001Okay, Mr. Rush, it looks like our webinar is live, our YouTube stream is live. The meeting is yours. Hi, the policy meeting is now in session. Please all stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, in indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Could I have a motion to approve the minutes from the last policy meeting? So moved. Uh second. Any comments or discussions? And seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. I am struck from the middle for work session or policy number 626 federal fiscal compliance and policy 626.1 travel reimbursement federal programs. Uh would you like to take over, Dr. Waters? I sure would. Good evening, everybody. Hope you're
002enjoying the nice weather. Um tonight, we just have two policies before you. As Mr. Rush stated, it's 626 federal fiscal compliance and 626.1 travel reimbursement federal programs. And these are the two policies that I mentioned last month that we would be bringing back today. So, um Mr. Summers, if you'd like to give an overview of each of these uh policies which have some recommended PSBA revisions. Sure, thank you, Dr. Waters, and good evening, everyone. Um so, these two policies, 626 and 626.1, are both um PSBA uh revisions. Um they are uh essentially both designed to ensure that the district complies with um requirements under federal law for funding um when the funding comes from federal programs. Um and so, there are kind of additional requirements that are in place when that happens. Um so, when
003we look at 626, which is sort of more the general uh federal fiscal compliance policy, the changes or revisions to our existing 626 um are primarily in the form of one, an added clarification that uh the district would take uh reasonable cybersecurity and other measures to protect personally identifiable information. So, um meaning student information that might be included as part of a federal program or employee information. Just that we would um take reasonable steps to protect the information that maybe is gathered as part of a federally funded program. Things we're already doing, certainly, but just it adds that language. Um another uh revision is that we would um maintain records for a period of 3 years uh in the event that there was an audit of some sort. I apologize, but I you can probably
004hear my dogs barking in the background. Hopefully, they will stop soon. Um There we go. Um and then uh the main revision to 626 is mandatory reporting of uh violations of law in connection with federally funded programs. So, essentially, there's language has been added to um clarify that in the event that anyone from the district becomes aware of any sort of crime that's occurring relative to our federal programs, that we would report that. Um and that reporting would be made to whatever federal agency is overseeing the uh grants at issue. So, primarily, the US Department of Education, um but certainly could be other um US departments uh other federal agencies, depending upon where the funding is coming from. Um The other uh item kind of related to mandatory reporting of any any sort of uh
005criminal offense that we're aware of, any violation of law, are whistleblower protections. So, there are protections under federal law that say that if you're an employee who reports um some sort of wrongdoing with federal funds, that you're protected. And that that is existing law, we're just adding it to our policy to say that our employees cannot be demoted, uh discharged, or otherwise discriminated against if they make a a report of of alleged wrongdoing under um involving our federal funds. And they can make those reports to the superintendent, to the federal agency itself, the Department of Justice, any federal uh any or state law enforcement entity. So, um and it specifies all of that. Um one thing that it does say is that we will um advise our employees of those whistleblower protections. Um so, that
006is new language. Um so, we'll need to make sure once this policy is adopted, um that we do take steps to inform uh our employees of those protections and point them uh to to this policy and anywhere else on our website or internal um system that we want to make that language available. So, often one of the things that happens is the administration looks at those policies and says, what if any steps do we need to carry out those policies? And and for this one, um that would be making employees aware of the fact that certainly we encourage and require them to report any wrongdoing that they might become aware of involving not just federal funds or federal programs, but but any sort of issues uh involving district operations. So, um those are the changes
007for for 626. Um related to in in a way is 626.1, which is travel reimbursement related to federal programs. So, um 626 is sort of general federal program compliance. 626.1 travel reimbursement for federal programs is just kind of a a narrow issue involving federal programs of travel reimbursement. Um and that the changes to that policy are primarily just um clarifying the language that the travel reimbursement language or or requirements applies to anyone who is traveling under a federal program, not just district employees or community members, but it could include anyone else who maybe is um able to participate in an activity that's funded by a federal grant. The language uh as it currently states, you could look at it and say, "Oh, well, it only really mentions employees." Um it just is broadened a bit
