001Seconded by Mr. Tamayo Andrew Fagner as interim director, the open session of the special meeting of the Chulavista Elementary School District Board of Trustees is not audible. Order is called. Welcome, everyone. Nothing can be heard anymore. Nothing can be heard anymore. They are doing... They are doing the flag ceremony, but nothing can be heard. It is okay. Oral communications gives the public the opportunity to address the Board of Trustees on matters unrelated to the agenda. Speakers are asked to limit their remarks to 3 minutes. The Board of Trustees will limit the total time for public input on each topic to 20 minutes with the consent of the Board. The Chair may increase or decrease the time allowed for public presentation depending on the topic and the number of people who wish to be heard. No
002action can be taken by the Board of Trustees. Review of Brown's Act. Dr. Reyes. There were no oral communications. We have a presentation from our attorneys today, and one of the things we are going to review is Brown's Act and the responsibilities of the Board of Trustees. It is a type of training because we have to do it when we have one or two New board members. And we have two new members, and I also invited the rest of the board, and the attorney is coming in. My name is Jonathan Parol with Dennis L. in Mcry of San Diego. I'm glad to be here with the board members and the team. I'm glad to be here with you. Thank you for allowing me to sit at the table with you. I would like this to
003be more of a discussion, and I hope you feel comfortable asking questions. Some of the concepts may be a little difficult. You have two things in front of you. You have a packet that includes background material on [Music], the role of the board, the superintendent, and how you can communicate with each other. And there is another document, not from the Chula Vista district, but it has several scenarios that could arise and experiences I've had over the years. Dr. Reyes and I talked before we were here, and this isn't the entire ethics training. I can come back and share resources with you, and perhaps there's an opportunity for you to have online ethics training. A little bit about me: I've been practicing for over 30 years. I started in Chicago in the private sector. I started
004with education law, then I worked with large corporations in the private sector and realized I missed education. My wife moved to San Francisco and I moved to San Diego. I've had a lot of work with boards and staff. I've done work with the Chula Vista district. I was with you at a previous meeting and I'm glad to be here. Before we begin, I'd like to know what you would like to gain from this training. I'd like, as I mentioned, not the ethics training, which we can take online, but I would like, like in April, to have governance training. How to govern, also the best way to ask questions, to challenge things. Ideally, we'd like to get to the point where, as a board, we can have a kind of manual. If you look at the
005large package and the index, I've included certain things about the board, how a team works to govern, new members, your bylaws (which are in section 9000), board policies, and how a board should behave and what is required of you. We can also take a break and look at Brown's Act more in- depth. I do CSBA trainings periodically, and you always learn something in each one. Training, because it's not easy. I'm going to start with this: I believe that all these governance issues and Brown's Law are an exercise in self-discipline. It's almost intuitive. If you see two board members in the parking lot having a discussion, they know each other, and perhaps the superintendent is also there, their natural inclination as a member of the community, as someone who cares about what's happening, is to enjoy
006the conversation. But we have to keep in mind—and we'll look at this in more detail— that there are the two board members and the superintendent, but Brown's Law doesn't apply to the superintendent. But one board member talks to the other two, and they discuss something that happened at the meeting. That's discussing board matters, and it's a violation of Brown's Law because it happens outside of a scheduled meeting. And if something happens and they make a comment about something related, but not specific to what they're discussing, and it's something they should be discussing in a closed session, they could very easily have a violation. That's why I use the word self-discipline, because they have to keep in mind how they should conduct themselves personally, what the rules are, and that way we can prevent many violations
007of the law. Brown's law, I think that's the key part of all this, and not just Brown's law but also governance, because many things related to governance are counterintuitive. They want to be more active with the community, with the district, and that kind of thing, but if you look at this first slide and the inverted triangles of CSBA, the point of the triangle is the governance team, which is the board of directors, including the superintendent and other board members. They have a strategic role, a visionary role in terms of operations. And when you look at the other things in the triangle—tactical planning, daily implementation—all of that is the responsibility of the superintendent and the team of professionals who have to carry it out. And I think it's counterproductive because you might see yourselves as problem
008solvers, wanting to resolve a particular issue. But these laws and how—how—that leadership you provide as a board member— because when a board of directors goes too far and starts taking action on personnel decisions, on management decisions, then yes, it's good to have a kind of manual on how you're going to be leaders, how you're going to... Limiting based on the nature of the role for which they were elected is on page two, and you can read this in more detail when we finish. And here it talks about a district, not the one here in San Diego, but in the state of Utah. And here are some examples of what they wrote as reminders for board members. I already have a question. It says here the superintendent and administrator—this is referring to the state of Utah.
