001foreign okay we'll go ahead and call this meeting to order this is a regular board meeting September 28th and we will have a work August 20th August 20th I wish August here Gutman here Hauser here Kent here Mead here Mankey here say your Geiser here okay and um we'll go ahead and yeah our district mission is to teach all Rachel our district vision is that Urbandale will be a school district that brings learning to life for everyone our school board mission is to partner with stakeholders to teach all and reach all through governance of board policy and the operating protocol thank you may I have a motion to approve the agenda so move Sarah geyser okay go ahead countable second it all in favor aye opposed no and we will open uh public comments and
002so um Jane go ahead and give your name and your address okay Circle I'm an Alum of Urbandale Schools kindergarten through High School I've lived in Urbandale for many years as an adult I'm here because I care about this community and was surprised and baffled by The District's actions in response to the Senate file 496. after the first band vocalists went public and after many objections including mine the district greatly modified those lists especially those with lgbtq plus characters or content I thank you for those changes I won't repeat most of the points that I made in the email that I sent prior to that decision but I remain concerned about how the district will act on these laws going forward the superintendent's letter emphasized the district's extensive analysis of sf496 but the initial lists
003went well beyond the reach of that law it seemed as if instead of looking to the words in the bill that passed the district relied on language found in earlier versions of the bill or laws that passed in other states I've heard of other area districts telling staff to remove rainbow flags and Ally stickers because they would be considered promotion under the law this over interpretation is unwarranted and just dangerous rainbow Flags allies stickers and similar items can help create a sense of well-being and safety for many students staff and families they promote community and inclusion I hope Urbandale will not follow that approach significant policy changes like these require analysis more analysis input and oversight than occurred this time so please support Board review and approval of these kind of proposed policy changes before
004they are implemented to be clear I feel for all public school staff and administrators they have been hit with a lot this year they've had to figure out on their own what this law means because of the State Department of Education as advocated their responsibility by not providing guidance sponsors of the bill can't even agree about the bill but in the face of that silence I urge you not to over interpret the law I urge you to remember who you serve and it's not the legislature when you make policies under this law and future ones I urge you to Center the needs and well-being of students especially the most vulnerable focus on finding creative ways to lawfully support them the more that schools obey in advance going beyond what the law requires the more it
005will encourage more troubling legislation so finally and most of all I urge the district and its staff and all of you to be brave thank you thank you so we'll go ahead and have someone motion to bring the consent agenda forward move to open the consent agenda thank you will second thank you so do we have any questions or clarifications quite a list I have several okay under um basically for all of the contracts and agreements um they're just there's a lack of information the first one for example yes I can see that it's recycling bins but I don't know where I don't know there's blanks in the contract I don't know what we're agreeing to so drop it is a um company that we would fill in the date after the board if the
006board passes and this is a company that does a um customized wrapped type of I don't want to call it a dumpster but it's a bin that will be at the high school Tim has found a location working with Zach wheeler and this will have a QR code that if people want to recycle their recyclables they'll get the QR code and you walk up and it opens it for you and it goes in there's a way the mechanism counts things and there's a percentage of the recycling money that goes to the school as a fundraiser so it's a fundraiser item and it's only at the high school okay and those are being split 50 50 with the high school and activity Department where would it be located in high school um it's going to be
007off to the side of the building where the stadium is but I couldn't tell you the exact Place till I see where they put it so the customer power can drop off things and some of the activities will have a QR code that they'll pass out to their fans of games or families in the neighborhood so that they can do use that if they choose to recycle that way okay so is the QR code opens anything can be thrown in so if we get on non-recyclables non-recyclables or things like that does the company deal with that or does that become our issue the company does their method of once they pick it up their sorting method will account for that so we don't have to deal with any of it okay again um I just
008it there's just no information on here other than saying final forms and let me look at it again it's that is for the athletic department it's going to use that for collecting forms physicals uh communication with parents and kind of keep a roster a way of communicating with all the players and staff basically okay so when I look at the cost of that there's a one-time building that they're waving but then the fee covers it says 900 athletes times 450 a year so what what is the cost or management load currently that we're asking to for this to replace um right now it's basically being done by the athletic office itself so I don't know if there really is a known figure on that we'd have to have them kind of put that to the
009pen and pencil figure that out this automates the process so you can it's like an app that I can send to you and say Dear Mrs Mead your daughter's physical for volleyball expires in 10 days and you can communicate back and forth on it you can add upload new documents to it you can ask questions through it if there's a medical emergency while they're away in Sioux City for example all that information is in the app and they have emergency contacts and everything within that app for them to the coaches to have all right okay yeah they inter Josh freid determined this will save them lots of man hours okay okay once they get everything loaded in and it is also um works with PowerSchool also so there's some ways of moving data in between
010the two systems okay and it will be protected under since now we're putting Vital Information it's protected it's out on the cloud yeah through their cut through their organization it's protected and guarded or is that yeah through them okay okay um on the Gallagher contract I can see that it's ensure Insurance review consultation I can see that it's 185 an hour but it doesn't really give me any indication of how many hours we think we'll need from them or what that looks like yeah so I had Gallagher give me some information on that I'll just kind of give you the years and how many hours they billed us for in 2022 they build us for 123 and a quarter hours and 21 they build us for 250 hours in 2020 it was 217.8 and 2019
011152.9 you want me to go further is that enough nope this is something that they manage our Insurance Fund basically they they work with Wellmark on making sure where we have enough money in the Insurance Fund to cover all of our costs and premiums and everything okay okay they're kind of a third party and they answer questions like oh yeah we had recently an employee had a question on a prescription availability so it's kind of like an attorney that would bill you for whatever hours so we consulted with them on getting that information so we could provide that to the employee and they're like that middle man between the insurance and the District of taking care of those yeah and they can help negotiate our rate increase each year too okay and that I I
