Things the board and district can do to re-connect with the community

In accordance with many board policies but specifically KA/KAA, KB, KBA and KC which encourage community involvement in the education system, consider taking these actions to start the process of regaining the public's confidence in the district, staff and services and to solicit public advice, involving citizens in solving educational problems, and help citizens feel responsible for the quality of education provided by their schools.

1. Make the meeting agenda available on the district web site as soon as it has been provided to the board members. Doesn't happen. Giving the working public so few hours from Monday noon to the meeting usually starting before 6pm, as I statted at the last board meeting, really keeps the communjity out of the loop. All to make sure that people who procrastinate to get an item on the agenda are honored versus board members and the public who follow the rules. You've actually got until 6pm Tuesday night before the Wednesday meeting if you wanted to be sure not to have last minute agenda additions. And BHSD board policy allows agenda items to be added during the meeting, for what it's worth

2. Include interested citizens on the meeting announcement e-mail that goes to the press. Not happening. Interested citizens still have to check the BHSD web site every school night after 6pm to see if a special board meeting has been added for the next night - minimum 24 hour notice.

3. Announce late meeting date, time and location changes so soon as they are known. Not come up yet.

4. List in the agenda the name of individuals being hired, resigning and requesting extra duty contracts in the agenda. Not happening. Hope that information is covered in the board packet. Hope the board isn't returning to the policy of not annouceing who is getting an extra duty contract and having them all bundled into one vote as was tried at the June, 2013 board meeting.

5. Listen carefully to what citizens have to say in a board meeting (BHHD) Eye contact helps versus board members shuffling papers while someone is talking.

a. Invite further public participation on the topic following the community members presentation if warranted. Board members have been reprimanded for asking for clarification and during Jamie Ryan and Kathryn Johnson's stints as chair, they were adiment that the board not be involved with the community. My attached experience with my previous school district was more in line with BHSD policy and not how it has been carried out.

b. Follow board policy and, if the person has stated a question, answer it during the meeting, preferably just after they have spoken, Never happens and

c. If it needs someone else's response, the board chair will so state who needs to respond to the question and state that their question will be forward to that person for response prior to or at the next regular board meeting, if possible. That happened one time with Jamie Ryan. No other time that I can remember. It is assumed that if you ask a question of the board it will fall into a black hole, which seems to continue to be the case.

6. Every email or letter directed to the board and district personnel deserves a responce, at the minimum, responding that the correspondence was received. You do a pretty good job here. Bruce and Sue Chambers now and then. Sue Gold and Kathryn Johnson once. Alice farmer zero.

7. The previous board chair, Jamie Ryan, instructed the board members, at a public meeting, that even if someone sends in comments on board policies or anything else covering board matters, that there was nothing in board policy that requires them to read it. I hope this board disregards that direction and actually gleans the bits of wisdom possibly contained in the correspondence. I would suggest that board members need to at least reread policies KA/KAA, KB, KBA and KC to understand the intent of those policies.

8. Be enthusiastic to hear from the community at all times. It will probably take up more of your time in the long run if their comments are ignored. This would really be nice if it happened, and make community members feel engaged in the education of their students.

9. Thank the community for attending meetings and sharing their thoughts. Seldom happens.

10. Ask the 21st Century Schools Council to give a status report at a regular board meeting, at least quarterly. Have never gotetn a response whether this committee exists or not.

11. Make public the Wellness Advisory Committee's assessment of the implementation EFA, EFAA and other wellness policies, including the extent to which the schools are in compliance with policy, how the policy compares to model policy and a description of the progress being made in attaining the goals of these policies. Not happened to my knowledge, publically, at least.

12. Develop Administrative Regulations as stipulated in many current board policies. Policies from other districts provided. Not seen any movement on this.

There may be more but this is a start to honor your current policies on Community Involvement.

Gordon Clay