001Good evening and welcome June 12th special board meeting. We'll go ahead and get started. Thursday, June 12, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. Going to go ahead and call the meeting to order. We do have a quorum. Uh let's go ahead and move into the public comment. This is the place in the agenda when we hear from the public, parents, stakeholder, and friends of LRSD. We like to hear public comment regarding LRSD issues. We allow three minutes for public comment. Our responsibility is to listen to your comment. We are not allowed to respond or have discussion. Do we is there anyone signed up for public comment online? One person. Okay. Is that one person available? Okay, Miss Washington. Miss Washington. Okay. Okay. Well, we're going to go ahead and move forward. All right. So, we're going to
002move on to the consent agenda. Well, say that personnel changes All right. And then uh 3.2 round 4A employment recommendation contracts. The chair will entertain a motion. Is there a second? It's been moved and properly second that we accept the personnel changes 3.1 as well as 3.2 round 4A employment recommendation contracts for the 25 through 26 school year. Are there any questions or uncertainty? It's been moved and properly second. All in favor say I. Any opposed? The motion carries. All right. Okay. So, we'll go ahead to seven policy personnel and legal act 503 of 2025. So, here we're bringing about significant changes to board of directors. first under act 503 falling below the average daily membership requirement being 20,000 students. LRSD has fallen below this number. Second, since LRD no longer meets the statutory requirement
003for a nine member board, we the board of directors with five members or seven members and we have um elected for seven members. Third, the terms of office for all schoolboard members in Arkansas will now be four years, which is what we decided instead of three years nor more than five years. Finally, the annual school election will be held in even number years on the date of the preferential primary election and in odd number years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March. Rationale, the LRCD board of directors took action in a previous meeting to deter make those determinations serving four-year terms based on that 503 of 2025. As such, now the LRC board will now need to determine if the board will comprise of seven zone board members or a combination of
004zone and at large members. Discussion. Madam chair, I'd be I'd like to move that the LRC board of education create seven board zones in preparation for spring election as required by act 503 of 2025. It's been moved and properly second that we move towards seven zones. Um what was the end of your motion to prepare for to in preparation of the spring election as in preparation in the spring election. Okay. And uh required by act 503 of 2025. Is there it's been moved and probably seconded. Any discussion? Moved and properly second. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? The motion carries. So impressed. All right. So, we're moving forward. All right. So, the chair will entertain a motion for adjournment. I think we have one more. We have one more. Okay. 7.2. 7.2. I
005got too happy. I'm sorry. All right. Policy review committee. Time ext. That's right. Time extension to work on classified board personnel policy. A motion will be made to extend the time necessary for the policy to work on classified board personnel policy revisions to be presented to the LRSD board of education at a future date to be determined. Any discussion? Okay. Okay. Is there Well, we can Yeah. And then we Okay. It's been moved and properly second that we approve a motion to extend the time necessary for the policy review committee to work on classified board personnel policy revisions to be presented to the LRC board of education at a future date to be determined. Is there discussion? How many I Okay, any other comments or questions? Thanks for the information. Okay. Okay. Oh, your mic.