012don't I I don't necessarily want to hold this contract up but in the future on these especially when it relates to billable hours can we put a clause in there that says up to X number of hours and then hours beyond that nice I think this one says 250 on it but I'll I'll verify that we'll make sure that has that on there okay and then on the last one um from what I can see it looks like there's the plus 2500 looked different from last year because it says the current investment and it had that 8 700 and then in the new contract it had the Plus and I didn't know if that was different from last year or what the reasoning was for that that 1250 an hour plus 2500. it takes our
013total up to kind of that that 2500 more compared to it we're up at the top it says current investment so I just wanted some clarification on those numbers or or what if you could tell me more about this Lauren would that be one you could come up and give a little bit on I'm sorry it's easier to hear on the mic if you come up foreign director of HR operations I believe that's our Wellness consultant fees where we get additional support from efr uh and we get some trainings and um webinars uh along with just overall support from them on the activities that we do throughout the year okay is that is that is that am I reading this contract when I look at it correctly to me current investment looks like what we've
014paid this year and then next year's looks like more so is that 20 is that absolutely 100 additional from last year or different from last year no but what we did is that in order to get on the uh I think that's what's being reflected here uh on a the same rotation with the fiscal year we went 12 months and then 10 months so we'll have a renewal now on June 30th for July 1 next year instead of the September one okay okay we did that we locked in the rate last year for two years but we had to pay and we've already done that we've uh paid each year separately okay thank you I'm just looking for reassurance um someone on the Personnel report came by in a previous meeting and proposed a lot
015of really good programs that I think we're all very excited for um now that they're leaving I want to just double check that all of those programs are still going to be a go okay our ffos work very well together and those programs aren't affected by one another I talked to Jolie on that and she said that the ffo as well perfect I just wanted to make sure since we just voted on all those amazing things last time she's from 4 to 4 30 so okay let's do a roll call to approve Anderson yes groupman yes Bowser yes Kent yes need Yes Monkey yes sir Geiser yes for 7-0 so we'll move into the superintendent's report yeah just a short report in front of you you have the um 2223 Urbandale activities end of the
016year report they put this together and shared it with me electronically they also printed it because it comes out a little bit better when it's printed than if you see it in a PDF but I would encourage you to take a look at that there's a lot of really good information in there from their records to some information about fundraising and awards that our kids have won some of you might remember through the board recognition program I also in front of you you have um the snack boxes these are something that we've started when I came here and the annual tradition of giving out to all staff at the beginning of the year of course we're limited on an amount that we're allowed to put in them but I want to thank Jesse Sadler in
017the nutrition services department for organizing this and putting it together so we wanted you guys to also have one so I hope you enjoy the snacks and that's really all I have for tonight great thank you thanks Jesse if you're listening okay so we'll move then into the action items that were brought forward on August 14. so the first item is the Middle School Esports programming can I move to approve please I move to approve I can't full second thank you we need a roll call okay so all in favor I opposed no that appears to be unanimous we also discussed at the last meeting the level one investigators for this school year in each building so may I have a motion account will move to approve Anderson second thank you all in favor I
018opposed no appears to be unanimous and we will move into the second readings and approvals for a number of policies sorry to those of you who are watching and listening it's a lot yeah that's a lot sorry so we'll move into uh excuse pardon me policy 210 which is a notice of meeting agenda um there was no feedback on this one do you want to use approved each okay Sarah geyser moved to approved policy uh thank you all in favor hi opposed no so unanimous we will move into 215 which is the board meeting agenda and there were two pieces of feedback one that was um received after the last meeting and then there's an additional policy feedback that was received after the board agenda was published that one was um a question on whether
019the last paragraph needed to be added because it was copy and pasted from 217 that last paragraph is recommended by our legal counsel just to maintain decorum of meetings so we didn't feel that that was a problem to repeat that paragraph can I suggest a change um for whenever first to the citizens petition um so I that was house file 868 and the language of that bill says the last regularly scheduled School Board election to make a distinction between a special election and and the regular so the law is written just has that extra language who voted in the last regular school election yes that was clarified by our legal counsel so if the board wishes to add that Dan which paragraph are you looking at uh this one right here where it talks about
020uh they need 500 signatures or 10 percent I'd like to make a motion to to just set to that paragraph So you clarify it for everyone and approve and approved sir yes I'll second okay all in favor aye aye aye opposed no unanimous thank you the um let's see 217 public participation and board meetings it's just the one piece um this commenter disagrees with the additional language and fell to something was going on in the community they weren't a special board meeting the public should have the right to share their opinion with the board and they can email but there are times they felt public comment was needed so it does say that [Music] comment shall be limited to regular board meetings and will not be routinely held during special board meetings so I think
021the fact that it says routinely indicates that we as a board could decide that we could have public comment on those special board meetings this is how I interpret it I guess I feel if if we're meeting in a public meeting whether it's special or irregularly scheduled that I would like for the public to be able to have the ability to comment yeah I there's nothing routine about a special board meeting in my mind and that's not what it says no but it will not be routinely held during special board meetings I'm just I mean a special board meetings are not routine for us and I think there are circumstances that would public comment would be we would do better to err on the side of transparency and accessibility rather than not and I think
022a board a work session is considered a special meeting isn't it under the language so that's where that comes from I don't think it necessarily means we're having a meeting Wednesday night for some special reason so then could you say regular regular poor work session meeting I think what we're saying is that if it's a if it is a Wednesday that we wouldn't because otherwise then we could still in the in the policy it would still be limited to the three minutes and only for 45 minutes but if it is for both of those Monday meetings that we have then it would open it up to the public for comments so are you saying and will not routinely public comments shall be limited to regular board meetings and will not be routinely held during work
023session I don't think we say not routinely held I just think you if you're if you if the intent is that on our meeting dates that any public comment could be made that those are our routine meeting dates they typically happen twice a month so maybe it's public comments shall be limited or public comments shall be really at any regular scheduled board meeting or work session I mean so any of our scheduled meetings that are on our web page that are on our not not one that pops up that's going to happen in three days or something like that can I ask where did this change source of why this change came about I believe this was we're changing the title first of all from public comment to public participation and I believe this was
