Comments to the School Board 12/15 (5 minutes!)

My name is Catherine Thomas and I would like to comment on three things tonight: 1- public access to school board policies, procedures and minutes online, 2- clarity of board policies and 3- the drafting of board policies.

My first concern is the public’s access to board minutes, non-confidential attachments to board minutes and access to current board policy and procedure. The December 3, 2007 minutes reflect that the Superintendant indicated that the current board minutes with attachments were available online. On March 3, 2008 the Superintendant indicated that the current board policy manual was online. I am sure you are all aware that the board minutes have not been posted online since June, 2008. Of the available minutes online, there are seldom ancillary documents posted with the minutes. Additionally, procedures followed by the board that should be part of the current policy manual are not included online either.

My second concern is the clarity of posted board policies and procedures. Having reviewed policy manuals of other districts, I know that it is possible to adopt clear and specific policies that give the public notice of what is expected of all of the parties that have business with the school board. In my own dealing with the superintendent’s office regarding the transfer and athletic policy, I was extremely frustrated trying to navigate through the requirements of parents and students by relying on the posted policy. Although the policy explains how the determination of the transfers and athletic eligibility is determined, it does not provide any information as to the actual process one must go through, including the procedure to appeal decisions the school board has made. Another example is the application of some kind of notification timeline that Chairman Buff referred to at the last board meeting that required a speaker to request to be added to the board agenda at least 48 hours prior to a board meeting. Reviewing the minutes of March 19, 2007, it appears that there was some discussion among the board regarding requests to be added to the agenda. However, in spite of attempts to adopt a policy, there was never a policy adoption, a clear explanation of the expectations of a person who wanted to be added to the agenda or a motion to incorporate any changes into then current board practices at that meeting or any meeting since.

My third concern is the drafting of the current Media Polices. I support the modification of the current policy and I appreciate the work of all parties who have spent their blood sweat and tears trying to draft a policy that will be fair to all views espoused. However, I am concerned about the viability of the policy.

It is my understanding that the Superintendant is working with the Media and Technology Advisory Committee to make changes to these policies. It is not clear to me what procedure is being followed in drafting this policy, but it would be extremely helpful if the process by which this policy is being drafted as well as the drafts of the policies offered, were available online. According to past board minutes, the drafts should be posted online as attachments to board minutes. I have gathered from letters to the editor and listening to past board meetings that the Media Committee is the group drafting the new policies. However, according to Board Policy 9.6100P, the Media and Technology Selection Policy, the Media and Technology Advisory committee’s mandate is not to draft policy, it is to review the use of books in the class room.

I was able to review the current drafts of the proposed policies recently, and although it was evident that there had been a sincere effort to write policies that accommodate all of the parties’ concerns, as an attorney I had questions as to the substance of the policies. I contacted the senior staff attorney at the North Carolina School Board Association and asked her if she had been working with Burke county on these policies, and she replied that she had not. She indicated that the NCBSA was currently reviewing some policies for Burke County, but that the media policy was not one of them. When I read some of the language from the draft policies to her that I was concerned about, she stated that the language I read did not reflect the model policies of the NCBSA. She said that it is generally problematic for a school board to draft policies in parallel with the NCBSA’s review of policies, because often the policy adopted does not comply with statutes or the NCBSA has tested the policy in other venues and had found that the policy is easily challenged. So, I urge you to share the drafts of the media policies with the NCBSA so that they may offer some guidance to whomever is drafting the policies. The NCBSA has developed sophisticated and valuable expertise in assisting local school districts in keeping their policies current and in compliance with legal mandates. The NCBSA is a resource that the board has relied on in the past as a source of policies, and it seems prudent that they are consulted regarding policies of such significance to our community.

In sum: Regarding public access: I would like to see the Minutes and all missing attachments to the minutes that are for public view to be maintained online. Regarding clarity of policy and procedure: I would like for the board to clearly explain the procedures that are used in place of policies, and for those procedures to be added to the website, and regarding the drafting of the media policies, I would like for whomever is leading the process of drafting the new media policies to enlist the services of the NCSBA so that the individuals who have put so much time and emotional energy into the drafting of these policies won’t have wasted their time on points that have already been settled by the constitution, law or past practice of other NC schools.