006And um I know we're going to go over these um policies which board policies. I mean I there's no need to uh revisit that gripe, but um there is a cautionary tale of of of of um trying to merge those uh two documents that I've u mentioned about. I've have heard from um um folks on on right on on on that committee and how um contentious uh those meetings are are. But I do want to just caution or just it's not even a uh caution. It's it's really just um from administration staff even down to the board member that repres that is there um in the in these meetings um to uh treat our um employees with with the level of dignity and respect um and to not say that we're going to do whatever
007we I mean whatever is going to happen and then we are going to do it anyway um because then that uh de defeats the whole purpose of of this um public facing uh looking like a um a team effort. No one really um there there are uh feelings uh being uh developed and have developed based on uh comments and actions of um administration as well as board members. So just to be mind mindful of that even if it is um just a show of um collaboration there is no need to rub that or make it seem like if they're uh time and words uh don't have value. Other comments? Any other comments? Yes ma'am. Are you whether that's something that's happening now or it has happened and it had been addressed or is it something
008that we need to address because I feel strongly that the individuals in the meeting if this is happening they should come forward because I really can't try to encourage inspire or help if I don't really know what's going on if nobody would bring it forward and the thing about sometimes bringing things forward people are afraid that um there's going to be some retaliation or whatever but you know what I don't care if I I'm being mistreated, shamed, or whatever. I'm going to speak up. And I just want to inspire and encourage people to do that. Don't be afraid. You know, just come up, say what's going on, and maybe we can help it. We can resolve this, and we can move on from here. We can't keep beating the same dead horse. If it's happening,
009we really need to address it. So, I would say I do understand retaliation. I've been in the workforce. I get it. But I would feel much better if we addressed it so that we can move on. Yeah. And from what I understand, it's it's it it's been going on. And of course, you know, um having uh being in an environment of retaliation, I mean, it's easy to say those those words, it it's another thing for a person to put their livelihood on right on the line because they're already uh doing that with our crazy eight eight rounds of hiring. Um they're already doing that in so many different ways. And so um even So you have a board member saying come forth. Well, if the if if if if they have a low confidence of
010of board um engaging in a meaningful way and not going along with with that and then like you are you naturally you're going to see see people try shy away and so um definitely hear what what you're saying but um there is a reason I guess why um folks move the way that they they they move in such a retal environment um for a variety of reasons. But that's all I got. I'm just going to say this and then I'm going leave it alone because what I don't want is for them to say the board didn't do nothing. Like I say, sometimes only one or two board members get it. The rest of us don't get it. The information they share the information with one or two, but if we don't share it with all
011of us, then we can't respond to it. So, I'm just trying to keep it where we're not always being accused of not trying to do what we supposed to be doing and not trying to help. That is something that just it bothers me because if we don't know, we can't do nothing. And director, the the thing about that is is that um this is an elected board regardless if it acts like an regardless if it act like it's an employee board to the administration or act like a like if it's not an elected board. That comment, it totally defeats the purpose of having elected officials. Um if they're coming to their elected officials regardless of um where they they're at and if their elected official is bringing it back to the body, that is that
012is sound. I mean, we have numerous um of examples of retaliation, people feeling um uh dis disparaged in some type of way. Um we see it all the time and and so So they are speaking but if um but if if if those voices are being amp amplified which is the whole point of having an elected official to go to a liaison and if the body is is is not going to take it because they are not hearing from a staff then that um just you know it it I mean it it just uh defeats the whole purpose of having elected uh representation that's all. So, we appreciate both perspectives. I think what I heard was one, we want to encourage individuals to speak up and speak out despite the circumstances. Um, and we've seen
013that historically and we have to continue to encourage that and I encourage it as well. And oftentimes things will happen beyond our control. However, how we respond to it is within our control. So, we have to walk in that. So, any other discussion? Of course. Okay. So, it's been moved and properly second that we accept the motion approve the motion to extend the time necessary for the policy review committee to work on classified board personnel policy revisions to be presented to the LRSD board of education at a future date to be determined. All in favor say I. Any opposed? The motion carries. All right. Okay. So, we're going to go ahead and move to adjournment. The chair will entertain a motion for adjournment. I'm sorry. Yeah. I'm sorry. Well, it's it's without Well, if there's
014no objection, but there is. Okay. Okay. So, pending any objection? Is there an objection? Yeah. Well, I have a um well, since we are um here and and I guess this will be a better time to do it at the beginning of of the meeting. Um however, the superintendent's not here. Is he is Well, he's not physically here, so he's not here. Well, um I wanted to go into executive session. So, uh, he's not here, so he wouldn't be able to come into executive session, but nevertheless, the board is able to go into executive session, um, to, uh, discuss, uh, the superintendent. Oh, could you give me I'm sorry. Could you give me um the legal um perspective on that. Are we able to go into executive session to discuss the superintendent? Is that what
015I heard you say? I think it Yeah, I know it is. So, that's why I'm asking the attorney. So, I just need some guidance, please. I know you're always so happy to be with us, David. Never cease to amaze you. I know. Wouldn't have it any other way, Mr. Chairman. Let's see. I usually keep a copy of the FOI statute in my folder here. Let's see if I brought it down. Okay. In order to go into executive session, uh it will be permitted only for the purpose of considering employment, appointment, promotion, demotion, discipline or resignation of any public officer or employee. The specific purpose of the executive session shall be announced in public before going into the executive session. Um and then generally only the person holding the top administrative position in the public ent
