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REMINDER: Board Meeting, 08/12/08
Reminder... there is a Board Meeting Tuesday, August 12th. Can't attend...you can watch it live on Channel 96. It will also be re-broadcast on Wednesdays at 6 p.m.; Fridays at 9 a.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. . To view the full agenda and the various reports, please visit BoardDocs.
CHANGED MEETING TIMES, FOR COST SAVING SUMMER INITIATIVE!!
9:30 - Executive Session
11:00 - Board Meeting begins
3:30 - Public Forum
REPORT - Superintendent - (no report available)
REPORT - Board Members - What Counts Update; Board Priorities Sub-Committee
REPORT - EACC - (no report available)
REPORT - Deputy Superintendent - Preparation for Fall Sports (no report available)
REPORT - CIP - (no report available)
REPORT - State CIP 2010 - (no report available)
REPORT - Curriculum - SY09 Master Plan Annual Update; Summer Opportunities; HSA Bridge Plan Summer Program (no report available)
REPORT - Budget - Classified Pension Plan Documents (no report available)
REPORT - Human Resources - Staffing (no report available)
REPORT - Recurring Resolutions - Report
UNFINISHED BUSINESS -
NEW BUSINESS -
FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS -
PUBLIC FORUM - Rules
ACTION - Draft minutes of the June 10, 2008, regular Board meeting and the June 23, 2008, work session; Motions
ACTION - Personnel
ACTION - Ethics Regulation Amendment
5 comments:
Three HUGE concerns!!!
First, you posted the agenda for the August meeting LESS THAN ONE WEEK before the general meeting and 8 out of 10 - 80%!! - of the reports were unavailable? Aren't these employees 12 month employees? Did Starkey close and lock its doors in July? How are we, as citizens of a democratic republic, supposed to remain informed of what is going on in our government? How can we, as concerned parents, teachers, and taxpayers prepare for your board meetings so that we come to public forum prepared to address what is on the agenda? Clearly, we are not getting our money's worth. This doesn't look good for board members that ran on a platform of transparency!
Second, why are you meeting in executive session one and one half hours before the regular meeting? Executive sessions traditionally have been limited to one hour. It's highly suspicious that your executive session has been extended by 30 minutes without an explanation particularly when reports are not even available for public review. This doesn't make the transparency promise look all that genuine either.
Third, it's HIGHLY suspicious to me that CCPS has taken so long to determine that the ethics panel should review ethics forms. Duh, I mean isn't it a no-brainer that the ethics PANEL should review ethics FORMS? It is very interesting timing though, considering the current economic conditions and instability of the stock market. Formal review of ethics forms is something I suggested a few years back. As you recall, the idea was not embraced by staff... for months. In fact, as you will recall, near the end of that first discussion there was a silent nod from one executive to several other executives who very quickly left the room. Coincidence? Maybe. None the less their actions raised an eyebrow or two. Add to that, the stonewalling and excuses that followed from staff as to why a change in policy for formal review of disclosure forms was not necessary. Now, fast forward a few years and we have a struggling economy, where people are selling off stock. NOW CCPS has determined the ethics panel should actually open the folders and review what people have disclosed? Now?! Am I accusing someone of misdoings? Not at all. I'm just saying the timing of this policy change in conjunction with past behavior for a no-brainer procedure is highly suspicious. IBM, Cisco, Coke, and Sprint (to name a few) are big companies with many stockholders. They also happen to be ones with which CCPS executives signed contracts for hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars. For the most part the board was informed and the "partnerships" were made public after the ink was dry. If any employee with decision making ability owned stock in any of those or other companies with which CCPS did business I will assume they disclosed it on their ethics forms. The problem is, who would ever be able to determine and publicly disclose a conflict of interest? The forms were completed by the employee, sealed in an envelope and then handed over to the secretary to just file away. To Do box checked off.
Margaret,
First paragraph, what can I say...I post what is available. If it happens again, I will address with staff.
Second, executive session...I was told to show up 30 minutes for executive session, I did and you know I can't relay in detail what is discussed. However, I looked on Board Docs today to see the reason and it doesn't state either. Isn't there some rule/law that states the reason for executive session must be announced at the next public meeting...which would have been today immediately following executive session??
Third, ethics form...yes I do remember when it was previously discussed and staff was less than enthusiastic about it and board support was not there. Now, evidently our auditors have requested it and have asked for us to develop a regulation. So, waalah! it's done. It was voted on today and will be submitted to the state for approval. What did we know, we were just board members :)
Board minutes for the 8/12/08 Board of Education meeting are not yet available in draft or formally approved form. Those minutes will have to contain appropriate reference to the topics discussed in executive session subject to the Open Meetings Act. As the Compliance Board stated in its Opinion with regard to Mrs. Young’s question in 2006-2007 regarding the use of boilerplate to refer to topics of discussion in executive session: “The County Board acknowledged that its statements provided in publicly available minutes concerning closed sessions often failed to give sufficient detail. According to its response, changes have been implemented to address this deficiency.” Further the Opinion stated: “Documents submitted with the complaint clearly established that violations had occurred.” [Official Opinions of the Compliance Board 105 (2007)]
Whether the minutes of the 8/12/08 session provide the “sufficient detail” assured as a result of Mrs. Young’s Compliance Board inquiry is an open question.
Legalbeagelette,
I posted the agenda to the work session today and the draft minutes are there. I read them and the topics discussed during the August executive session are correctly noted. Thanks for the information.
Ah, found them exactly where you said they were! Not sure why it’s a game of “Hide and Seek” – :)
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