Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Budget Committee Meetings Are About to Begin
The first Budget Committee meeting is scheduled for tomorrow, March 31, at 9 a.m. Dates for future meetings are Tuesday, April 6 and Wednesday, April 21. All meetings are scheduled for 9 a.m. in the Board room.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Freedom of Information/Public's Right to Know
In perusing the School Board Policy, available on the school's website www.cmsbears.org, I found the form that a member of the public can use to request information from the Superintendent's Office. This is a link to that form. However, the Superintendent has also told me that he'd take a written request on any piece of paper and no one had to use a special form.
You can also find information about what is and is not public at this same website.
You can also find information about what is and is not public at this same website.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Podcasting School Board Meetings
I am now able to podcast the school board meetings! The new podcast site is http://cmsbears.podbean.com/. Today's special meeting was my first attempt, but hopefully I will be able to publish the audio from all future board meetings.
I know it is difficult to get to the board meetings sometimes, so now the technology is bringing the meetings to you. It is up to you, as a person concerned about Cloudcroft Schools, to listen.
I know it is difficult to get to the board meetings sometimes, so now the technology is bringing the meetings to you. It is up to you, as a person concerned about Cloudcroft Schools, to listen.
Summary of Special School Board Meeting of March 22, 2010
A complete podcast of the meeting can be found at http://cmsbears.podbean.com/ (podcasting is a new thing for me, so please leave me input if you have any problems with it!)
Being a "special meeting," business was conducted a bit differently. Board president Terry Butram read a statement, which can be found here. The statement/script of the meeting refers to the following documents:
Section II Open Meetings Act
V. Section 10-15-3 Invalid Actions; Standing
Local School Board Vacancies
To summarize the whole thing, the Board (through the script) acknowledged that they should not have discussed the board appointment/applicants in an executive session. They summarized what took place in the executive sessions and re-voted to appoint Ed Woten to the school board.
The Alamogordo Daily News covered the meeting in this article.
Being a "special meeting," business was conducted a bit differently. Board president Terry Butram read a statement, which can be found here. The statement/script of the meeting refers to the following documents:
Section II Open Meetings Act
V. Section 10-15-3 Invalid Actions; Standing
Local School Board Vacancies
To summarize the whole thing, the Board (through the script) acknowledged that they should not have discussed the board appointment/applicants in an executive session. They summarized what took place in the executive sessions and re-voted to appoint Ed Woten to the school board.
The Alamogordo Daily News covered the meeting in this article.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Special Board Meeting Scheduled for This Monday
This agenda was posted today for a Special Board Meeting to be held this Monday at noon. The board will be addressing open meetings act violations.
Proposed Policy Changes Now Available Online
In response to my request (see blog post), the school board and Mr. Hancock have agreed to make proposed policy change wording available on the school's website. The proposed policy changes can be found here or on the school's website under the "Board of Education" tab.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Overview of March School Board Meeting
It was an active School Board meeting last night, with around 20 citizens attending. Several folks signed up to make public comments.
1. One man spoke against the idea of a 4-day week. The Superintendent said that it was being considered as a last resort should they need it for budgetary concerns or should the citizens/teachers decide that they wanted to add staff with the savings from going to a 4-day week. Mr. Hancock suggested that people email him (thancock@cmsbears.org) with their thoughts about the 4-day week.
2. Another man asked about the school's priorities. He said that when the board was asked about its priorities that the students were never mentioned in the response. He referenced programs like "Character Counts" in the elementary school and asked what was being done along those lines in the Middle and High School. Mr. Hancock suggested that he get with the school's principals and they could fill him in on the various programs at the Middle and High School.
3. Dulaney Barrett handed out this letter pointing out that the executive sessions which were held to appoint both D'dre Brock and Ed Woten to the school board were in violation of the open meetings act. (see blog post "Open Meetings Act" posted on February 5th). Mr. Hancock suggested that the school board consult an attorney, which they voted to do. Mr. Hancock also commented that "this could cause the school to have to consider a 4-day week if they have to pay an attorney to fight it."
