings added to the agenda so we're Arturo is bringing the calendar to us once a month or more and and I find that unusual I feel like that that's and then for the public

121right that's you know anything right so I'm just wondering like have you seen that another District I have not and we did not do that right and so you added a meeting what would you what would the normal practice be um well if it was an emergency meeting then we followed the regular 72 hour um rule but what we did was we would put um we put our regular board meetings on calendar and then we put study sessions on for months that we definitely knew we were going to have them so like our school started in August so we wouldn't have we knew we were going to have study session in August too crazy but we would have one in September we would have one in October November and December holidays there's no time for

122a study session January just starting a new semester February March April we'd have them you know may it was a toss-up depending on what was going on in the district and then June of course you know summer school starting in in summer we wouldn't Napa so we would put those dates for the study sessions on our calendar and then if we found that we did not need it we would just simply say this meeting is not taking place because it was labeled as a study session not a board meeting so people never freaked out like oh they're trying to hide something they don't you know because there was a study session people got to know what our study sessions consisted of so it was easy to say hey we don't have any topic we need

123to address so let's just cancel it and we we do that in advance you know so people knew that was pretty much it so I remembered what I was going to say because you just triggered it um so that I was gonna just suggest and I won't be here with her with you but I would suggest you just figure out which months you want to have study sessions in because in that way you know when the public knows um because if you're just and and you can plan out what the topics are going to be right because if you're just going to say okay we've decided next month we want to study session it doesn't feel as planned out I don't know I think it it's harder for the public and for example we had

124a bond that was passed while I was on the board so one of the things that and we had two high schools under construction so we knew that every year while these high schools were under construction we wanted an update on our bond and our facilities so one of our study sessions we always knew was going to be the bond and facilities and so all of our facilities people are people who managed our bond would come they'd give us a presentation update we'd asked lots of questions about it and then we were done that was the time which just spent on that so certain things um you know are our lcap you know that was a study session so that we didn't have to do that during regular meeting we could just do just El

125Cap at a study session so things like that where our study sessions we got a new special ed director and they revamped some things we did one of special ed Yolanda I was just gonna so would we need to decide like we have um first and second Tuesday of the month or do we need to decide is it going to be like the first Tuesday the second that's the first question the second question is it gives us our weekly word update every week it talks about the organization and just everything that's going on and also the cabinet so you will continue doing that Mr tiger correct on a weekly basis okay yeah that's great because we get the information and let me tell first yeah even the first thing my first question because one one

126would be to determine even even before like is there even it like so we've had a conversation it seems like there's maybe some interest is is there interest in looking at at kind of reducing the number of of meetings that we have and and going to a you know to a one regular board meeting a month and then having these other study sessions and or governance meetings is there even interest or or thinking that that would be wise um I I haven't but just to take him consideration two as well I think last couple years too is we've asked our our superintendent to move on the dates for um activities that have happened in the community and so that is a major reason why we've had calendar redone again because of those um the times

127where the city may have something important where the whole Community needs to be there or golden days but so um but I I would agree with you uh Boardman Brooker um if we could have all the meat potatoes I say yes always you guys all I have more Sabrina we have the benefit or advice before we give our opinions no no I was going to talk about the timing of it but sure um yeah I'm in favor of streamlining our board meetings and um you know identifying uh study sessions in advance so that we can plan our calendar yes um but not trying to have to artificially fill it with topic um right and then I think I might know what you're talking about with timing but go ahead yeah no I'm just gonna say

128there are certain statutory requirements like the unknotted actuals the first interim and um the March 15th notice that have to happen before March 15th and then June you have the budget right those are like the so um the 30th right the end of the month um so I think we run into issues around scheduling September meetings to make sure we could do the another actuals um so just for you guys to think about those dates you don't have to meet first and third you know you could meet second right you could change what they do oh yeah it doesn't have to be Tuesday there are just other districts made on Monday Wednesday Thursday yeah and I think maybe um look overlaying City Council meetings Golden Days National Night Out kind of looking at those so

129that we don't conflict with those dates or commission meetings too those are all the first week of the month usually if we skipped away yeah and I and I would I would say I I like I personally I like the idea of us saying that there are going to be some some things that we definitely make sure are included as part of the study session study session schedule I do think that there is value and so if we're saying sick I'm completely making this up off the top of my head if we said that we know for sure that these four topics where that we are going to have prescribed and ahead of time to know that this is what they are I do think that they're naturally are things that come up and and

130it and it may be wise for us to have some some wiggle room with some of those study sessions even if it means for example let's say in November if we had you know this particular topic that was coming up but we knew that there was a reorganization decision that that conversation or that topic could be moved to the next one if we see that urgently we're needing to discuss this particular matter and so so it comes forward here I think it would be wise for us to have things but the time booked but not necessarily filled to to give us the flexibility to discuss things um as they come up and I again have no doubt that that this board will have any problems adding a meeting if and when absolutely it's necessary because

131we've had no problem doing that uh and you can pick you'll pick the topic for that study session as the time approaches based upon where the district is what you need to talk about you know like I said you all have a lot going on but you may decide hey this study session needs to be devoted to you know the school closure issue again so you would devote it to that but I did remember the thing that I forgot about one thing that you might want to think about if you're going to condense to one meeting is also think about what goes on consent calendar because we've had a practice of um we only put things on consent if there are return items right and I know that there are other districts that have a

132different approach right so maybe they put all contracts on consent um because you don't have to spend time first and seconding a whole bunch of contracts so just something for you to think about right because we don't it's a practice it's not a rule the way we do it right now and I'll I'll co-sign with you on that one is what we decided was um it was based upon dollar amount so we set a threshold where if if it was a contract over this much then don't put it on consent we want to vote for on it individually but everything else is going consent and and remember as a board member is your responsibility to prep in advance and ask questions in advance so if you see a contract on there that you have concerns