016agency department or office involved the immediate supervisor of the employee involved and the employee may be present at the executive session when so requested by the governing body. However, there is that uh specific statutory carve out that allows you all to invite your attorney into an executive session if you want to. Um so those are those are generally the rules around executive session uh under the open meetings act. So I heard you say it must be specific to the purpose. Is that correct? Um the the statutory standard on that is um an executive session will be permitted only for the purpose of considering employment employment appointment appointment promotion promotion demotion demotion disciplining resation of any public officer or employee. Okay. Is it for any of those purposes? Um given that uh uh the superintendent is
017not here. Yes. uh which is what I said um since he's not here u we don't we we don't need to go into it but I'll hold uh what I then I'll hold my comments okay um because I could say them and of course I'm not bashful so but uh I'll just hold them okay so pending any um other objection we are adjourned okay so we're going to go ahead and move into the agenda meeting. Welcome once again. Calling the meeting back to order. I don't know that we ever came out of order. All right. And uh 2.1 review of a AA a board approved require uh required before June 30th. So just a note, a side note, the superintendent must provide an original signature testing to the compliance with all assured applicable to each
018federal program for which a plan is submitted. Okay. Federal programs director. Good evening. Good afternoon members of the board. It's a pleasure to be here with you this evening. Um we are here to discuss not necessarily the ARP apps approval. That's not necessary. We must have the approval of the board as it relates to the asurances related to all of the federal programs for which we have applied and those are listed in um on the assurance page. We do this annually and it's typically not u a major deal. You know, we review them every year. Do you have I'm sorry. We have any questions board? So, has anything changes changed on the asurances? No, sir. Um, we still have we have the asurances for the various programs that we are applying and then we have
019the GEA statement which was there last year. The AR app is in its second year. So, this was this is exactly what we had last year. Any other questions? questions. No, no, no. Just want to make sure I think we want to just make sure we have everything taken care of so that when we are at that point since it is pertinent and you know necessary for it to be done, right? Absolutely. Okay. Okay. Thank you so much. You're very welcome. Thank you. Absolutely. Okay. All right. So, we'll go forward to 4.1 board meeting dates. Are there any concerns or adjustments that need to be made on the meeting dates? Adjustments if I see anything. Okay. Okay. So, we're going to go ahead and move to five. Policy review committee draft presentation. Will you all
020come on up, please? Miss Teresa. Everybody come on down. All right. First and foremost, we want to just acknowledge the work that um you ladies have put into this. Um we can't speak on the countless hours. I cannot imagine. And um and I know you still have other responsibilities. So we just absolutely thank you so much for the work that you have done and you are. Okay. So and I know that there have been times of um contention and I appreciate you all for addressing that and I felt like that was done in a very appropriate way and that we've come to a consensus. So I'm excited to see that we are at this place at this time. So, if you all would like to give us an overview and then uh we'll yield to
021the board for any questions. Okay. Wait. Do you want you want me to kick it? I don't know. It has my name on there. Um I think that it was it has it was it says it's on I don't know. I mean, it was said I thought that Miss Austin was gonna I thought that Miss Austin I literally called everyone today. Let me just be okay honest. So, I called everyone because I wanted to make sure that we was we were succinct in how we um addressed everything and I think everybody talked about Miss Austin kind of I I guess nobody communicated. I don't know. So, I talked to you I think maybe um maybe was it today or was it yesterday? Afternoon today. It was today. Okay. So, know that was the plan. No,
022it's all good. No, it's it's of no consequence. if you have something to add. I just kind of wanted to open it up with a board member comments about Dustin's our board policy. Um, and I just wanted to say you're welcome to do that. If I may, I just wanted to open the floor and say how much I was also grateful to the team who worked on this. I think, you know, we've gotten through one of the one of the sections in this uh in this work. And um you know some people I think try to paint a narrative that this was all bad and all terrible but I think we really honestly came to a lot of great consensus on almost all the policies and there were a few where we didn't have aligned
023100% alignment on their votes but in general I think it was um a very difficult exercise and I wanted to just note that we looked through state law we looked through state rules and regulations we looked through asthma policies we we pulled in the pri prior policies as well as the um the PPM and there was just a lot that we pulled together in this and I just kind of wanted to frame this with saying that although some people try to paint it as extremely contentious and it was at times um I really do think we ended up in a great in a great place and I appreciate those board members who've taken the time to read through the entire set of documents. Uh I will give a shout out to Mr. Adams because several
024of those have been forwarded along with questions where I can tell that you've read the read the whole thing. So thank you for taking the time to to do that. Thank you. Good evening. Uh I wanted to take time to actually introduce the committee because uh we have other members in the audience. So of course we all know uh Miss Teresa Nap Gordon. We al we know um Miss Austin, she is our PPC chair and Miss Nap Gordon is is the co-chair. In the audience we have Dr. Angela Bradford. She is the um chair for the classified PPC. And then we also have Miss Gina Curry who is the principal of Chico. So, and also Mrs. Anna Strong and Mr. Kazay was the co-chair as well. And we have one member missing and that's Mr.