009For example, the board has control in the selection of the superintendent. And that is the individual you choose to be the leader, and everyone except the superintendent is—let's see—I don't understand the purpose of this appendix. It doesn't have a question. Perhaps it's not how you want to operate. In other districts where there are financial issues, it's the superintendent who leads and decides which pieces they're going to bring in, whether he's going to make decisions alone, bring in other people, or, for example, if you're considering opening, closing, or remodeling a school. Then you're going to decide who makes those decisions, whether it's just the superintendent or the whole team. You can change that a little. Number two: when board members hear something from personnel or the community, they take it directly to the superintendent, and not
010I've seen that things can come up in public commentary. Someone might articulate a different idea, and we've all heard that there shouldn't be any surprises. How can we avoid surprises? You, as board members, what is your process for one-on-one meetings? And if there are questions, we ask those questions. When we have those one-on-one meetings, that's when the superintendent goes over the agenda and answers any questions you might have. And there might be questions that come up. You could ask those questions. You might have more information. Your bylaws say that the superintendent gathers all that information, or are there situations where the entire board should have that information? Now, the majority of the board has authority over the superintendent. They're recording this meeting number 11. Let's go to the other page. Before we look at number
01111, questions are: When a friend of a friend of a board member is in a challenging situation, for some reason, a student doesn't have their parents to take care of them. And so this child stays at the home of a board member, what advice would you give to that colleague? We would say not to get involved. This child is in high school. 18 years old. I know this is an elementary school district, but it's a case where we might naturally want to help this 18-year-old. If you decide to help that 18-year-old, then you have to keep in mind that we can't make decisions that could affect this young person because they could make that connection. But it's about going in with your eyes open. Or if it were a family member, I would resign from
012my position as a board member to help that young person. But that's me. You couldn't do that. We're talking about if we were on a high school board. Why don't we go further into these real-life aspects? Because if we spend time on things that do n't, but that identify, have this impulse that if it were a close family member, you would resign from your position because you recognize that you have to make a choice. We have three members who have children in the Chula Vista district at present. I would help the children, but what would happen? Would I take my children out of school? I think that when we hold a position as a board member, we must understand that there are certain situations in which we cannot vote, like... Board member, because there could
013be a conflict of interest if this is in the district. It could be a 9 or 10-year-old child who needs time, and you want to help that child. It's not for the board member to decide what services should be provided; you have to ask the superintendent. But for a district, this was a real situation, and many issues arise in how to manage a conflict of interest and find a way to help. For example, you seeing what services might exist in the district that would make a difference for this child, and this is what the bylaws say: understand your role, and I'm helping you understand that. Now, my question is, I have a child in the district. How does that translate to staying within the bounds of the Brown Act? You have every right as a
014mother and as a board member to do what any other mother in the district would do. You can go to a presentation of your child if your child is in a sport, an after- school activity, a play; you have the right to attend like anyone else. The bylaws also say that you must be sensitive to the fact that, because of your role, you can't cross the line where you're not acting as a parent but as an advocate for children. If I have One concern, for example, is the food served at the school. I'm a parent, but also a member of the parent-teacher association. Can I go to the superintendent? [Music] I want to advocate for my child because I want the best for her, but I also don't want to overstep my bounds. I would
015say, given the delicate nature of the situation, the natural progression is that a parent should go to the principal, but because of your role, it would be better to speak with the superintendent about it. Perhaps he would tell you to go to the principal, or perhaps he would say, "Let me speak with the principal." Either way, it's a very delicate position, and it's not just the role of parents; there are other things. For example, someone gets upset with an employee and calls you to complain about that employee. What do you do about that? What these documents indicate is to seek the appropriate personnel and resources through the superintendent to resolve that type of situation. Excuse me, there are people here who weren't part of the staff and have already left. There were two parents, and