4. A woman asked whether any follow-up action had been taken with regards to a staff member using tobacco products on school grounds. Mr. Hancock informed her that there were specific procedures for filing complaints and that they needed to be specific with names and dates before any action could be taken. He said that there is a complaint form that needs to be filed with the person's supervisor. (Here is a copy of the complaint form.) Then if the matter is not resolved, they can come to the superintendent, and if the matter is still not resolved they can come to the school board. He stressed that they need to go to that person's immediate supervisor so that person has the details, otherwise the board and superintendent are not going to spend time trying to figure out who/what they are talking about. The woman said that they had gone through channels, that the channels didn't work, and that when they complained their children were harassed.
After the public comments, the Action items included:
1. Changing the next board meeting date to April 5th due to Spring break.
2. The "first reading" of Policy Advisory No. 69 (GBEB) which deals with "self conduct" and No. 70 (JFC) which deals with student withdrawals. I asked that copies of these proposed changes be provided for the public, but they were not. (see "Making Policy Advisory Changes available to the Public")
3. The board approved a waiver for a senior who just moved here from another state so did not have New Mexico history.
In the Information Items, Assistant Superintendent Amy Lane gave a summary of the various testing that is required by the Feds and the State. Apparently New Mexico's Public Education Department (PED) has received numerous complaints from schools that the unfunded testing mandates were becoming a financial burden with the ongoing budget cuts. The result of this is that some testing can be eliminated next year, saving the school approximately $3,200.
Mr. Hancock said that, if the Governor signs the budget bill, we would be looking at another 1.8% budget decrease, on top of the 2% decrease from the Fall. He said this would amount to about a $150,000 cut. He noted that we had already cut about $110,000 through "personnel." He also brought up the 4-day week and said the biggest issue with the public is babysitting on the fifth day.
It was also announced that the school had hired a nurse.
As acting school board president Jackie Cates was about to close the meeting (Terry Buttram was absent from the meeting), John Braziel, spokesman for the "Concerned Citizens" objected, saying that he was told that the board would read and respond to the questions that he had supplied earlier (see February 25th blog posting "More Questions for School Board from Concerned Citizens"). Board Secretary Doug Porch said they had decided before the meeting not to read the questions. I had some trouble following the timeline of who promised what to whom, but the bottom line sounded like the "Concerned Citizens" thought their questions were going to be addressed by the board and the board did not do that. Mr. Braziel also said that the issues had been taken through the chain of command and the result was the kids were being harassed and intimidated when the parents made a complaint.
1. One man spoke against the idea of a 4-day week. The Superintendent said that it was being considered as a last resort should they need it for budgetary concerns or should the citizens/teachers decide that they wanted to add staff with the savings from going to a 4-day week. Mr. Hancock suggested that people email him (thancock@cmsbears.org) with their thoughts about the 4-day week.
2. Another man asked about the school's priorities. He said that when the board was asked about its priorities that the students were never mentioned in the response. He referenced programs like "Character Counts" in the elementary school and asked what was being done along those lines in the Middle and High School. Mr. Hancock suggested that he get with the school's principals and they could fill him in on the various programs at the Middle and High School.
3. Dulaney Barrett handed out this letter pointing out that the executive sessions which were held to appoint both D'dre Brock and Ed Woten to the school board were in violation of the open meetings act. (see blog post "Open Meetings Act" posted on February 5th). Mr. Hancock suggested that the school board consult an attorney, which they voted to do. Mr. Hancock also commented that "this could cause the school to have to consider a 4-day week if they have to pay an attorney to fight it."
4. A woman asked whether any follow-up action had been taken with regards to a staff member using tobacco products on school grounds. Mr. Hancock informed her that there were specific procedures for filing complaints and that they needed to be specific with names and dates before any action could be taken. He said that there is a complaint form that needs to be filed with the person's supervisor. (Here is a copy of the complaint form.) Then if the matter is not resolved, they can come to the superintendent, and if the matter is still not resolved they can come to the school board. He stressed that they need to go to that person's immediate supervisor so that person has the details, otherwise the board and superintendent are not going to spend time trying to figure out who/what they are talking about. The woman said that they had gone through channels, that the channels didn't work, and that when they complained their children were harassed.