024an iasb correct me [Music] and do we have any uh basis for their recommendation on that I I believe that they were originally back when they were in session let the legislature they were talking about having 30 minutes of public comment at every at the beginning of every board meeting that was something that they were proposing one of the laws that they were writing that didn't pass so I assume that iisd has put this in its place um that's an assumption I don't know exactly why that was proposed okay so currently though we only have public comment once a month right when the board is taking action right yeah so this is this is keeping with that but then my interpretation says that we could side to hospital comment on any other meeting that we
025service but I don't know how we do that since right people have to email us before we would ever make that decision because we'd have to meet for board meeting to make the vote to allow them to public comment and that so I think that just I think either it would have to be a policy change that we say at any of our Monday meetings or our regular board meeting or work session meeting or or not have that routinely right put in there because then yeah I feel the same it's going to take how do you decide whether it's yeah but are you saying you don't want routinely there or regular will be limited to our regularly scheduled board meetings because we don't want to close like I mean if we just take a couple
026years back to the special board meetings that were held for like Mass mandates and things those are special bargainings that the public was allowed to comment on it was not you know there was a time limit but everybody got a comment um so I think we don't want to take that piece out too we don't want to say that you can't comment at those specially held board meetings I would leave that language in so that we can decide as a board to allow people to comment but then add the language around work session I feel like it would be helpful to have public comments during those work sessions so that we can propose any changes we might see and then maintain to approve board policy instead of waiting to get those public comments until the
027night that we're supposed and I don't recall a work session where we did not take action because there were bills that needed to be paid or I mean every work session is a is a working meeting right so I I think yeah we've got to I think airing on the side of accessibility and basically saying any scheduled meeting does special would be exempt yeah that's that's what I wanted to make sure so like I'm trying to decide whether that would be concerned the routinely held special not routine not to be routinely held during special board meetings if that would cover because if we don't need that language that's my question right I'm kind of with you there because we always open when we have like a special board meeting for a closed session so if
028we don't I don't have a problem with the routinely held during special meetings because I think that opens that piece up I think what we're talking about is the regular piece of the description well I'm wondering if you just take out the the second phrase and the third phrase I mean if you just say the board encourages public attendance and participation in its public board meetings right then you're not specifying that it's a regular or specifying that it's work so just be simplifying so we'd have public comment every Monday while we hang out and then if we have weird ones if that's if that's what is the intent of this is that you're wanting to make sure the public comment can be made at any scheduled board meeting so what's the and you need to
029make a motion to amend this policy specific language I make a motion to amend this policy to Now read public comments shall be limited to regular board meetings and work sessions and will not be routinely held during special board meetings does that fit everybody I think you're going to have to amend the second okay because it says public comments will only be heard and the paragraph above okay or if it just says if we just cross off the word regular and just say heard at board game yes so my original motion plus we are uh deleting the regular in the second paragraph so just says will only be heard at board meetings we could change regular to public and it would fit with the first paragraph sorry that's unclear Escape my motion to edit and
030approve this document so the second paragraph reads public comments will only be heard at public board meetings and the third paragraph reads public comment shall be limited to regular board meetings and work sessions and will not be routinely held during special board meetings could I ask that you separate your emotion from approval okay so you got that separating the motion from the approval because I have another question we're going to separate so that's particular okay so can I make a move to edit this document so then we can have further questions of changing it without approving it that's what he's asking he wants to approve the change and then ask further questions after said change I will make a motion to table this policy and work as a board to provide clear language and offer
031it at the next meeting would that fall into the two then meetings that we can't go into if we're or do we would go back to First reading so if we label this policy then we would do a first reading at the next meeting yeah and then the following meeting so that first the second fighting and September we would go ahead and do the second reading I think in the interest again of transparency let's make sure that people understand what our changes are so that they can weigh in on what our new policy is rather than trying to piecemeal so what do we come back with or I heard a motion to table this policy right I did not hear a second I'll second okay okay so I have minky motion you want this a
032roll call let's go ahead and do a roll call so the motion to table this policy yes Hauser yes Kent yes made yes thank you yes Sarah Geiser yes Anderson yes motion carry 7-0 policy is tabled so I don't have to do anything you don't want me to do any okay I I would be happy to provide a proposed proposed changes in the comments on the policy section on simply and then let everyone react to those okay uh travel reimbursement 420. can I before you if you talk about this one be um that red RR I don't know where it came from let's just typo yeah that's why it's coming out what are we going to go over Tuesday before we'll come back these are in order yeah I have a motion thank you will
033move to approve Anderson will second all in favor aye aye opposed no okay uh policy 421 required professional development a Sarah geyser move to approve 421 um there was one I'm sorry Dan there was one um I'm just trying to keep up question on the feedback for the public has caused me to stop and think our staff members questioning why they must take specific training if so I'd be interested to learn more about this and how the refusal fits with the mission of teaching all reaching all I do want to point out no staff is has refused to do any training this is something that is that's always been part of our process this is just making it more more formal but this is not because somebody refused to do a training my only question
034about this is and so it talks about that we're going to provide professional development based and I'm talking about the last paragraph that's highlighted in green here um around rules adopted by the State Board of Education educational examiners um do we are there any other policies around staff development I was I was a little taken aback uh at our last board meeting when of all of the staff development opportunities presented to our staff and and knowing that our mission is to teach all and reach all and that Equity has been something we've struggled with as a district um do we have any other policies or would this policy be a place to add in requirements around professional development to ensure that part of our mission so that we are properly training our staff to best
035support students and families from marginalized community and I could be way off here and and to where this should be in but I feel like I'd like to codify that given that that's you know we've spoken about that being an emphasis for us in our recent struggle as well anything in the 400 series is for employees so it would not fit here but if you want me to go and well this would be professional development for employees on how to best support our marginalized students can I suppose I would be looking for the board's Direction I don't off the top of my head can't tell you I don't know Brandon I don't want to put you on the spot do you there's none in the six or 500 series that you can remember and the
