Executive Committee 9/12/12

The Executive Committee meetings are usually pretty boring and uneventful. They are generally about scheduling and such.

The meeting this week, however, has a couple of intriguing items on the agenda.

1. Call to Order 8:00am
- Approval of agenda
- Approval of August 7, 2012 meeting minutes

2. Review of the September 19 and October 3 legislative session agendas

3. Government Relations

4. Community Engagement

5. Executive Committee Discussion
- Conditional Certification Application (R. English)
- Creative Approach Schools (R. English)
- Review and approval of retreat agenda
- Proclamation for Cheryl Chow
- Presentations to the Board
- Policy Development Process
- Board meeting times/Comment timing (Board and Student)
- NSBA Membership 4/1/13-3/31/14
- Directors’ 2012-13 Conference Attendance
- Superintendent Evaluation
- Board Calendar/Work Plan

6. Adjourn 10:00am

I want to know why the Executive Committee thinks that they have to discuss the conditional certificate application. I think it's because they intend to bring it for introduction and action at the same meeting. Let's remember that when the Board revised their policies they removed the policy that required introduction of a motion at one meeting and action at a subsequent meeting except in emergencies.

It's good to see that the Executive Committee will discuss Creative Approach Schools since Board President DeBell refuses to allow discussion of the topic during a Board meeting.

I'm not sure what proclamation the Board wants to make for Cheryl Chow. Will they congratulate her for coming out? Is this going to be a practice of theirs, to congratulate people for telling the world about their sexuality?

I'm not sure what Presentations to the Board is about - maybe they intend to alter the time limit put on staff who are presenting.

It's good to see that they have put "Policy Development Process" on the table for discussion. This is a topic of some confusion. Right now the staff are writing the policies and bringing them to committees. This is a clear usurpation of the Board's governance duty. Often the committee members are expected to refer the draft policies to the full board on the same day that they first see them. That's nuts. They need time to consider the policy and to get community feedback. Also, some Board members, especially those with hyphenated last names, seem to think that the staff is getting the draft policy language handed down directly from Sinai and that the committee is not the place to make changes. This board member has suggested that the way to make changes to the staff draft is with an amendment and the full vote of the Board. This same Board member thinks that the time for community feedback is during the period between introduction and action. What a beautifully unique sparklepony of an idea. The Board needs to work on their process because the current process creates faulty results.

And, there it is, hallelujah, the Executive Committee reconsiders the idea of public testimony starting at 5:00pm.