After the public comments, the Action items included:
1. Changing the next board meeting date to April 5th due to Spring break.
2. The "first reading" of Policy Advisory No. 69 (GBEB) which deals with "self conduct" and No. 70 (JFC) which deals with student withdrawals. I asked that copies of these proposed changes be provided for the public, but they were not. (see "Making Policy Advisory Changes available to the Public")
3. The board approved a waiver for a senior who just moved here from another state so did not have New Mexico history.
In the Information Items, Assistant Superintendent Amy Lane gave a summary of the various testing that is required by the Feds and the State. Apparently New Mexico's Public Education Department (PED) has received numerous complaints from schools that the unfunded testing mandates were becoming a financial burden with the ongoing budget cuts. The result of this is that some testing can be eliminated next year, saving the school approximately $3,200.
Mr. Hancock said that, if the Governor signs the budget bill, we would be looking at another 1.8% budget decrease, on top of the 2% decrease from the Fall. He said this would amount to about a $150,000 cut. He noted that we had already cut about $110,000 through "personnel." He also brought up the 4-day week and said the biggest issue with the public is babysitting on the fifth day.
It was also announced that the school had hired a nurse.
As acting school board president Jackie Cates was about to close the meeting (Terry Buttram was absent from the meeting), John Braziel, spokesman for the "Concerned Citizens" objected, saying that he was told that the board would read and respond to the questions that he had supplied earlier (see February 25th blog posting "More Questions for School Board from Concerned Citizens"). Board Secretary Doug Porch said they had decided before the meeting not to read the questions. I had some trouble following the timeline of who promised what to whom, but the bottom line sounded like the "Concerned Citizens" thought their questions were going to be addressed by the board and the board did not do that. Mr. Braziel also said that the issues had been taken through the chain of command and the result was the kids were being harassed and intimidated when the parents made a complaint.
Making Policy Advisory Changes available to the Public
At last night's school board meeting, there was a brief discussion as to the merits of making policy advisory changes available to the public. This discussion came about because I had asked Mr. Hancock to provide public copies of the changes to Advisory No. 69 and No. 70 that were referenced in the school board agenda. He said that it was a board decision, not his, as to whether or not this information would be made public. Since the information was not made available at last night's meeting, I have sent the following letter to all school board members, with a copy to Mr. Hancock.
Dear School Board Members,
Dear School Board Members,
At last night's board meeting, Mr. Hancock notified you that someone was interested in getting copies of the policy advisories that were being considered. That person was me, and I have forwarded to you a copy of that email below.
It seems to me that proposed policy changes are entirely appropriate for public dissemination. How else is the public supposed to know what the policy says and what changes are being proposed? Not making this information public is not exactly fostering open communications, nor is it allowing the public to offer any opinion as to the proposed changes.
I understand that most of these changes are suggested by legal staff at PED, and that most of these changes are considered to keep policy in step with current law. Since these changes are considered as action items on the board agenda, providing a marked-up copy to the public as well as the board is the best way to keep ALL interested parties informed.
Since I'm no fan of wasting paper and ink, it would be really cool if the school would post the mark-up on its web site!
Thank you for your consideration of this matter.
Margo Whitt
Begin forwarded message:
Date: March 8, 2010 3:21:44 PM MSTSubject: copies of policy advisories
Hi Tommy,
Would it be possible for ya'll to provide a couple of copies of the policy advisories that the board will be considering at tonight's meeting? I plan on attending and am interested in what is being considered.
Thank you
Margo
How to Access Board Policy online
At last night's school board meeting, Mr. Hancock explained how to access the School Board Policy via the school's website, www.cmsbears.org. Since there are a number of steps involved, I have summarized the process in this document.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Agenda for School Board Meeting to be held March 8
It was no small task getting this month's agenda. Only Lenora was in the admin office Friday afternoon and she didn't know where the copies were kept...but she was sure we could just get it off the school's web page. As of this writing, the only agenda I can find on the school's official web page is the one for the January meeting. So here is a photo of the agenda which is posted on the glass by the west entrance. There was nothing posted that gave any information as to what Policy Advisory 69 and 70 contain.
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