016I was turning my back on them. That answers your question. Yes, I have received those emails. I take them to the superintendent. That's what I can answer because when I receive those emails, I respond. I'm going to consult. With the superintendent, and when I follow up, what did the superintendent say or what action was taken? Because I also feel a responsibility toward the parent or teacher who communicates with me. I feel a responsibility to respond, but I want to ensure that I'm within the bounds of what I can share. I believe that when you have that conversation—I'm still referring to Dr. Reyes—when you have a conversation with the superintendent, you should be part of the conversation. I'm presenting this topic, and someone should follow up and ask questions. Mr. Superintendent, do you want me to
017respond to this email, or are you going to respond and ask someone on your team, whether it's the principal or other staff, to respond? I believe that should be part of the way we handle people in the community. But it is good that someone follows up. If you have a different way of handling it, tell me. I have a question about unintentionally sharing information that I shouldn't have shared, and I try to be very careful with personnel matters because many times the public wants to know things that we honestly can't share. For example, if there's a temporary employee who wasn't re-elected to the job, and they think that employee did a very good job and they talk to The mayor and say, "Well, it's a personnel matter. There was a reason why she wasn't rehired."
018And what you can say is, "Since it's a personnel matter, I have limits to what I can answer." [Music] But you do have to indicate and acknowledge your limits. If you're negotiating with certified or classified employees, and if they complain to you about something that happens during labor negotiations because the board assigned a team to negotiate with union X or X, then you should refer that person to that team. What about when we receive an email addressed to the entire board and one of us responds? When we receive an email, I respond and try to respond individually, but sometimes someone chooses to respond to everyone, and that, for me, sometimes seems a little dangerous, so I prefer not to respond anymore. Well, if all of you receive the email, you're the president. You should be
019the spokesperson for the board. So I would be more inclined to have you respond than the others. So if the email reached all five of us, we must be clear about who is the spokesperson for the board, and it's in the bylaws that the president... The president of the board is the spokesperson and gives the official response, although as a member of the board she also wants to respond. It's very natural to want to respond. But before responding, you should pause and allow the president to respond or give the superintendent a chance, for example. It's a very important issue, or perhaps that's all I was going to say. We assume that the president of the board, as president, takes the issue to the superintendent, and the rest of us shouldn't take action. You're assuming that
020the president followed up with the superintendent, but you can also forward the email to the superintendent. If the superintendent receives it five times, that's fine. Then he decides whether to respond or not, but in the slightest. So the superintendent is already aware of the email, and okay, we receive emails at the five of us on the board, and the superintendent, if it's addressed to everyone, we assume that Dr. Reyes receives it because it's also addressed to him. We forward it to him if he already has it. What would you do if you received a copy of the email? What I would recommend is that a member respond and acknowledge receipt. Thank you for your... I received your email. I would reply to the individual, but I would n't copy the board. I would thank the
021person for their concerns, etc. Depending on the issue, I'll make sure it's addressed. Then, someone from student services will forward the email. I received the email, and it's okay if the superintendent replies to the person who sent the email. I asked SH CAS to follow up. Thank you for your email. If that's all, you can copy the board. So, you know, I think that happened once, and everyone responded, remember? And that was n't good; it was a carbon copy. Thank you for your email. I received it, and I'm going to copy Dr. Reyes, and he'll follow up. Dr. Reyes will follow up on it. If it's from a higher level, including Araceli, she receives many emails. Every email I send, she always replies because I know they'll follow up. Okay, these are some reminders on
022page two, number 13, " Personal Conversations with the Superintendent, Board Members, School Staff." Let's see, when we address Brown's Law, a board member has the right to speak to another board member. There's no problem under Brown's Law as long as there are two less than a majority. But if you two have a conversation and then tell the president what you talked about, whether by email or in a conversation, that's a violation of Brown's Law. And this is one thing, the board of directors, but it's also important to understand that it's something that can be shared for public consumption or for internal personal reasons. Things to think about. I have a question: we saw in a publication, an article in the newspaper, that it's something that can be discussed with more than one person. It has
