BOE Agenda 2007-04-24

The BOE agenda for Tuesday night has been uploaded to the MNPS website this morning.

Item A(2)(b) would allow current 4th graders at AZ Kelly & Maxwell to remain there for their 5th grade year (transportation provided). Page 3.

Superintendent Pedro Garcia is graded on EE-7 (Budgeting and financial planning) and that can be found beginning at page 8. Board member George Thompson in dual role as BOE member and head of the Council of Great City Schools is quoted as saying:

"Continued improvement needed - The amount allocated for board Development and other governance priorities is unreasonably low for a district our size. Lack of appropriate development breeds confusion as to the Board members' role and thus invites micro-management."

Gracie Porter's comments about this essential function are not to be found on this document.

Page 10 is where Karen Johnson's concerns about Metro taking over payroll functions from MNPS are expressed.

"Please provide update on how well most recent payroll change is working. MNEA had expressed concerns. Would like to possibly see employee feedback survey on this."

She's also concerned about the contract bids:

"Would like to see information on all who bid for services and who is awarded contracts all in the same document. Would like to see a breakdown if possible on how many are minority owned specificying women owned, African-American owned, Hispanic Owned, Asian Owned, etc..." (Page 11)

But this may be the MOST important part of the meeting. The Board is amending their own job description. Much of this is similar to the old version but they've added some specifics and every citizen will want to review this and comment to the Board about this. There is little room in this document for dissension which seriously concerned me back in the summer when I was subject to it and it still concerns me. I understand that the Chair needs to do a better job of running the meeting but muzzling the members isn't the way to go. The public already has little knowledge of Board member opinions on issues--this isn't going to help. How do you encourage 'diversity in viewpoints' and yet require members to 'criticize privately' or 'never embarrass each other or the district'? This document doesn't encourage a healthy airing of the pros and cons of issues facing the community regarding public education.

And what parents are still not going to understand is section 3 which specifically prevents the board from assuming 'responsibility for resolving operational problems or complaints'. Most voters and taxpayers assume that this is part of the reason we have a school board. That stepping in when things aren't working is why they voted for their board member. What they're going to get instead is direction to the central office person in charge, a smile and a 'vote for me' later on.

There are no provisions in this document for those who dare to violate the policy.

Policy Type: Governance Process GP-2

Governing Style

The Board will govern with emphasis on End results for students rather than on interpersonal issues of he Board; encourage diversity in viewpoints, focus on strategic leadership rather than administrative detail; observe clear distinction between Board and Director roles; make collective rather than individual decisions; exhibit future orientation rather than past or present; and govern proactively rather than reactively.

Accordingly:

1 The Board will cultivate a sense of group responsibility. The Board, not the Director or staff, will be responsible for excellence in governing. The Board will use the expertise of individual Board members to enhance the performance of the board as a body, but will not substitute individual judgments and opinions for the Board's collective values. Accordingly, members will;

a. focus on issues rather than personalities
b. respect decisions of the full board
c. exercise honesty in all written and interpersonal interaction, never intentionally misleading or misinforming each other
d. criticize privately, praise publicly
e. make every reasonable effort to protect the integrity and promote the positive image of the district and one another
f. never embarrass each other or the district

2. The Board will hold itself accountable for governing with excellence This self- discipline will apply to attendance, preparation for meetings, adherence policymaking principles, respect of roles, and ensuring effective governance capability into the future To ensure that the board's business meetings are conducted with maximum effectiveness and efficiency, members will:

a. speak only when recognized duing meetings
b. not interrupt each other during meetings
c. not engage in side conversations during meetings
0. ask questions for clarification
e. listen for content and understanding
f. not repeat what has already been said during meetings
g. support the chair's efforts to facilitate an orderly meeting
h. communicate in a timely manner to avoid surprises
i. ensure that all members’ voices are heard
j. adhere to Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised 10th Edition.
k. refrain from introducing a motion as new business for matters not directly related to the current meeting's agenda items nor related to an issue currently tinder consideration. Instead, any unrelated motions should be accompanied with a request to place the motion on the next regular meeting's agenda for action. [emphasis in the original]

3. The Board will direct, control, and inspire the district through The careful establishment of written policies reflecting the Board's values and perspectives The Board's major policy focus will be on the intended long-term benefits for students, not on the administrate or programmatic means of attaining those benefits. Accordingly members will not:

a. assume responsibility for resolving operational problems or complaints
b. give personal direction to any part of the operational organization

4. Continuous Board development will include orientation of candidates for the Board and new members or the Board about The Board's governance process and periodic Board discussion and evaluation of its process to assure continued improvement

5 The Board will allow no officer, individual, or committee of the board to hinder or be an excuse for not fulfilling its commitments.

6. The Board will monitor its process and performance at each meeting through a debriefing process. Board members' attendance at all meetings and work sessions will be monitored regularly. Self-monitoring will include comparison of the Board’s performance with policies in the Governance Process and Board-Director Relationship categories.

7. The Board may, by majority vote of the members of Board, revise or amend it policies at any time. However, normally a proposed policy revision will b discussed at one session of the Board prior to being approved at a subsequent Board meeting.