025Roy Vaughn and he's from Central. Oh, and nurse Brown who just got the award. How did I forget that? So, uh nurse Patricia Brown. So that was our uh committee who worked uh feverishly over the past six months to get this task accomplished and I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And um introduce the whole team. Thank you. Feel free. Thank you um to Miss Strong and Miss Burgess for speaking. Um I am the certified PPC chair and we actually met the last week in May to bring forth the document to the certified staff. Um we did have a unanimous vote for the certified um PPC to accept the committee's recommendation in bringing the policy forward to the board. And so we are asking um that you all approve the pro
026proposed revisions that have been made to the certified personnel policy committee. Um yes, we have worked tirelessly um for months. Um I think we had a better finish towards the end than we did in the beginning and I think that we've all acknowledged that. But um and Royy's walking in now, but um we are asking you all to support the policy and um we know that we may have to revisit some things, you know, just in case the laws change, but we made sure that everything in which we have um have recommended that it it it does um come in compliance with our state laws, federal laws, board policies, AD guidance, and um just really the collaboration between um educators board members, central office administrators as well as our classified staff as well. And then
027just one other thing um before we do move on, I just just a little bit of clarity from the proposal or the recommendation that was made regarding classified. Was that to keep the classified policy in place until we update the new language? Is that what we said? Okay. Okay. I just wanted to make sure. But other than that, um that's pretty much all I have to um say, unless anyone else from the committee would like to talk. Teresa, I will say I don't know. We'll make sure that's in place. And I will I will add on to what Lita has said. Um it was a lot of work. You can see my handy dandy binder here um that Letha found for me to store all of my documents. Um we, you know, we we did
028our due diligence in looking at all of the policies and and Director Adams did have some great questions which I tried to answer. He did have a couple of legal questions which I deferred to Mr. Caz. Um, and I I'm not sure if you got an answer on those or not, but um I do hope that um we can look or you can not we because it's out of we's hands at this point. Um that you guys can look at this as a joint proposal from a joint committee um when you consider it at the board meeting. And again, I'm happy to answer any questions if you have questions um regarding the proposals that are contained in the document. I hope that all of you receive the combined policies to look through and re review
029indeed questions. Were you able to get the legal questions answer? Would you like to have Mr. Mr. Kazay? Could you come in? You'll be too busy running. Okay, we had some questions. Yes, sir. M I I I did want to just add my word of thanks to everybody who's involved. It's it's hard to imagine all the effort, time, and thoughtfulness that went into this and is evident by by the the length of it and the the breadth and the comprehensive part of it. And and so thank you to everybody who was a part of this and thanks for the responses to uh Miss Gordon for that. That's those are really helpful. And but I did there were a couple things. I have a couple questions and I had one request. Um so one of the
030questions um and Mr. Kay with this might be something you or Miss Burgess either want to answer on page 18 when it talked about all the implicit bias guidance about how things we can't talk about and people have a chance to opt out. My guess or assumption was that that was from the state law. But I wanted to see if we could get I wanted to get confirmation if that is true. Is is that all language that's that's to meet the requirements of state law or is there something else that's right and I haven't been working on a couple things that were due today uh deadline sensitive. Let me confirm that and I'll circulate it out to the entire board if that's acceptable to you all to give you to give you written confirmation. Sure.