023to do with the board, but it's not an agenda item. It's something that someone else wrote about all of us. It's something that can be discussed with more than one member. If it's about a recipe or a raffle, why? Because it's something social. It has nothing to do with... With the jurisdiction, the jurisdictional competence of the board of directors. For example, if it's about post-COVID, about curriculum, but those are within the jurisdictional competence of the board of directors. So, no, you can't speak the same way with the other four individuals here because it's communication under the Brown Act. I want to be more, more, more clear. If someone said, uh, bad things about us, we can't, we can't talk about us, saying that he's horrible, that she might possibly be horrible, and that we 're
024horrible, and who knows if she's horrible. But let's address, if we're trying to understand, the definition of a board is... It's a blog that someone... but I'm glad you mentioned it. The person who wrote it... there are n't any legal consequences for what they wrote. Yes, they are public figures, but they are speaking as an individual. I don't know the facts, I don't know the facts, but they are speaking as an individual. And you are... but that's the reason why, as a lawyer, it's a concern. The definition of a board under the Brown Act... if you have more than three people in the same place. Same time, location to listen, discuss, deliberate, and/or act on some matter is on page 23, but it's not an issue. People don't matter because remember, it's within jurisdictional competence.
025If someone is criticizing them or members as individuals, yes, if it's about some decision, well, it has to do with the board. I'm not going to give you the answer. I have a question. No, not much has been written about me. Are you jealous? But something was written about my religion. They said that I'm a fundamentalist Christian, and I can comment on that because I know I have a right to believe what I believe. But it's something negative written about me as a member of the board. It's something that, hypothetically, the members as individuals don't have the right to speak about, but we have to see if the response comes from the board, what they said about a particular member. That could be a response that all the board members want to address collectively, but
026there's also a way where you go through the superintendent, so you can, depending on the case, address it. In the proper way, I 'm not here to say that as individuals on the board, they lose their right to speak under the First Amendment, but they have to respond in a responsible, reasoned manner. And the way is to be reasoned in informing the superintendent and the president. And that leads to better responses and a better-functioning board. And we have never responded here. We're not talking about this hypothetical, but if there were a case on page three again, we can study everything. These are all questions that, my friend, I developed. It's like an evaluation, as we mentioned, as a governance team working for the state. Boards like these exist everywhere. Every district is different. Each one
027is distinct. For me, as a person, I know when I see these kinds of things in action, and these are things that we have to understand as a governing team. For question number four, when do you recommend that be done? Now they have two new members. So their first board was in January. Now we're in March, I think. I think it's the right time. We're going to have another workshop. We're working on a manual. Developing a manual, the board's values are fundamental. We use them. What are our values for negotiation? How should they conduct themselves as board members to negotiate, whether it's a manual or a mission statement? All kinds of tools, I think that's what they're trying to do, not only as a governance team, but collectively, what we want to do. I'll let
028you read that part. Let's see. I think those two pages tell me a lot, but page four, on page number four, the board members and superintendent discuss their respective positions. What do they mean? What are those roles? Are they different in different places? How would you help new board members understand the distinction, given your experience? It's a difficult question, Mr. President. He's been on the board longer. It's important to be a channel for input, and it doesn't necessarily address all the issues. We can listen to people, but we don't have the power to implement. The superintendent's role is to bring up concerns and give the confidence that he has the experience. Dr. Reyes, a PhD, puts his professional experience into practice. It's good to go to the schools and listen to people. But lately, the
029leadership has been put into practice by Dr. Reyes. He can delegate this to different cabinet members, others, and other ideas they might want to develop. Obviously, we all advocate for different reasons, and we always need to remind ourselves that we never take our hats off when we go to a school, a meeting, or when we go to Cosco. They see us as board members, and people approach us, share questions, ideas, and concerns. And although many of those ideas are good, ultimately, we live in the realm of laws, and the way we do that is through the Superintendent's team. We pass the concerns to the Superintendent, and he works on them. And if there are changes we have to make regarding policy, that's where we start to be able to discuss ideas, and we can see