036only reason I say that is that you know I I really do believe that most of that all of us here at this table are truly concerned with supporting all of our students in the best way possible and you know we have a lot of things around equity and we've got some catch phrases that'll teach all reach-all but I'm just not seeing the rubber hit the road and in talking with with students and families from marginalized communities they do feel disconnected from this District um generally do not feel that they're as supported as like as they could and so I don't know if I have the support of enough board members but I feel like I would like to codify in some way whether it be through this policy or through another venue to really
037put some teeth behind the words that we that we speak around equity and to require that we have some staff development around in reading this it seems like this is Staff Development around laws so I'm wondering if it's just not in this policy I mean I I hear where you're coming from but I don't feel like that this particular policy maybe is where that fits um I I guess this to me talks more about compliance for Iowa laws and um but I don't again maybe Brandon has more information around them yeah and so there is a policy policy six and three Multicultural gender Fair program um and staff thrown that activity shows the methods of instructions basis is the current language of that policy it is under review this year so we'll be bringing that
038I believe in February march-ish so that would perhaps be a better place to put them so do I have a motion I moved but I don't know if anyone says um evil second thank you all in favor aye aye opposed no okay um go to 609 which is health education we did receive feedback on that after the agenda posted um this individual commenter said that they have concerns with the removal of domestic abuse from the topics that will be taught far too many young people get into relationships that will sadly involve domestic abuse and this should still be included I was also under the impression that while the state now no longer requires districts to discuss HIV AIDS HPV and the HPV vaccine that it is still up to the district to decide if it
039will I worry that by taking it out specifically from this policy that eventually it will lapse as something that is taught I would much prefer to see this policy list the HIV aids HPV and HPV vaccine specifically so they can so they will continue to be included in the curriculum going forward and I believe Brandon is prepared to address this particular piece yeah so um the domestic violence was replaced within our personal relationships and then the priority sent the prioritized standards that were approved last May after the health curriculum review there are standards directly addressing violence both in relationships but also just leave the prevent violence in situations and then the HPV HIV portion was um and is present through prevention and control of disease and communicable diseases I think the guidance that we receive
040from iasb was really just reflecting the fact that no longer is it required at that certain grade level but again the standards that were prioritizing and brought to the board for approval did include those pieces um I believe that specifically begins in the content around seventh grade so it does show that interpersonal relationships was already in there and they had domestic abuse separate to make sure that it was continued to be covered um so I'm wondering why we've just lumped it together versus leaving it alone yeah I think you know it was just in Clarity in the language of just interpersonal relationships that they're we need to be addressing that uh from the state level when we report we no longer report out domestic violence um when we verify the health curriculum I have concerns
041we also had including and I said of acquired immune deficiency syndrome so we did have AIDS listed specifically I do worry that by removing these like yes right now our curriculum still includes them but that doesn't mean to say that they will continue to include them if we get rid of this language I mean as soon as like it could change next year I mean we want to keep with the correct then we approve but I mean it could very easily be changed so I'm curious if there is support of the board to put that language back in so if you as a board approve the curriculum that would stay until the next iteration of the curriculum so it's really the boards but venue to make that but if it's in the policy then it
042would have to be included within the curriculum the next time the curriculum comes up but when you go look at the curriculum as it comes up that would be the board to say this is missing why is it not there but I don't know if they would because it's no longer being mandated so like I can't promise that the next time it comes up someone like if it's if it's just us as interpersonal relationships and maybe the curriculum listed differently the next time they may not come up and say why are we not covering domestic abuse so if it's in the policy it would at least then have a layer of protection to make sure that it would be referenced back to further down the road I don't see why it would hurt to keep
043that in keep domestic violence in it along with interpersonal relationships and I feel the same way about the HIV aids HPV and HPV vaccine because they're no longer being held to a mandatory standpoint at the state level doesn't mean we can't hold it to a mandatory Point within the school district I would look to the board and it would be codified with codified within our policies so that they could reference back to each other because we can't promise that the next time we go over curriculum it's going to be something that someone's thinking about because there's lots of stuff that we miss and I would Advocate that that typically happens every seven years and that will be probably on that particular board at that time sure I am I would also Advocate that the standards
044now standards and the curriculum study have been pretty specific and laid out quite clearly with Community input if you remember um and so I would contend that I have confidence that we will be able to fulfill those standards with or without the policy and again I would contend that I don't know seven years used to be seven years yeah um and so and I agree the curriculum will be on the next board but this policy is on us right now so that's why I'm proposing to see if there's enough board support well you would need to make a motion to amend it um trying to read through where we would include it so I would make a motion to amend the policy to read including the effects of Alcohol Tobacco drugs and poisons on the
045human body human sexuality self-esteem Stress Management interpersonal relationships domestic abuse emotional and social health Health Resources prevention and control of diseases and communicable and I can't read that word diseases um including HIV AIDS HPV and the HPV vaccine but that's not political to these but I'm sure there's a way to do it with commas I think that most kid you got that Julie I do okay so we'll do a real call vote Hauser no foreign can't no me no monkey yes Energizer yes Anderson yes Goodman yes I'm curious okay we will move on then to school calendar 6 level 28. we had one piece of feedback to that this commenter asks so does this mean we could potentially have virtual learning for snow days and other emergency cancellations how would elementary students access this instruction
046as they do not bring devices home and also what if an older student didn't bring the device home is there a plan to get emergency internet access to students without ongoing access so it's kind of two things I would address and could we have virtual learning for snow days yes we could but there's also kids being kids and playing and not not having to try to get the stress of connecting during a snow day I think personally and of course this is the boards um I think when we do the next calendar we can address it there but um unless we're having five six seven eight snow days I think that um I would advocate for kids just being kids if we were going to go for a snow day that would turn into a