008to say that anyone who receives travel funding or reimbursement under a federally funded program has to comply with the um the uh requirements. Um just of note um also that under this particular policy relative to federal programs, and this is also the case for travel under non-federal programs, um that travel does need to be approved um in advance. So, um when these policies and these draft policies were distributed, um uh Dr. Teo did notice or mention uh pointed out that 626.1 says uh that it It says school officials and district employees shall acquire prior written approval to incur travel costs. Um it doesn't necessarily say whom that uh approval should be obtained from. So, I think one suggestion, and we we did not include this in the earlier revisions, but if the committee's comfortable with
009it, I think it would make sense to add um uh shall acquire a a prior written approval from the superintendent or designee. Um Just so that we're clear um you know, that that that's it's not just anyone in the district that can uh provide approval for travel costs. It's specifically the superintendent or anyone who the superintendent has explicitly designated um as having that that authority. So, those are our really the revisions. Um certainly, if there's anything um Mrs. Hauser, these uh policies sort of fall primarily under her department. Um I can add anything or or or any questions that anyone on the committee has. I agree with the uh change that you suggested. Uh Um and thank you, Dr. Teo, for bringing it forward. I think it makes a lot of sense, and I think
010the rest of the board will agree to that. I don't have any questions. Do you have any questions? Um Dr. Teo, or does our student rep have any questions? Uh no questions, per se. Um I appreciate Mr. Summers uh just clarification, particularly about the travel reimbursement piece. I do want to note uh that at our last uh work session, Dr. Bauer did make very clear uh the authorizing and approval process that does occur within the school district for uh travel to occur. And I will just say that I'm very comfortable with what Dr. Bauer shared at that meeting. If if Mr. Summers and Mr. Rush feel like it's it's necess- it's needed to be implemented into policy, then that's certainly fine, but I think that the at the district's practice, and I'm I'm sure it's
011delineated somewhere in district uh some of the district um practice documents, but it's pretty clear to me what the uh ways in which travel is approved and discussed, uh and that is uh very clear, including the superintendent's travel. So, uh that explanation was I think certainly satisfied any concerns that I raised last month. Thank you, Mr. Summers, and thank you, Dr. Bauer. And I personally don't think I personally think the language adds some clarity. So, I'm okay with it going in. Are you okay with it going in, Mark? Dr. Tio Sure, as long as it doesn't limit the district, but I I certainly think that the process that Dr. Bauer outlined for us at our last work session is clear enough that gives us if the the district enough leeway to do what they need
012to do and flexibility for the future, that's great. Thank you, Dr. Tio, and I would just note that although we're looking at 626.1 specifically travel under federal programs, there is a policy in place in our employee policy section. It's policy 331 job-related expenses, which specifically mentions travel and does require approval by the superintendent or designee for employees who are seeking any form of school district reimbursement for travel. So, it is in addition to district practices and procedures, it does that policy 331 does speak to that as well. So, so if everybody's happy, we'll just leave it the way it is and I'm okay with it that way. Good. I I think that that's fine, too, and certainly Dr. Dr. Bauer made it clear what that looks like. I'm glad to hear from Mr. Summers that
013it's delineated at least somewhere and create some flexibility by putting into the handbook of the employee handbook. Thank you. Thank you. Um Recommend the following policies for first read, policy 626 and policy 626. 1 to have a motion to approve policies 626 and 626.1. So moved. Second. Do Do I Any comments or discussions? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. I. And just continued appreciation for Dr. Waters and Mr. Summers for ensuring that we're meeting PSBA guidance and suggestion in this law and in our policy. So, thank you so much for the hard work to do that. Are there any uh informational items for discussion tonight? Seeing none, does the student rep have anything for the committee? Nothing tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Does anyone from the community wish to speak? Mr. Rush,
014there are no members of the community in attendance tonight. Is there any other business? Um Mr. Rush, I would just point out that we did receive notification, which I shared with the board um just yesterday that sounds like PSBA is moving away from BoardDocs. Um so, policy management in the coming months will look a little different. Uh certainly we will we will communicate that to the community properly if the school district decides to make that change. I suspect we will at least in terms of policy management. Um we'll see about board agendas and such. So, um more to come, but I think for an informational item, policies may look a bit different in the coming months. Thank you very much. My pleasure. Um So, summary of items for work session are policies 626 federal fiscal
015compliance and policy 626.1 travel reimbursement for federal programs. Um The next meeting is April 28th at 5:00 p.m. Can I please have a motion to adjourn? So moved. Have a