030all the policies, especially those that govern the board, how we can operate better as a team because, ultimately, that's not what I want. Or what Lucy wants is what the board wants, and also what the law allows, because we can't just invent something because we like it and have a passion for it. We have to work within the policy and the law, and we have to consider all of that when making policy. But when I say this in a good way, there is one-on- one power, the power that the superintendent has if you are listening to different topics or different issues, different board members. That is a role that the board members play in focusing on issues, on concerns, and when the present member hears it, whether from one or several board members, I think
031that does drive the agenda and drive the organization. And here we have the ability, the capacity of one-on-one interactions, sometimes two-on-one interactions. Let's choose one more of these, number 10 on page 4. The board will decide on matters where I want to emphasize, as the president said very well, that we have to know who the spokesperson is on any given issue, and we have to be careful how we speak until this... Let's develop the correct answer, and they can be positive things, but they want to make sure that the board's statement is drafted, that it's official, and not just everyone contributing ideas. I have a question about social media. How does an individual social media account work? Does it include a personal account? Are there any social media rules? Especially when it's public. You're talking
032about your personal account. What is it if it's public? If it's open? A case recently... And if it is indeed public, and people are being critical, they were making these claims, and the decision was made to block those people from participating on that social media platform. This case went to the Supreme Court to see what the appropriate standard is. But what we do know about social media is that it has... It's self-discipline. There's going to be... What I've been talking about... three. Most of them on social media can't respond to another board member. That's a different standard. Two. Board members on a public social network communicating with each other or liking something you posted. That's a problem on social media. Again, we have to see how to control ourselves, how to be... Disciplined. Another thing
033I'd like to add, as member Tamayo said, is that we never take our hats off, even if they're our best friends. When you respond that way about a board matter, they see you as a board member, as if you were speaking for the board. When you're having those one-on-one conversations, you have to be very careful to have that standard response ready. It's going to be taken to the superintendent. Anything you say, they're going to take it as the board's opinion. And it's not about how you come across, even if you're easygoing. I'm this person, I'm a member of the community. It has to do with perspective. They see you as the board, even if they don't say so. And the board said that. Even though it was a one-on-one conversation, I wanted to draw another
034line. I don't think every single conversation at Costco, or the supermarket, or anywhere else, has to reach the superintendent. And you know why, because you 're in the community, in public, and you already know your response, how you handle it. But it's efficient to say, " Yes, yes, I'm very happy to hear your concern." And they don't have to commit. I'm going to share everything with Dr. Reyes. There has to be a filter because I don't think all the board members are obligated to share everything that's said. They don't have to know everything. He has many things, he's very busy. We listen to them, we inform them how they're going to do their job, but not everything has to reach the superintendent. Our answers... What we have to be aware of is that they're going
035to see us as board members, even though we're having a conversation at Costco. We're listening, not however we respond. My point is that they see us as board members, not as their neighbor, or you're on the same sports team, or your son is on the same team. They see you as a board member, and they can also see you as someone influential. Yes, because what you're told is n't always the case. You have the right to choose. That's the point I wanted to make. The next part of the material is on page 5, up to the PowerPoint slides. They are the board bylaws. I hope you have the most up-to-date ones. The first one is the board bylaws. The board's bylaws are the 9000 series. It's how the board wants to be governed. There may
036be new bylaws from time to time, or laws that change, and the bylaws have to be changed. The first thing is the role of the board, and we're talking about it on page 6. I was making the point that the person responsible for hiring the superintendent is kind of supervising the superintendent. That's right, we're talking about policy. That's an important part of the job. Also, the budget is very important because the budget is a big responsibility. They know a lot, but their role is collective bargaining. One of my responsibilities is to be the board's legal representative, to set goals and guidelines for collective bargaining, to choose representatives, maintain communication, and adopt bargaining agreements. Their bylaws effectively limit the roles of the board. You sit on the boards. That's how most districts work. Also, in judicial