031Part of the reason I want to ask answer that is that you know um I I think that's a really terrible guidance is that yeah you know and saying that we can't talk about implicit bias which I think it's a very helpful concept and so I think that's terrible guidance and and but I would vote for this if this is what the state law says and we don't really have a choice about it but I would want it kind of be noted that that we are doing we are doing is as a board we're considering it and perhaps approving it, you know, because the state is requiring it and not because we think it is wise. Um, Mr. Adams, I will just for the rest of the board because you guys didn't see I don't
032guess my answers to Mr. Adams about that. That language came directly from the schoolboard model policies from ASBA. So, um, as far as the legal aspect, I'm not going to, um, testify to that, but it did, that language was directly lifted from the ASBA policy on that. Okay. Thank you. And Mr. Adams, just a quick um that the Learns Act does um state on page 20 of the Learns Act, it says um um employees, sorry, I'm reading. It says the state may be required to review rules, policies, blah blah blah blah blah that may purposely or otherwise promote teaching that would indoctrinate students with ideologies such as critical race theory that come da da da that conflict with the principle of equal protection under the law or encourage students to discriminate against someone based on
033the individual's color, creed, race, ethnicity, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, lots of a long list of those things. And so I don't know if that's where if the state if the ASBA took that and created that language. I'm not totally sure about that, but um I did just want to note that that was in that piece was in state law. Thank you. So yeah, so Mr. Gaz, I appreciate that because I think if if we have to then I I would go along if we have to, but I I would not I would certainly not want to do it unless we have to. On page 21 of also it says the secretary shall ensure that no public school employee or public school student shall be required to attend trainings or orientations based on
034prohibited indoctrination or critical race theory. The the other question I have before the other the suggestion is on um page 97. It says when the employee is talking about um handling controlled substances and it and it says when employee is not a health care professional law enforcement will be contact and it talks about the disciplinary P place and I was wondering about that. I didn't know if that was because this is a certified policy that we were carving out healthc care professional in this policy um or what the rationale that we we were carving them out of our the disciplinary parts page 97 what you're probably going to have there and Teresa feel free to dive in that's probably adopted verbatim from the model policy as and I'll say this and I'm will probably back
035off of it a little bit. The committee used the model policies from the school boards association to inform the work, not in so much to guide the work. So there are certain things in in the policies that were for one of a better term non-controversial. And so the guidance from the school boards association sort of made sense to the committee. And then there were other things that have more of an uh LRSD spin on them that are much more specific to the way that we operate here and the committee's judgment were more important uh to reflect a very distinct LRSD identity. So that's what you're looking at is more the guidance from the school board's association, but I'll take a look at that. I'll circulate that as well. Thank you. Yeah, because part of the
036question would be that you what would be our response, you know, if a health care professional was irresponsible with a controlled substance, you know, would it be different and if so, how and why? We that raised the that's the question that came when I read that section. Okay. Then the last comment um on the section that had to do with a riff um there that section began acknowledging that the board had the authority to to do a riff and then it later on it said that that it would happen whenever the superintendent, you know, thought that it was the wise thing to do and but it was not clear to me at at least in the reading that that it required board action and the response that Miss Natt Bordon gave, you know, was that
037it would require board action based on other policy and that made sense, but it seemed to me that it would be helpful if we could have a sentence in that section just to clarify that that the board would have to vote to approve a riff and then everything else. So it wouldn't be only the superintendent's discretion. It would also be would take board action. It just didn't seem clear there. Yeah, I I would just ask you for us to vote on it. I would like to to have a sentence in that makes that clear what the board's role is. And and I would say I I responded to Mr. items. Regarding this one too, I don't remember what the vote was because I didn't keep documentation on the votes. I know doc Mr. Kaz may
038have or he may have just recorded them as pass or fail. I'm not sure. But anyway, um on the riff policy, the the board of course is the hiring and they're the they're the only entity in the district that can hire and fire basically. And so, um, I think that it that the board would have to approve a riff because I mean a riff is intended to terminate employee some employees and um, there is a trigger. there's the 10% trigger um which automatically causes a riff or um the superintendent can ask for a riff and then again the board would have to vote to approve that happening um in order for a riff to go into effect unless it were triggered by the 10%. Now, if it's triggered by the 10%, it's an automatic riff,
039but then still the board would be the responsible entity for determining um who's offered a contract and who's not after after the rubrics are done and all of that paperwork is completed. Just kind of like what we're doing right now with the the rounds of employment, how y'all have to vote every every round on offering a contract to those employees. The same thing would kind of happen with a riff. Once the RIFF rubrics were done and the adjustments were made, the board would have to vote to either terminate or whatever we're calling it these days. Um, not give a contract, not offer a contract to an employee or offer a contract. And so, um, I don't have I don't think any of us have a problem with including a sentence if that needs to happen.