047learning Day based on Virtual learning then I think we would have to have a plan with our elementary schools for getting those devices home we also have been already looking at our internet access that we provided during covid and there are the 99 of the devices are not being used and we've contacted the families of those that still had the device to ensure that they still needed it and um so we're covering That Base as well but that really would be I think a decision to make on the calendar I would I agree with you Dr Deca that sometimes the snow days are good unstructured and we don't get that nice notice anymore anyway yeah Sarah Geiser moved to approve 6 28 as written and we'll second that all in favor all right close no
048okay we'll move on to 631b instructional material and we have had no feedback on this particular policy accountable move to approve as written thank you will second thank you all in favor aye aye opposed no unanimous we'll go to item nine which is uh policy 632 School library we did receive one piece of feedback on that um this commenter said I feel that the teacher librarian should be part of this process and if a large number of current titles are to be removed they should require at a minimum board knowledge when large numbers of books are planned to be removed the board should have a special meeting with appropriate Community notice to discuss plans before they are released to staff students and other it says ENT but I'm assuming that's entities um I think Brandon
049can comment on the weeding process that we do in our schools that there's thousands of books that are weeded annually for various reasons I don't know what specific questions the board might have on this so it does State and board policy I think it's 631 or 6 30 um uh one a of the selection of instructional materials and Library materials that that is done in conjunction with the building administrator and the teacher librarian that they work together on that process for the selection and then the reading is done with the librarian Central to that process um just in the last two years 39 000 just over 39 000 titles were weeded from our collection system-wide last year it was 12 578 books and they're weeded for a variety of reasons they can be because they're
050you know they're not circulating the age of the the piece as well as the condition that they are in um and so there are many reasons that the Librarians choose to leave books um and then the fact that we closed and merged two libraries together also contributed to some weeding as well because they have multiple copies of the same text um as they worked through that process I wonder if the commenter was more concerned about the book issue we had last month and that that comment will be more appropriately addressed when we get to New item action number seven yeah this seems like more just a routine house cleaning not you know Banning or quarantining the Box I moved to approve policy 632. 10 second thank you all in favor I suppose no that appears
051to be unanimous we'll move on to policy 634 which is Assessment program we received one piece of feedback on this I think I mentioned at the last meeting and there are some places that should say parent slash Guardian that just say parent and I would offer that should the board pass this I will change parent to pair slash Guardian prior to official posting on the website on the assembly site Anderson moved to approve uh with those changes thank you will second all in favor um we'll go to 823 procurement procurement cards these are our P cards which are credit cards for the district and there was no comment received on this policy need move to approve 823 thank you will second all in favor aye aye opposed no and we will move on then to
052825 travel reimbursement and this one also um has received no comments Mankey moves to approve 8 25. Anderson 34 second reading of new policies that have been added due to new legislation and we received one piece of feedback on this um this commenter said I feel this is targeted to a recent situation and a specific board member I don't feel any board policy should be created to stifle an individual from sharing information with others especially when it may have an impact on many students in the district my comment on that is that this has been sitting ready since May June when iasbs recommendations came through this just happens to be the timing this was not specifically targeting any individual board member I would just say if that commentary was referring to me I'll continue to
053speak the truth emotion would be good need moved to approp 234 Sarah Geiser second all in favor aye aye opposed no and we'll move to policy 549 student disclosure of identity and we have two commenters the first one asked to clarify there is no carve out for students who reach the age of majority if a student is eight if a student is 18 these notifications still need to occur correct and I did clarify with our legal team that that is correct I had another question about emancipated uh students and I do need to clarify that but given the other legislation I believe emancipated would probably be excluded but I will confirm just to be sure and the second one the commenter said I understand the need to follow the law but when does the risk
054of the child's life come into play what happens if you tell the parents and then the student is extremely physically or mentally injured what if the parents find out and the child commits suicide I think their life is more important than following an unjust law that targets children I know that during legislation that was a topic that the legislators addressed and given I believe they quoted DHS rules and some other rules but this is this is a law and we need to follow the law I don't feel like this is over extending anything in the law but of course this is the board to ask the questions I have a question do our teachers um presented with a situation like that where they they have concern for a student because there's a lot of things
055that students might confide in their teachers with what um what Avenues do our teachers have of ways to help kids tell their parents things that are difficult there might be somebody who finds himself you know there's lots of situations that high schoolers may need help telling their parents something that's going to be difficult so do they do teachers typically go to the counselors and counselors help guide that or what um Avenues or paths do teachers have to help them navigate those tough conversations with students I would I would say counselors I would say some other Administration we have the Student Assistance Program where kids can go through that we have the new counseling program that's going to be starting for students to access so I would say to use those types of things I wouldn't
056I mean this all these new laws are putting teachers in a very awkward position of what they can and can't say so nobody wants to break the law and we understand that but those are the Avenues that I would try um I just have like a clarifying question so if a student asks to be called by a different name or different pronouns and the teacher can then have a conversation with that student you know I need to notify Administration who will talk to your parents like there is some forewarning right I mean they're not just blindsided and then that gives the student an opportunity to decide do I want to go by Billy or do I want this to be presented to my parents because you have to let them know legally that's why we
057went with the proactive questionnaire so that parents could do that ahead of time so that we're not spending two or three weeks waiting for the the kid to be called by a name they don't want to be called when the parent may very well have been fine with it um I know not all districts are doing that and I understand that's not logical to some parents but the advice that we've been given from our legal team is that it a it needs to be Equitable because you can't have one population of people that have to go through uh Hoops to to have something like that happen and then just grant it to somebody else so that's why Michael to Mike is requiring the same thing as Michael to Michelle so that there's equity in that