037appeals, and that's why board members shouldn't deal with personnel matters or student grievances. The board might have a role in finding out if they talk a lot about a particular issue and are very involved. One way or another, they're going to have to share with the other board members and they might have to recuse themselves from the decision, so the following policy on public statements is very important. We've said some things in their bylaws. Statements can be made so that communication is uniform. And be aware, in the last paragraph, what happens on social media, on blogs, other informational websites can warrant a CPR request and be used as evidence. I have a question about Facebook. There are social media groups—I'm talking about Facebook—where the complaints are about the district or something that's happening in the
038district. Can we respond? Can we like it? I'll give an example: they're talking about the dynamics of the schools. As a board member, we comment, like, or do some kind of interaction, and then we have to vote in a closed session. You're not listening to me, and if we do that, it puts us in a position where we can't vote. I think it's a remote possibility that they can disqualify you. You have the right when there are matters Disciplinary officers have the right in a closed session to talk amongst themselves to see what would be the appropriate course of action. They have the right to communicate with the superintendent to obtain information, and it may be a situation where the board members need an update on this particular matter. But they do it in the
039closed session on Facebook with all the emojis. I don't think that's an effective way to communicate; it can be misinterpreted, and there are much more powerful tools to address these issues than Facebook. Now, however, if the district, for example, on Instagram, if the district account posted something positive that happened, we can like it or interact with it. They want us to be seen supporting our district, that's fine. It's something very important, statute 9000 and 9200, and it covers several things we've been talking about. The board is a unit of authority over the district with clearly defined, limited powers, restricted by what is permitted by law. In California, we have the permissive code, which means that it is not prohibited by law. So, the board has the right to do something different. In the next paragraph,
040the board members individually They don't have authority. I'm going to jump ahead a bit. The board represents a collective effort. They may have a focus on certain segments of the population, but once elected, they represent the community as a whole, not a fraction. But board members should not exercise administrative responsibilities. These are firm statements, but they are not outlandish, not like the prosecutor [Music] interprets it. They are important. The second-to-last paragraph: board members cannot arrange or coordinate meetings. Sometimes I get a call from the district—either the assistant superintendent, the superintendent, or an individual board member—who would like to see the file of a staff member. They have the right to have that file because they heard some concern about it. No, it's not allowed. But if something comes up in a closed session, individual members
041at any facility—those visits have to be coordinated by the board. They can't go individually. How are the meetings conducted? Pages 16, 17, 18. The president of the board already read the rights for public comment. There were no public comments, but I do think I would recommend a change. I think I think people have the right to stand up and criticize staff. Their bylaws are from 1900, they 're old. Maybe they'd like to examine where it is, page 18 of the public announcements. They can't file charges or accusations against the superintendent or staff members. What if I'm a teacher? What if they start talking specifically about staff matters or make accusations that they might present to the board? I let them continue, but they have the right to criticize an employee. What they can do, in
042my view, is respectfully interrupt and say, "We have a copy of 13.1, like any complaints against staff. We have a copy after today's meeting so you can file your complaint there instead of doing it this way here." But if they say, "I have 2 minutes and 11 seconds and it's not over," they have the right to keep talking. Yes, they have the right to keep talking. That's 10 years old. That refers to public announcements or communications. They can... Criticizing the board and the staff worries me. I'm a protector, and I'm concerned that they might say something very negative about an employee, whether they're a counselor or a teacher. And if they say something again, but they're accusing these people of horrible things in public, do we have any responsibility as a School District? I would