040And I mean, I guess maybe I've been around so long that it's implied to me and and I understand how the board, you know, the board's responsibility in that, but you know, we're not going to be around forever. So, that could be a good thing to add for future boards and future employees. So, I'm fine with that. Yeah, that's what it felt like to me that it was implied but not clarified. And so, so I don't know how to do that. I don't know if they if you could, you know, bring that back for us or at least, you know, a sentence that just that provides that clarity that the board approves or initiates a process or whatever it would be for us to consider in two weeks. I I'd appreciate that. I can completely
041do that. I would generally sort of follow along with what Miss Nap Gordon has said that the the general rule is that every employees contract is with the board and since there is a threshold of 10% that needs to be met for a rift. Um I can't fathom a circumstance in which there would be a layoff of 10% of the employee population without significant u consideration by the board and action by the board. But I'll I'll look at that wording. Mr. Adams, the first the first sentence of that policy does kind of I think you know the school board acknowledges its authority to conduct a reduction in force, right? And so there is Yeah. No, that that's that was the part and then then later it said it was it talked about the superintendent's judgment
042and it and and so I just felt like in the middle of that it needed to clarify or reaffirm that it took board action. Okay. Absolutely. Other questions? I have a question. Yes, ma'am. Thank you guys for working so hard. I noticed here um that you have like cross references, you have legal references, you have date adopted, and you have last revised is your intent is to go back and fill in because the reason why I asked if if you cross reference a policy and you put it in here and we have a problem with what you've rewritten. We could go back and read the policy and see just how you came about making the change or rewriting it. So my question is will you eventually why don't you do it beforehand so that way
043David David will do it. Okay. In a lot of ways, it's it's sort of like the way the board has taken sort of working documents. Um because you will you all have already to this point found some typos. There'll be uh some references and then the date adopted. Every one of these things is going to that's been edited on will will be adopted by the board brand new whenever you take it. So that will change the the last revision of it. But those legal citations, we'll I'll have those worked through and I'll have those worked through for you by next by your next board meeting. Well, and actually, David, if you look at the latest copy, I deleted all the references so that you'd have a clean slate to work from. Okay, thank you. All
044right, other questions? Yes, the regist. Mine's not so much a question. It's just a few things that four member representative on the committee. I wanted to say out loud for you guys and one of them I already said which was that you know not everything was unanimous and I do really appreciate the work of us getting you know having a democratic process to get there. Um I also want to acknowledge that the asba model policies were updated as prior to this legislative session. So we will need to do this again soon um and look back at what changes in the in the asba policies as those are updated after each legislative session. I know um there was a document I can't remember if I emailed it directly to you all or if I shared it
045with the staff to send out but um as ASBA did share at their policy um annual um uh policy meeting a 106 page document that outlines changes to state laws that impact school districts and school board policy. Um so that all none of that has been incorporated into this and I just want to say that out loud. There are no rules for that yet. You know, this will become need to become I would suggest a bannual process for us. And so I do want to just say that out loud that I think this was a good exercise and getting this done and getting it done on a regular basis and having it um be revisited by us on a regular schedule. Um the second piece um I just wanted to mention was was two policies
046where I think we worked incredibly hard. Um one was the grievance policy. Um everything from Mr. It was the last one next to last one we tackled I think. Um and I feel like we got to a pretty good place with it. Um and it was it was approved. I was not there for the approval of it. I don't think in person um was out of town but anyway but that one that was one. Um and then the the rift policy was another that was one we started on very early on and it kind of was challenging at the beginning. Um but one thing I did just want to note on the rift policy and I wanted to say this out loud for you guys is that the The process of doing the contracting policy
047under the RIFF policy as it's written in here is different from it would basically if if we were if we were closing schools or consolidating buildings or things like that and we we ended up having to reduce our staff by that threshold of 10% which you know gets smaller and smaller over time then when that happens the process for rehiring would shift from the regular hiring process into a different hiring process as outlined in the book. And I just wanted to say that out loud to you guys because I know we spent a lot of time talking about the hiring process for this year and how how the district was doing that and the eight steps and how whether we love it or hate it, it is something we spend a lot of time on.