133about then it needs to be addressed with the superintendent prior to the board meeting um that way you have a clear understanding of what it is and why it's there but didn't a threshold on the amount can help because that can help shift a lot of things into consent that don't need to be voted on individually and save time recognizing that it's it's 7 19 would with the well I guess just just looking for for nods would the would the board be interested in implementing implementing this as soon as now or is this the kind of thing that we would want to to wait until the next kind of adopting the next calendar what do you mean now yeah so so what I mean is we we have meetings that are we currently have an

134adopted calendar now are we looking would we be looking at adjusting our currently adopted calendar to reflect these changes for the 2022-2023 school year or is it the sense of the board that they would want to exhaust the rest of the 2022-2023 calendar and wait to make this change for the 23-24. uh a question I I think that I would like to ask our superintendent um on them if that's something oh I was like your opinion yeah we're ready and prepared to to shift I mean to board member Greers or president Greer's um comment right now our current Board calendar takes us through June and it's under the old philosophy of two board meetings a month and on top of that study sessions and governance meetings as well um so if the board is um

135interested or gives Direction at the December meeting we can bring um a revised calendar moving forward feeling so I just want to recommend you go back to what is standard practice which is generally on your organizational meeting in December usually you bring the calendar for that annual year so starting December to the next Nova December you have all the meetings um this shift of June to June I think is is I think is unusual most history because I know adopt their calendars they don't do it during reorganization no no you just made me realize I can't remember how we did yeah I think usually you do with calendar or physical usually it's like because you get new new members so you do you do officers organization and calendar I think that's what I've seen in

136other systems and just for the record we do bring it every December but two board member Cruz Gonzalez's point when we bring it in December it's for the next um school year and so baby that's that's the way if we shift to to this philosophy then in December we can bring a board calendar that runs from January to December instead of August to June the only thing with that is I I it's my sense that for a Community member I think that if I if I were not sitting here but I was just a community I was a parent it would make sense for me to look at the school year and look ahead and see these are all these are the meetings that are taking place in the school year if I if I

137looked at in in August to see what was there and all I saw were the meetings that were scheduled through December and then in December there's a a new schedule that comes out that would be that would that would seem disruptive in my thought and in my my planning or my looking ahead so so I I do like that it's that's the personally that it's attached to school here I I think that during the um reorganization in December when they bring the calendar and we also have a new board member that we started then and I I do understand you know um being the outside looking in but this is why we have um notifications to parents things have changed you know we've been doing this all along that things have changed we have to

138have some kind of campaign to let the community know about the new calendar and how it's changed you're saying every year or changing it to a one once a month starting now but no once a month what I'm saying that we should change it in December when we're doing because aren't you asking should we start now she started in kind of so two things so and I'll say me personally I am in favor of of Shifting it closer to now and so if we look I mean oh yeah I'm sorry but I'm just saying that if we're looking if if a complete calendar or list is printed yeah what is the first date on that calendar and what's the last date and so Sheila is saying that it typically would it would I guess would

139have been July it'll go July through June and and so here for us the most Governor government in your city too does it like December January to December I think most government I'm not saying you don't have to we also went to to your calendar for our for our our school calendar right so you can think about that too like you can calendar out however much you want and I mean again we can do whatever yeah we have been doing the school calendar board calendar uh that has been our practice for a very long time [Music] I would have to say that um I do agree that looking at it from August you know to June um it kind of helped shape um this meeting I can make as a parent and yes we do

140have the reminders and so forth but um I do like seeing it from you know starting in August to June and then we adopt the next year's calendar just as uh yeah that would make that would make sense to me if so if if the board then is open again just looking at 724 or 26 depending upon what your computer says um if we if if we were to do this would would the board be okay if if I worked if I with uh with Arturo looked at some of these a calendaring stuff and kind of considered all of what was what was discussed and then and then sent to uh sent the calendar in for for review or I guess we'd have to bring it into whatever the process is to bring it before

141the board with the board be okay if I if I worked or throw it on that I say yes yes and we'll then we'll look at that and start to shift again a standard of one regular board meeting with the other meetings as the as the secondary meeting then I do think that that brings us to the to the close we covered everything and you guys did awesome thank you it was very productive very very productive yeah are there are there any other questions comments in any kind of lasting thoughts that that anyone has to to contribute before we move to a German I think it's a great Workshop we've got a lot done and I think it I just haven't done very well I just want to give kudos to Angela um for your

142energy that you bring to our board um I I have seen Improvement not just you know um myself as well being able to you know for someone to call you out and um in in a very responsive productive collaborative way where they want to see you grow and not actually want to come at you um it's very rewarding and I myself have felt that I've grown in the last couple months you know since our work first worked off and so I mean I can't I can't speak for others but I do see the growth in them even if they don't see it but I see our whole team here has taken a different approach to um the way that we we run so it was definitely lighter today definitely lighter and very productive but also

143for Angela keeping us on task I have my March in order together yeah yeah okay and Arturo you have everything that you need to be able to take next steps okay then we will I'm not seeing anybody then we'll we'll move to 5.0 and specifically 5.1 which is adjournment and we will just do this by a hand vote but is there a motion to adjourn make a motion to adjourn 5.1 a second second so moved by board member Rodriguez Pena seconded by board member adianis and with that any discussion then we will move to a vote uh board member adianis yes board member Cruz Gonzalez yes board member Beau yes board member rodrig Espana yes and I am also yes and so the motion passes five to zero and we are adjourned at 7 29.

144uh