043say no. If in question, teacher X is upset with the children, this person closes their eyes and thinks whatever they want, or they're using a lot of profanity. They might be very volatile and very... then they could... Yes, if they stop and say, "Teacher X hit my child," they might... if they say something like that, we would n't know. I'm thinking about things that have been said in the past. I have another question. I don't like my answer, but I don't like that I should let them continue. I want to protect the employees and also protect the First Amendment, but if you start choosing based on the content of their speech, then they might... Uh, what happens in situations where the comments... might sway someone's decision? If it's a decision about an employee, if the
044board hears a complaint, would they do it in a closed session? 24 hours before the closed session, they have to give the employee... They have the right to have what they're thinking. We may be the final arbiter. Can someone defend another community member, not a district employee, if that decision has an effect on the board's decision? How do we protect that person they're talking about? Because I know employees are covered by the law. Sometimes they just have to let them speak for 3 minutes and not say anything. That's part of the board. We only give 5 minutes to the presidents' associations. How does number seven work? They shouldn't allow it; it's an area where the laws have evolved. I ca n't hear because you're reading, and then, par elum, can they warn the person who
045is interrupting the meeting, who is being threatening, to stop, or else they will be removed from the board? It also refers, for example, to the audience, or if someone says something, shouts something, if it's someone who stirs up the public, and about a controversial topic. I mean, if someone applauds because someone was promoted, fine. But before we start with Brown's Law, can we take a break because I know some of you haven't had dinner, and that way we don't eat in front of the camera for 15 minutes. Thank you. A document... Now we're going to focus on Brown's Law; we're going to focus on some key points. And if you need follow-up, I'll gladly do it. But let's go to page 23, but you have another document. It's regarding Brown's Law; the definition of what
046a board is is very broad; it's that description, and it's where the majority of the board, like you five members, is the majority. And it's to act on... The board's jurisdiction then has some exceptions when the board can travel as a group. When they go to CSBA, all five go. It's a section in Brown's Act. The majority of the board can go to a conference that involves a variety of agencies and is open to the public, as SBA has something there indicating that it's open to the public. The other exception is if everyone decides, for example, to go to my birthday party in May, but that's a social ceremony, everyone can attend. I recommend that everyone stay together at my birthday party, that they don't sit together. Sorry, go with the other people at the
047party because if they're all together, they're most likely going to talk about something that the board will decide on. So, no attendance by the majority of the board on a standing board committee. If they're not committee members, they can attend, but only as observers. They can also go to public meetings of some local concern or a local agency. This is the kind of thing where we need the superintendent to be the leader because he has the information. When he has the one-on-one meeting, for example, one or two board members would go, but not all five. And remember that when they go to those Meetings can only discuss what's on the agenda, and I know that if they can, they should sit separately. So, for events organized by the district, we can go, and if they
048seat us at the same table, we should separate from the table. If it's something like a district ceremony, that's fine, but birthday parties should be separate from the district. But if they're building a new school and you go to where they're building it, that's a meeting. If they're inaugurating the construction and cutting the ribbon, is that a meeting or a social ceremony? How does Brown's Law apply? Well, I don't know, but we did talk about it, but we didn't discuss anything related to it. Well, it depends. If they're walking through the construction and they're explaining how they're going to implement Brown's Law, it's very conservative in those situations. To be safe, I wouldn't discuss decisions at the table. Now, let's talk about meetings. Seriously, there's a reason why the superintendent has one-on- one meetings. The
049superintendent can talk to each of you, has information, can answer questions, can be a resource. And that's an exception to a series of meetings. That would exist if the purpose of the board, that the majority of the board members were not of an announced meeting, to use a series of communications of any kind, directly or through intermediaries, to discuss, deliberate, or take action on any matter that is within the jurisdiction of the board. That's why the superintendent meets with you privately. The other thing I want to look at is page 27. There's a reason why some things are in closed session and others in open session. On page 27, there's a list of all the topics that can be seen in closed session: negotiations with unions, student discipline, pending or anticipated litigation. And here it