048Um and so I just wanted to say that out loud and let you guys note that and it was not a unanimous vote, but um it ended up in a place where that process if we end up reducing staff total staff needed by a certain percentage then it does change the entire process and criteria by which we rehire our staff. Correct. And and and it doesn't have to be that way any anymore under learns because of the way that we do learns changed a lot of things related to that. Um and I know that it may have always been like that but learns changed a lot related to that and so we did not take that opportunity to update that process. Those are the only two that I really wanted to just kind of call
049out as for for you all as board members and this is not me trying to undermine anything we've done because we came to agreement or we came to a majority vote on all of these. Um but I just as a board member I I would want to know if I were in y'all's shoes where there were things that another board member was concerned about. So Miss Gordon and again as I said earlier I hope that when you look at this you consider it as a joint recommendation from a joint committee. Um and and we you know we did have some pretty tenacious discussions at times and I don't think that that's a secret. Um and and I think I was open with you when I presented to the board about things that we had to
050table and come back to because the discussions were were such that we could not reach agreement and obviously we have now reached agreement and and come to consensus on those items. And so um I think that this is a good document. I think that and and I stated this at the table that the resolution that was adopted concerning hiring practices probably was adopted at a not so great time because we were working on these policies and we knew when we saw that document that it was going to come into conflict with what we were working on. Um, and so I also wanted to point out as I pointed out in the committee meetings, um, a and and everybody understands in the committee meetings that ASBA model policies are there for guidance. Um, they are not
051expected to be adopted as policy verbatim. They are expected to be guidance for the board and that is how we use them. And um going forward um I hope that none of us or none of you I should say because I'm not on the board. None of you um get bogged down in that idea of that these model schoolboard policies are what Little Rock school district board policy should look like. Because you have to keep in mind that the majority of Little Rock school districts are rural isolated school districts that do not have the number of employees we do and they do not operate like Little Rock School District and those model policies are written with that in mind. And so I think that Little Rock School District school boards have always gone above and
052beyond what the what the baseline is and was. And I hope that we continue to do that because that's what Little Rock School District is. And um and I feel pretty great about this doc. Well, I won't say great. I feel good about this document. Um if it was great, it would be a PNA and we'd be negotiating. But you know, that's out of my control at this point. But um anybody's control. Exactly. But I also want you to understand And that um that as you look at this, this also serves as kind of a baseline for the classified policies because the classified policies, a lot of them in the core section, if you look at their personnel policy manual, their policies in the core section are a lot like the certified. Um, and so
053we will be able to take some of this and use it for classified. But the classified also has numerous units like custodians, secretaries, um, or clerical, I guess is what they're called now, paraprofessionals, bus drivers. I mean, all of those units have specific, um, rules surrounding them, both in state law and in policy. And so, um, I don't doubt that it will take just as much time as the certified has. And we certainly want to give it our due diligence as well. But, um, I think that that the laws will continue to change and the policies will continue to change because of that. And, um, I think as long as it's a joint effort and that we can work in collaboration, um, I I think that we can make this work. But if it gets
054to a point where um because I I've gone on the record saying I don't believe this is personal policy. I believe personal policy is different. Um but I think as long as it's collaborative and we have um input. I think that that we can make this work as personnel policy. Um but you know board policy is such that the board um and and and you guys are willing to work collaboratively but you know we never know what the future holds and if we get a board um that consists of people who want to be authoritarian for example and we have been there before um then the policies may not be collaborative and and that's going to a problem if we consider this personnel policy. And so I think we all have to be cognizant of
055that going forward and um understand that personnel policy is supposed to be a joint policy situation as defined under the law. And um and I hope that um going forward, you know, I know we have to redraw the zones and we have to reelect all our board and all of that. I hope that going forward that whichever um members are reelected or whichever new members come on to the board, I hope they're cognizant of that because in in this time with and and we talked about this at the table too with um our employees, our certified employees and classified employees um becoming harder and harder to find. We need to make sure that we are um respecting employee rights as well as district rights and that we are working jointly to ensure that everybody's needs
