Lecturing Laurel –

School Board Members Try Premature Adjournment (video)

Michael — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 06:34:59 +0000

Lecturing Laurel

Bad, Bad, Bad School Board Members (video)

Michael — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 10:04:27 +0000

Attorney Robson Asserts School Board’s Authority to Hire Principals

Michael — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 06:01:48 +0000

Circled: Attorney John Robson

“…you do at the end of the day act on those recommendations, and if you disagree with those recommendations then you should vote against it”

“If someone is getting hired it should be put on the agenda [for a vote by the board]”

In the August 6, 2013, School Board Meeting, Attorney John Robson stated that the School Board is the ultimate authority on who gets hired in the District.

At one point in the meeting I stated “You said that it was not our role, now we are being told that it is our role”. I was speaking to the Superintendent, but he does not respond and it sounds like I was speaking to Robson.

Robson cited the School Board’s Authority:
Title 53A Chapter 3 Section 411 Utah Code

Public Education Human Resource Management Act

080613Robson

Lecturing Laurel

In the same meeting, there was an odd exchange with me and Board member Laurel Young as she presumes to lecture me about wasting the Board’s time because I had asked for clarification of the hiring policy in the previous meeting.

In the previous meeting, the Superintendent erroneously stated that the School Board did not have a role in hiring principals. I quoted state law and board policy that stated otherwise. The board president said it was very confusing and she would have Attorney John Robson attend the next meeting to clarify the disagreement. Board members like Laurel and Kristi with over a decade of serve have no idea what the policy is because they have allowed the Superintendent to run the school board.

In this meeting, Laurel is telling me I should have taken care of all this on the phone:

080613Laurel

McKell Moment

This is the blog entry to the previous Board meeting where the Superintendent erroneously declared that the School Board does not have a role in hiring Principals:

School Board Authority: Abdicated

Salt Lake City School Board: Lies in Taxation (Video)

Michael — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 18:07:47 +0000

August 6, 2013 -School Board Meeting

Link to Blog Entry: Salt Lake School District Votes To Increase Taxes (Tribune)

The Case of the Disappearing Agenda Item (Audio)

Michael — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 20:27:03 +0000

Altered Agenda: January 22, 2013 -School Board Meeting

In the January 22, 2013, School Board meeting the Board President had the Board vote on an issue that was not on the original published agenda. (See snap shot above:yellow highlight).

It appears, in order to rectify the fact that the board voted on a non-agenda item, they just added it to the agenda after the meeting was done. It remained that way for about four months.

The attached Audio is of the May 7, 2013 School Board Meeting. The agenda item for that meeting is listed as:

#1. Board Meeting Minutes, Policy 2

Prior to this meeting, vice president Heather Bennett and I spoke about this issue. Heather committed to me that we could discuss this issue at the next School Board meeting.

On the audio, you will hear me asking Business Administrator Janet Roberts how an item got added to the January 22, 2013, School Board Meeting agenda after the meeting was concluded.

Her laptop is connected to the screen in the Board room and she is looking up and displaying it to the entire School Board and those in the audience. That version of the agenda displayed was the altered version as seen above.

As the discussion is ensuing, you will hear board member Tiffany Sandberg invoke parliamentary procedure to cut off discussion and board member Doug Nelson declares, “it’s not about you”. The Board President agrees in spite of my objections that the issue was relevant to the posted agenda item. We did vote to allow additional language at the bottom of all agendas back to January of 2013. My objection in this blog, relates to the item specific that was voted on.

050713Audio
Audio of a portion of the May 7, 2013 School Board Meeting

This is how issues get swept under the rug: The Vice President says we will discus it in the meeting. Parliamentary procedures are used to stifle the discussion.

Following the May meeting, it appears that the Business Administrator had the item removed from the agenda so that it has now reverted back to the original official posted agenda. No explanation was ever given to me or the School Board. Multiple inquiries of this nature go unanswered.

At first blush, this may appear to be a minor issue. If nothing else, it serves as a window into the type of mentality possessed by those that are running the school board and the District. It begs the question:

What other documents are they altering?

PDF OF ORIGINAL AGENDA USED IN THE MEETING

PDF OF ALTERED AGENDA
YELLOW Highlight is mine, indicates what was added/removed

Seasoned Board Member is Opposed to Receiving Detailed Budget Information (emails)

Michael — Sun, 14 Jul 2013 18:10:33 +0000

Laurel Young

School Board Member
Representing District 6

Fellow Board member Rosemary Emery sent an email to all Board members prior to our retreat last week. She is requesting that the Board have better access and understanding to the school district budget:

From: Rosemary Emery
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 3:17 PM
To: Laurel Young; Tiffany Sandberg; Michael Clara; Heather Bennett; Doug Nelson; Kristi Swett
Subject: board meeting

Over the last two years it has become apparent that as a board we do not review in a thorough manner our yearly spending.

I would like to propose that we spend at least a half hour at the end of each meeting discussing issues of spending. Clearly budget discussions and spending discussions are not co-partners. As an elected official, I feel we need to review our spending not just how much money we have to spend.

For example, perhaps we could discuss elementary coaches vs science teachers, or a minimum number of high school teachers for CTE and no minimum for English, Math or Science. I assume we all have things that we would like to see discussed.

I hope this change could go into effect soon. Perhaps we could put this issue on the July agenda.

Thank you for your time.

Rosemary Emery

Board member Laurel Young is opposed to the Board receiving a better understanding of the budget. She also is under the false impression that the Board can no longer ‘direct funds to certain programs’.

The reality is that board policy and state law give the school board all authority to direct the finances of the district (Board Authority).

Laurel is the longest serving member of the board (over a decade):

From: Laurel Young
Date: Tue, Jul 2, 2013 at 11:56 AM
Subject: RE: board meeting
To: Rosemary Emery , Tiffany Sandberg , Michael Clara , Heather Bennett , Doug Nelson , Kristi Swett
Cc: McKell Withers , Janet Roberts

Hello Group,

I would like to express my thought on this issue too. I do feel that we have had adequate information about our yearly spending in written form. Our SAP has directed our budget , and unfortunately, has been very tight. “In years long ago”, it was possible for “The Board” to direct $$ to specific programs since we had some additional funds ($500,000).This has not been the case for many years and in the last 4 years since we have been cutting $$. I do think we can address some of the concerns of Rosemary , and I think some of this is proposed in upcoming agendas. I do reject the idea that we spend 30 minutes in our board meetings for these discussions. We only have 20 board meetings/year as currently scheduled or 40 hours/year to discuss the “business of the board. I don’t think we should spend 10 hours discussing what has been decided and implemented by past boards and policies. I do think we always need re-evaluation, if needed, and within our agendas. We all of opportunity to add to the agendas, if three board members agree. If not, then we need to be judicious with our time.

Thanks. I do hope to make it next Tuesday. …

Laurel