050says how to include closed session topics on the agenda. When I see a closed session agenda and someone mentions a government section, 549.54.5 in Brown's Act, it recommends that we have a copy of Brown's Act. I'm going to make sure you have a copy. It's important that if the government section indicates how to schedule a closed session, you follow it. Follow the instructions. Now, something I want to focus on is closed session confidentiality. This is important. A closed session is like Las Vegas. What happens in a closed session stays in a closed session. No individual board member has the authority to say anything said in a closed session that was confidential without the specific authorization of the majority of the board. I have a question: if that closed-session information is shared afterward, when a board
051member is no longer on the board or is no longer part of the board, I'm not going to answer that question, but I'm going to talk to the superintendent about it. That was my question as well. That's the important thing about a closed session: it's a closed session, it's not public information, and many board members could get into trouble and violate this guideline. I want you to see if you have it, a sheet A, B, and C. A board member wrote an article about schools and says that schools and housing can be built in less time. And she sends it to the other board members and says, "I'd like to discuss this and put it on the agenda." And what happened with Amber and Bernardo? Is it a Brown Act issue? Another Bernardo responds to
052Amber, whatever it is, he said, "I thought it was just information you were sharing, but she copied it." The superintendent, in private, as Bernardo sent the private message to the superintendent, violated Brown's Law. The board member who sent that email to the superintendent has a problem. He did the right thing because that way the superintendent can see all the communications and can take action. That's the problem with email, whether it's replying to everyone or sending someone else; it can be a problem. We have to be careful with technology. We're talking about social media. You can have conversations, answer questions, give information to the public, but you can't use social media to have arguments with other board members because it's a public page, and the important thing is that you can only share if it's just
053two members, not three. That's important. So, on social media, we can do that. I would say don't use social media. There are better ways because anything you put on social media can be forwarded, and I know I'm very conservative, but I am. Regarding social media and teleconferencing, I want you to know that there are several options. We know traditional teleconferencing. We know that sometimes there are people who will be outside the district boundaries, and we know what happens, but it should be on the agenda that says, for example, that board member John will not be there. I'll be here in Kentucky, so it will be my responsibility to post the meeting notice in the hotel lobby and have my door open. That's a traditional option. Now we have alternatives, either based on an emergency or
054the board member's health situation. Sometimes it doesn't have to be included on the agenda if they notify us less than 24 hours in advance that a member can't be here, and if they meet all the requirements, they can participate. But there are options. There's another change in the law. Before, attending a board meeting was an essential function of being a member, but now it's no longer an essential function. Members can participate in board meetings, or there are options to participate remotely. But it's better and more meaningful if they are present in person, especially at these presentations under the law. And now, the Right of the Public to Comment Act means that they have the right to comment before, during, and after a meeting. They must always submit a card on a topic. They can speak
055before the board considers the topic. They must have a time limit, usually 3 minutes, and they can also limit comments on a single topic to 20 minutes. And there are no interruptions or threats. This is the law. New, if you notify an individual that their behavior is disrupting the meeting and that if they don't stop, it could result in their removal from the board, you have security in your board meetings because it is these individuals you would ask to remove these people who are disrupting or threatening. And that's like the authority to remove that person who is disrupting, and you shouldn't remove someone who says something negative, but someone who is saying something inappropriate. And if the board prevents the public, for example, if someone took action in a closed session and it was a
056violation of Brown's Law, can they nullify the action they took? Be careful, all of this is very serious. We have a script; I think it's a good resource for you. That's the most important thing about Brown's Law. If one of you, one of us, in a public session, unintentionally discusses topics that should be discussed in an open session, what consequences could there be? Yes, the board could censure that board member. They could do that publicly, too. There are real consequences for abusing this. This is very serious. Thank you very much. Now we're going to a closed session, according to the following... Labor negotiations with negotiators Adam Silva llp organization of classified employees Chula Vista educators and administrative employees public employee discipline and anticipatory litigation and initiation of litigation according to government section al ...