058process the teachers wouldn't be the ones calling home it would be the administration who would be calling home so there should not be surprises because the student would be remaking that request it wouldn't be the teacher saying I think Michael really wants to be called Michelle and then surprise the the child by that phone call that should not happen find out that emancipated minors are are excluded from this are we going to go back in and change the wording so that's clear um that's up to the board if you wanted to wait to do that or pass this and I mean maybe we come back if it if it would be excluded that way it's clear so we don't have any confusion if they are because they don't have to follow I would move to
059table this until we have clarification on that I don't like to vote on what-ifs is there a second I'm reading through it to double check something sorry I make second because that would also give us the opportunity to clarify that it does include 18 year olds because I know a lot of us had the same question about that yes sorry seconding um you have there okay Kent so we're moving this is the table okay yes need yes monkey yes yes Anderson yes yes browser yes thank you okay we um we have a new action item times seven and um that is uh explained or impossible language in simply I would point out that um this is uh not a performance review is this merely a okay Interactive and not uh just it's a directive from
060the board to the superintendent I support action item number seven I think that um you know the way that this is written is that and did we read this out for the public they can see it okay um this directly relates I think he has a question I don't have I don't have a question I'm just going to speak to it is that okay yeah I was just going to say that I support this and and there are many reasons that I do support this policy one I I want to support our administrators and superintendent and staff I don't want to leave them on an island when it comes to having to make difficult decisions that are going to draw a significant amount of public interest and and possible scrutiny um you know oftentimes and
061particularly with Senate file 496 there are open questions around the constitutionality of that law in general and specific aspects of it and so I feel like we are we are most supportive of our administrator and superintendent when we get to take the heat for making those tough decisions and not putting it on their shoulders to possibly doing you know making a decision that might be counter to their ethics um might put them in a position to put in place policies that may be potentially draw litigation I feel like that needs to be on our shoulders not the superintendent or administrators um again you know unfortunately we're seeing a lot of laws that I believe are rooted in bias but whether you believe that or not I feel like it's part of our governance and responsibility
062to make that tough call and not put that on the shoulders of our teachers and administrators so damagedy that you wanted to make this the motion yeah the statement or are we done I mean I'd like to continue to discuss this if we could before emotion is made I would also when you guys are all done like to add um I I just I have two things that I have a little concern about I have a little concern about us saying any and all proposed changes because I do feel like we have hired an administrative team and we are responsible to Dr Dhaka in her role to do the job of making decisions and sometimes there's timely decisions that maybe wouldn't fit into the timetable of board meetings or even special board meetings quite frankly
063because there has to be 24 hours notice so the timing of that concerns me slightly and then the other thing that concerns me is I I understand when we're talking about policy because that directly is our responsibility but none of us sitting at this table have any background or training in interpreting law or legislation and so I don't know that we I mean I I would like to I agree with Dan that I would like to be a part of the conversation when it is appropriate and hear like the legal advice that you're getting because we know you're seeking legal counsel on several of these things and so for us to be in the loop of that I I would be supportive of but I'm concerned with us taking on the job of interpreting the
064law that makes me feel uncomfortable because I personally am not and knowing the background of those of us sitting at the table none of us are trained to do that so I I have a little concern about us taking on that role or feeling that we we are qualified to interpret legislation I guess I would say the same would go for none of us are accountants yet we approve bills you know there are all sorts of things that we're asked to approve that we don't necessarily have a formal education and and I feel it then that's our role as an elected official to seek out that expert advice um I just I know that the way new policy things have been enacted has caused the level of community concern and disapproval with our pledge with
065our District's actions that you know I think 99 out of 100 laws that are passed it's going to be something that that is um that we approve fairly quickly like we do through our consent agenda and things like that but I really feel that um we can seek out that expert advice you know we can we can request that we have Council available and not necessarily just for modelers which represents ninety percent of school districts in our state but from perhaps entities like the ACLU or other expert legal advice that may be contradictory to that that we receive from allers and so I I I I feel like there needs to be a process for us to to have some approval of this I I all gives me pause as well just because of how
066timely things have to go but I read this more as giving the direction to have her consult us but what the lawyer said so that we have an understanding that's how I read it versus um trying to hold anything up necessarily it's more to so we would have an understanding before we move forward with stuff which I think would be helpful that's how I read it there is a process that Birds normally would follow and um you know whoever the elected officers are typically no secret sometimes people like Dr Watson would call and say uh the show choir is stuck in Cedar Rapids it's going to be an overnight because it can't get back so I as a president would approve that because obviously that was an emergency and so there is a procedure with
067whomever the board chooses to elect as an officer to have that be taken care of in a timely fashion that's probably something for people at this table to think about because that is an empowerment that you give to those people when you elect them so um I do want to clarify that that there are vehicles [Music] to handle situations like that um and of course there's always a an option to call a special meeting and we've done that okay we also have to remember a lot of the legislation does not take effect immediately we've got a couple of months notice so that the district can digest get all all the information that they need to present to us so that we can support what they're proposing Jason I directionally I like the where the motion
068is going I just wonder if this doesn't need to be more codified into policy and the only reason I say that is I don't think this is the next legislative session is going to be any different than what we saw last year I think we're going to continue to see more of the same and we Public public school districts around the state are going to be challenged with much more than we have been and I think having a codified process of okay look this is going to really change fundamentally how we deliver public education in this community we need to get the board involved and bring them along so that they can understand how we're planning on doing this so I'm again I think there needs to be something a little bit more codified than
069just a motion providing Direction I would be supportive of a policy and I don't I don't know what that looks like but I would say we've got some time between now and January to try to figure out what something like that might look like in a more immediate sense [Music] I would like to know how we're going to further comply before journalists or the public find out and so as we look towards for you know further compliance with Senate file 496 I would hope that that would be presented to not only this board but the public in a board meeting before moving forward I was pretty concerned as we were notified after the book stuff you know I I this is all public foible stuff but you know there were other compliance measures around Senate