056are met because that's only going to get worse. Our colleges are not graduating uh teachers and our classified staff. Kelsey can tell you it's getting harder and harder to hire and to find and hire classified staff that are trained and and able to do the work. because they make more money in the private section se sector and so um you know we've talked about contracts with with Miss Burgess and that you know other districts just in the last few weeks I've had colleagues tell me that they're leaving and going to um other schools not necessarily public schools because um of of the learns act and you know I think that's part of the reason for the learns And so we have to be cognizant of all these things circulating as we work on policy and
057we work on things that affect our employees. Um and then the last thing I I was going to say and I'm just going to segue into that with what I just said is I notice um since January basically that we have had a lot of employees who are longtime employees um retire from our district. And I know that there have been celebrations for individuals, but I genuinely hope that there is a celebration, a huge celebration um for the retirees coming soon because um it, you know, it doesn't feel the same if you wait until August to have a a celebration for retirement. And some of these people have been with our district for 20, 30, 40 years. Um so I mean, they deserve our appreciation. And and it also sends a message to the community
058when they see us celebrating and appreciating our longtime employees because those are the people we want to keep. I mean, you know, we want to grow longtime employees, not short term. So, thank you. Other questions? Thank you all so much. Absolutely. Okay. So, we're going to move forward to board comments. Okay. Well, I want to delay the Yes. Did I hear someone? I'm sorry. The um the agenda for the next for not for the the agenda, but for the business meeting. Okay. You have a question. I mean you have some input two weeks. I don't Is it in here or No, I think it was on the um Okay. And then the resolution. Um, I know this I I don't know if it I was expecting it on this. Um, I don't know. I don't
059know if that was placed on the actual board meeting, upcoming board meeting, because I did receive that and I asked it to be placed on. So, yeah. Yeah. If it's not on I'm sorry. I didn't think I saw it. It wasn't in the email. Okay. So, I did ask that this be that it be placed on it. So, we need to modify that. Thank you. Okay. But I think Stephanie, you you were saying the agenda, the pre the agenda is not there, right? The draft agenda. The June 26th agenda is not on tonight's agenda, nor was it in the most recent email. Okay. I think I saw it. The topics on tonight's agenda meeting will be on that agenda, of course. But I think she's asking about the resolution. I think I I know that
060I mentioned that we place that the resolutions for Michael Mason um and his um actions in September on September 12th. Did you receive information with the attack? So I I did receive that and I did request that that be placed there. So we'll make sure we if it it if it was not it will be and and and that is for board action. Yes. Okay. But I'm going to ask that only the board members that were uh that were present. Okay. Make that uh vote on that resolution. Michael Mason, as as as much as you like to control things, you don't have that authority to do so. It is a board action and so every I can make a motion. Well, you should have never attacked. I can make I can make a motion. Well,
061you should have never Okay, so we're not like state house, which is crazy. Okay, so we're not we're not Okay, so we're not going back and forth. Excuse me. Go ahead. That I may or may not vote on that we didn't uh categorize it in the terms that the two of you were using just now. Well, it is. Let's just leave it that anyways. what it is, it's a thirdderee assault to where at I mean a person in a similar situation would have been able to stand their ground. So I think that it is um appropriate. Okay. So essentially we are talking about placing something on an agenda. That's what we're going to do. And any other questions or comments? Before it's placed on the agenda, I'd like Mr. Kazay and perhaps Mr. Heler to
062look at it. They have Mr. Mr. Mr. Heler is the one who drafted it. Excuse me. Can I respond? Agreed and admitted to doing it. Excuse me. Can I Can I respond? Okay. Okay. So, Mr. Heler has taken a look at it and absolutely. And you know, if I'm going to put it on the agenda, it's going to be following that. I appreciate it. No. And you know, I appreciate that because no one is above above questions. Uh but I just want to assure you that um and I will say that that's in the spirit of tranquility and authenticity because we want to make sure that we ensure that voices are heard but at the same time we want to make sure that there is peace among us. So we will always make sure that
063we make that consultation but I appreciate you always. Okay. Any other questions or comments or thoughts that we'd like to share? Yes, ma'am. and let everyone know that we have released and will release a full list of our teachers who are receiving. We have 299 teachers who are receiving a million and so we are very excited. We released it to the building today and they shared it with some of their teachers and Mr. Bailey and his team will have that by the end of this month. Thank you. I guess it was I'm sorry, Madam Chair. Yes, sir. I do want to um at some point when board members get an opportunity, I did um send an email to the entire board in reference to it was a board update. So, I just wanted to make
064sure that each board member take that opportunity to uh review uh that email that was sent uh today to all board members. Okay. Thank you. Other comments, okay, thank you so much and sorry about that thing.