Monday, February 19, 2007

Policy 9000 Amendments

There has been numerous emails sent to me regarding Policy 9000 revisions. The particular portion in question regards how the Board handles it's minutes. The concern in the emails regards the presentation of Ms. Young's suggestions back in November, my suggestions in January, and the staff attorney's (Mr. Schwartz) suggestions. The four concerns are not the content as much as the lack of transparency by the new Board, a platform that we all campaigned on during the election.

  1. Neither Ms. Young's recommendations or mine have been posted for the public to view.
  2. Ms. Young's (no longer a Board member) suggested changes have been dropped from discussion.
  3. Only Mr. Schwartz's recommendation is available for public view.
  4. Policy is a Board function, not staff's.
I wanted to let everyone know I did question our Chairman about the inavailability of the members recommendations to the public and an excerpt from his response is below:

...The procedure for posting is that the report item is posted. Board members then have the opportunity to discuss changes, additions, deletions or content during the report time. Your proposals, along with the proposals from all other Board members, will be discussed during an open, public session on Feb. 26.

... the appropriate time to post any changes to the report item is after thorough discussion among all members so that the changes reflect the thinking and opinions of all Board members and not one individual.


So according to Chairman Wade I guess we will be discussing the revisions at the Board Work Session on February 26th, NOT at the next Board meeting in March. Links to the various renditions to Policy 9000 are listed below. Please provide your feedback.

Current Policy 9000 -Go to Policies; Click on 9000
Mr. Schwartz Recommendation - Go to Board Meeting 2/13/07; Click on Reports; Click on Policy
Abell's Recommendation - Just click

3 comments:

LegalBeaglette said...

So the parents are expected to feel their way around in the dark? "Staff" can drive policy, but not parents?

We can't weigh in on this, Mrs. Abell! I assume this will be an "Action" item in March? Minutes for that work session won't be posted until AFTER that!

Aside from showing up at your sessions, which so many parents cannot do, how is the public to be informed? How are we supposed to participate?

Jennifer Abell said...

3291asiber:
All very good questions.
Action in March is likely if the Board can all agree. I would think it would need to come before us as a report item if changes are made during the work session but...

As for being informed and participate...I'm clueless. I try my best but I'm only one voice and one vote.

Heather Brooks said...

I don't bother to go to the CCBOE site for minutes information after a meeting because IT ISN'T THERE - I'm not yelling at you, I am thanking you for posting your notes.

I can't help but get the feeling that the board doesn't want us to know what is going on and I cannot for the life of me figure out why that would be. I know you are for transparancy and I had expected Ms. Wise, Ms. Pederson, Ms. Cook to all have websites or blogs for us too - but I've heard nary a peep from them, even in the press lately.

What is going on there that they want secreted away?

If there is nothing, then making the minutes available - draft at least that week - especially making us aware of action items - should be a priority. Especially since I voted for some of these people based on the facts I HEARD IT COME OUT OF THEIR VERY MOUTHS that they would be sure there was more transparency!!! GAH!!!

Sorry, don't mean to yell at you - I'm hoping the other board members read this and realize how irritating it is to feel that campaign promises are not being lived up to. I will be sure to remember that in a couple of years - who kept their campaign promises and who didn't and shout it from the cafe every chance I get recommending those that do the right thing and pointing out those who didn't live up to what they said they would.

It doesn't have to be "us against them" - I just don't understand why this is even happening.