070file 496 that we were made aware of that the public was not um that we were going to remove all Flags other than the United States and Iowa flag so every every national flag was going to be moved from our companies that we were going to extend the don't say trans don't say gay portions of Senate file 496 through grade 12 and then all buildings and so I I guess any even though that particular component of Senate file 496 was specifically for grades K through six and so I I agree with Jason I'd like to see this codified if we can I agree with doing this motion but at the very least I would like to impress Upon Our District staff and administration that any future moves towards compliance with cineph 196 be done in
071a transparent way with the ability for the public to come up would you like to speak oh no actually I'm fine okay I know Rosalie does I do um so first of all I would I would say that this I'll do what the board directs because I work for the board but I feel that this sends a message of distrust between me and my team um dollars is our board approved attorney that firm is our attorney there's a number of attorneys there should the board decide in November when a new board comes on that that's not the firm that you want that's the board's decision if there's a misstep that's who's going to come to our defense and if we don't listen to the people that the board has decided is going to be our
072attorneys then I think we're making a mistake I think the process for the um the book quarantine was an internal process that was made public needlessly had we been left alone to follow that process we would have gotten where we are now but it turned into something that it didn't need to turn into you're talking about experts and I believe that's why you hired me for my instructional knowledge and my ability to do what I need to do to run the district and I believe that I have the best expert team in the metro area so I would just put that out there that I believe that that piece should be checked off just today thinking of what is to Jenny's Point what's going to happen What kinds of things if we take that motion
073and I'll just I'll just quickly read through some of them um I'm going to need some clarity because I don't know what this looks like in practice you're I'm predicting going to have many many many many board meetings similar to what happened in covid legislative items that become effective upon signature goes to the timeliness of implementation policies we already see board approval for I don't know the extent of the processes that you want to have brought before you for approval is that professional development has to come ahead of time I need to know what's clarified on what agency is it a federal agency a state agency is it the Boe is it any legal administrative rules that come down and just to give you an idea of what in the last couple of weeks that
074you would have needed to weigh in on is how do we notify staff if they're 18 they're mandatory reporters how do we put your life Iowa on the back of ID cards the principals have to vet also surveys and activities reference checks to the meet the guidelines books names pronouns disruptive students that we still don't have guidance from iasb or the Deon the change in bullying and harassment verifying 10 years of teaching notifying new requirements for staff members with Masters active consent for my Savers and Savers plans to address k6 gender identity legislation the new health curriculum change in processes for the reconsideration committee regulations that go with policies those are not something that come to the board you get the policies the regulations are the forms that we create to be able to follow
075those policies and then we have hundreds of questions that our staff is sitting out there and not having answered because when this was recommended I put a hold on all that and so I in 22 years of being a leader have opened the school year not looking like I know what I'm doing and I don't like that um policy 204 is outlines the executive role for the board and that's to select the superintendent and the as the district's chief officer and basically make sure that I'm following the law and the policies that are created by the board so again I'll do what the board desires but it's really really going to handicap the work that we do and you say januaries a long way away but it's not it's really not and staff licenses are
076on the line and I do not want a single staff member to have their license in Jeopardy because we're not going to be prepared so I need that clarification if I if this is what the board desires I need to know how we're going to clarify that and I don't know if that's another meeting if that's I don't know what's that is so I don't know where this specific wording came from but my general take from it would be that at least the way that I'm interpreting it from my lens is that the board is seeking for um prior knowledge on potentially explosive topics so that we have at least a basic understanding of where the district stands and what's their what they're going to move forward on so that we're not caught off guard
077because I feel like we were caught off guard pretty handily um so I don't know where this wording specifically came from and maybe this isn't the correct wording um or the directive that we're all looking for and maybe this needs to be looked at again and maybe taken up at the next meeting um just because I don't know if this is saying exactly what we want it to say and I think I think what we were trying to get at is that we just want more of a heads up on certain issues that might be like we've had our fair share of big topics over the last couple years and being caught off guard is not where any of us want to stand does that make sense am I reading the room properly okay so
078maybe we just need different wording for this so that we're not handicapping ourselves we're not you know putting admin and you in a bad situation where you have like a timely stuff that needs to come up but that we're also not putting ourselves at a disadvantage where we're caught off guard where we're here like where we're getting contacted about really big things that probably should have come before us at least from because I mean it could have been either way it really could have been a legal issue which then would have been a financial issue it should have come before us anyway whichever way that decision had gone we've had plenty of issues like that where if like if we go one way we could get sued we go some other way we could get
079sued um and we have to decide which way we want to stand on that issue so we just need to reword this I think does that make sense that makes sense I read this as the board wants to help carry the burden yeah we want to be able to support you and your team and understand why decisions are being made before their sent out to the district um that's why we were elected yeah I can only speak for myself when I I I'm I'm saying I don't want to micromanage you or your team I trust that that you and your team are very equipped to do their job if I have questions or concerns about things I will address that with you and I and I will ask that and and have a conversation with
080you if I have something specific or or if there's something I think you know needs we have a a we have the ability to get things brought up at the board table if we feel that that's necessary um so I I don't I personally don't want to send the message to you or to anyone on your team that we don't trust the job that you're doing I think that you have all been put in a really tough position and without you know some guidance that would have helped make this transition a lot better and so um but at the same time yes it is hard to be caught off guard or to to not have knowledge of things that is it's a little embarrassing when people from the community know things and they ask you
081about it and you're like I have no idea and you know so that's a little tough so that's that's where I'm at on that so I I agree with you Ashley that I think this wording seems a bit extreme so do we want to table this and try to come up with a better direction that more fits to what we are actually looking for I guess I would like to hear what's our plan for further compliance with Senate well I I think that's where I need Clarity because 496 isn't just about books 496 is encompassing a lot of stuff it's the handbook how do we how do parents check off that they have access to the handbook that they've read the handbook there's all the little menu let me let me put it under a