MNPS BOE Agenda Packet for October 24,2006

I never did receive the agenda packet for the last meeting so I was plesantly surprised when this week's arrived in the mail. I've uploaded a .pdf of the 61 page document to my website.


There was, however, a bright purple page announcing:

This is the last Board Agenda that will be U.S. mailed. The agenda will be posted on the MNPS website at http://www.mnps.org/Page23.aspx when it is delivered to the Board of Education.

Full agenda packets will be available in the Board Administrator's office at 2601 Bransford Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee, 37204 if you prefer to pick one up.

I've written asking if the agenda uploaded to that website is merely just the agenda or if it's going to be the entire agenda packet. I'll let you know what they say. I think they should create an e-list subscription of folks who want to receive that entire agenda packet in .pdf format.

Highlights from this 10/24/06 agenda include:

Both the 9/26/06 and the 10/10/06 minutes are included for approval.

The 10/10/06 minutes include an overview of the Science & Math School at Vanderbilt for MNPS students to begin in the Fall of 2007. This would be a one day a week session according to the minutes.

"Big Picture School, geared toward students who are potential drop-outs, high-risk students, etc." was introduced at the 10/10/06 meeting and this upcoming meeting includes the awarding of a contract "to provide the necessary expertise and services to enable MNPS to open a Big Picture School in 2007." Cost is somewhere between $150,000 and $200,000. I'm not fond of $50K in monetary slop. The new Director of the Office of Reform and Innovations will evaluate this on a monthly basis to determine it's usefulness.

The 1Point Solutions (no surprise their website is down) scandal, political scandal, scandal touches our MNPS staff and so the BOE will consider moving that service to Fringe Benefits Management Company. Maybe someone should check their political contributions record before approving this contract. [UPDATE: maybe there won't be much consideration by the BOE as this item is on the consent agenda. That means unless one of the BOE members pulls it there will be no public discussion Tuesday evening.]

The school calendar is up for discussion and the balanced calendar isn't dead. Interestingly the SEIU and the Steelworkers have indicated their opposition to a balanced calendar but failed to appear at a meeting about it. According to Dr. Garcia's District Calendar EE-14 report:

Representatives from SEIU and the Steelworkers were invited but did not attend the meeting in which agreement was reached on the balanced calendar. In a previous meeting, SEIU and the Steelworkers indicated their opposition to a balanced calendar based on the time without pay being spread throughout the year rather than all in the summer. Their concern is about the loss of earnings during the summer for less than 12 month employees. the administration, MNEA and the parent [representative] unanimously recommended that the Board adopt the balanced calendar for 2008-2009 due to the many advantages in all aspects of the calendar.

Both a traditional and a balanced calendar are provided for review.

And it is a new day. Former BOE member George Blue's self-evaluation system is being replaced by a debriefing asking: What did we do well? What could we do better? What would you wish we do at our next meeting?

Again a .pdf version of the 61 page agenda packet can be found at KayBrooks.com here.

It's a whole new BOE

I watched much of last evening's MNPS BOE meeting via the 'net while preparing dinner. Since a great deal of that meeting was a tutorial on the system it didn't require my full attention having received OJT in this over the summer. I was glad that this overview was done at their first meeting. It needed to be and Pam Garrett ought to be commended for ensuring it was.

I would encourage folks who are interested in how the board actually works to view the 'policy governance' portion. I expect that in the near future it will be available to download from the Internet and I'll link to it for your convenience. I think it's very important for the taxpayers, voters and parents of Davidson County to understand this governing system as they attempt to interact with the board. I believe Mr. Ralph Schulz of the Adventure Science Center does an excellent job at clearly explaining it for lay people.

The introduction of the cabinet members is also very handy information and I hope that, as I've suggested, the actual PowerPoint presentation slides will be available to the public so that we can more easily follow along. There was some valuable information being shared but having a hard copy of that information would be a good resource for the community.

I was disappointed to hear that by unanimous consent the first vote of this new board included providing themselves laptops or fax machines and phone lines. I never bought the plea that not having those tools may keep a poor person from participating on the board and I never understood why the taxpayers even had to provide these in the first place. We've got teachers across the county paying for supplies out of their own pockets and taxpayers viewing this as an unnecessary perk. Great, you've staked out your parity with the council members. How does that really help the children of MNPS?

I did miss hearing the committee appointments that were to be announced at the end of the meeting. Mr. Kindall asked early on about when those were going to be announced. Ms Garret, as chair, remained firm though and reiterated that they'd be announced at the end of the meeting. I'm waiting to hear back from MNPS what those were.

The BOE will hold a 'retreat' this Friday and Saturday. I expect it will be an intense time for them as they get to know one another and their jobs, set priorities for the upcoming year, begin the evaluation of Dr. Garcia and decide who is going to lead this newbie board. It will be my earnest prayer that they'll be able to work together, set aside previous allegiances and relationships, hold the director accountable and will be able to quickly bring about the changes that must be made.

It's time to walk the campaign talk. God speed.