082microscope in terms of don't say trans don't say gay I don't know what that is that the prohibition against promotion of sexual orientation and gender identity in case six that that hasn't we've pulled those books off the list for further discussion that was one thing I was expecting the board to give some direction on as well is that look like a committee of people that get together and we have some tentative definitions for what we interpret promotion to be in representation to be so we could offer to a group of people to accept these definitions or ask them or to accept them involved you know like for the healthcare we have this motion okay and no sir you're getting into things that no this is a part of it it is not what we need
083to do tonight well and so what I what I heard Ashley was that emotion I I was more looking for consensus versus emotion uh can we make a motion to table this and have a further discussion so that we can give a direction that if you need to move to table this and to hold a further I don't know how to phrase it so that we make sure we talk about the next meeting and make sure that we discuss a direction that we has better wording for what we're looking for can we put as part of that motion that it will be on the next board meetings agenda if I may yeah um what I would do is include in the motion a specific date of the meeting that you would want to table this
084item can I ask a quick question before that I my only concern with tabling is it is it handicapping you to do your job for the next two weeks that was my net that was going to be my question after somebody seconded or didn't second it is what do I do now I mean we have a number of things if your major concern is the the gender identity book piece we aren't going to make any decisions on how we're going to tackle that so what what does that what do you want me to not do between now and then that I just I don't want my community being erased from our schools and that was a real fear of not only not only me but parents the speaker that was here when we looked at
085compliance around Senate file 496 and what our plan was that we were informed about like that's literally what it looked like and although I feel for you and empathetic for your distress and those of the administrators and the teachers there are so many children families and staff in this school district that were absolutely terrified that we were going to be completely excluded from the school environment so I understand your distress and I'm sorry that you had to experience that but I don't feel that people are understanding the gravity that the lgbtq community our students and families and teachers too we're looking at and so I want I want a heads up and I'll and I'll I'll stop there but that's what I just said if that's the piece that the board has the most concern
086about I feel I've been clear on that I don't know that it would be fair to speak for seven people as far as their parents I'm just speaking about me right so at this point did you make a motion where did this language come from who created this specific motion like the recommended motion who did that all or others okay I think we need to tackle how she would handle how the district would handle um stuff before I can make a motion because if I make a motion in it hangs us up for two more weeks I don't necessarily want to do that so I think we have to tackle that con that conversation first clarify that so if I table this Rose Dr DACA is worried that it could possibly hold up more topics
087because we haven't actually discussed what parts of this she because she's already had as she said she's already had to put a number of different things on hold while waiting to see if we were going to motion this um I don't necessarily want to table it if those things are going to continue to have to be held back I don't think it would hold it up because we haven't approved anything like there has been no action so but it says as usual except that Dr DACA now has said that she would also give heads up okay so we're giving that direction I think that's what for the time right is that okay because I'm understanding that the peace you have the biggest concern on is the notification of the the hot button topic that Dan
088mentioned so if I don't and if we are tabling this I think again going maybe back to what Jenny asked about any and all I mean I think then you also have to determine what are hot buttons I mean because what one person's hot button is is something different than somebody else's so I think that then that has that's a whole nother would that be okay to have part of the conversation then when we bring this back up so that we could make a decision like if it would be something that could potentially land Us in legal hot water one way or the other like well there's I mean there's a lot of different things that have happened that are pretty clear but like ACLU is could potentially there's only certain topics that they're going
089to potentially well but we shouldn't just be concerned about what this is what I'm saying we're very often not going to get sued over a handbook situation right like there's a lot of decisions that are more smaller that we know are not going to land Us in hot water one way or the other so then I'm misunderstanding because I thought that there was a pretty strong consensus that we wanted to be able to help carry some of the burden of these hard decisions not because we're going to be sued yeah but like that sort of thing like I mean I think there's the burden comes with that though I'm trying not to wake up I'm so sorry I'm such a jerk um I'm I don't feel like I'm clarifying myself I'm sorry there's a really
090fine line that we're walking here between saying this is what we the board want so that we can support the administration the entire district and our community in our role and that's we've got to be careful not to define it too specifically and micromanage through that specificity yeah given that there are a number of enforcement dates coming up on January 1st would would it be appropriate to for the board to have a presentation sometime in late September early October date to be determined to hear from our new Dei coordinator in terms of how we plan to continue to live our mission of teaching all and reaching all while complying with 496 as we understand it and interpret it or does that get to I don't think it's solely on Miss Davis's shoulders I think it's
091a collective effort right I think and I think it's more than that if you want let's just piece of legislation okay if you want me to take to talk with my team about the pieces that we have that we would like to move forward with and bring that to present to the board what is it Julie the 14th is that the next meeting 11. and then in the meantime if there's a piece that I asked to what Catherine said that has to be acted on and I can work through the officers if they feel like they can Okay meet a move like the survey we can do that if they feel like hold they can tell me to hold and I can make sure that's part of that as well is is that enough time
092is the next meeting enough timer do we need to go a little further out a lot of it we have planned out so I think we could and what we can't then I just tell you we're still working on so the motion that's still on the table right you made a motion yes I don't know if I finished it because we wanted to stable it or I would be fine with just put moving the motion forward as written and we can go up or down on it as a board I would still like to get an update before policies are implemented around the more controversial aspects of Senate file 496. but I would be okay with us voting yes or no on the motion as written somebody made that motion I'm not sure any motion's
093been made fully nothing's been seconded all right I move to I move the following motion that the superintendent be directed to present any and all proposed changes in District policy practice or procedures responding to any new legislation slash administrative rules or agency guidance to the board of directors for consideration and approval prior to implementation of any changes thank you will second okay can we can I request to a roll call that yep I'm just finding my place I believe it's Mead no not as written monkey no Sarah geyser no Anderson no Goodman yes Hauser no Kent no motion does not carry me I will move to adjourn Kent see you guys in one second