Note: These minutes should be considered preliminary until they are approved at the next Policy and Amendments Committee meeting
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Windham Southeast School District (WSESD) Policy and Amendment Committee
Tuesday, Sep tember 19, 2023
Regular meeting 2:30 pm
Hybrid meeting: WSESU Central Office, 53 Green St., Brattleboro, VT and
Remotely via Zoom
DRAFT MINUTES
Policy and Amendment Committee members present: Deborah Stanford (DS, Chair), Tim Maciel (TM), Anne Beekman (AB), Eva Nolan (EN, via Zoom)
WSESD/U Staff and Administrators present: Superintendent Mark Speno (MS), Mo Hart (MH), Kerry Amidon (KA), Michael Kelliher (MK), Paul Smith (PS)
Guests attending: Liz Adams (via Zoom)
Call to Order
Chair DS convened the meeting at 2:30 pm and read the hybrid statement.
I. Approval of Minutes and confirmation of next meeting date
The minutes of 9/5/23 meeting approved by assent.
The next meeting for the Policy and Amendments Committee is scheduled for: Tuesday, Oct 3, 2023.
DS amended agenda to add Policy C9 (Board Commitment to Non -Discrimination) to the discussion, as there is a reference to C9 in D11 (Public Complaints About Personnel).
II. Updates
D1 Personnel Recruitment, Selection, Appointment, and Background Checks
● Has been presented for a first reading. It will go for second reading at the next Board meeting (9/26/23).
E10 School Crisis Prevention and Response
● E10 R, in #2, Communicating with the Public:
“In the event of a bomb threat, the Principal shall make sure that notice is provided all parents caregivers of students within one (1) hour via AlertNow electronic communication and local media.” Edit: replace “within one hour” with “as soon as possible” Add: “to” all caregivers…
● Confirm that instances of “his/her” are replaced with “their” and the “his/her” is crossed out.
● Page 6, Lost time:
“Any school time lost as a result of a bomb threat shall be made up on days and
Add: “upon recommendation by the superintendent.”
● By consent of the committee: E10 will go for a first reading at the next Board meeting (9/26).
F1 Student Conduct and Discipline
● DS: Page 3 — procedures. If we are going to keep the strike outs on page 3 and 4: #2 says suspension, but letter A refers to detention.
● PS: What if we pull the procedures out and review with admin? Can we adopt the policy without the procedures attached, and then the procedures can come later when we are comfortable with it?
● Having a Student Conduct and Discipline policy is mandatory, but the policy can be edited.
● TM felt that this policy needs major revamping, to incorporate aspects of restorative justice and to make it less punitive. He just sent around a model policy for comparison, with good general principals.
● For the agenda: Time at next meeting will be set aside to compare F1 with the model policy.
F2 Bus Discipline
● DS: There may be concern that the zero-tolerance tone of this policy is too extreme. Need to add a sense that, as a district, we are responsive to the voice of the student as well as the bus driver.
● Change wording from “A driver may remove a student from the bus…” to “A driver may request removal of a student from the bus…”
● MS: The bus driver does not make the decision about removal – the administration works with the family to come up with next steps.
Add: “In the event the administration determines the student is to be removed from the bus, the parents will be given the right to appeal that decision. That appeal will be reviewed by the principal or designee.”
● VSA 1221 has been repealed, so remove reference to it.
● F2 will be held for the next meeting to review it with the edits made.
● Page 2: Annual Report. It is no longer a requirement to provide an annual report to the Secretary of Education describing substance abuse education programs and their effectiveness.
● A discussion followed on whether the policy should include an annual report to the Board about these programs, with the AOE taken out of it. There was concern that it is hard to report on effectiveness, but the report could include strategies and programs, and that it is beneficial for the Board to get as much information as possible.
● Committee agreed to strike the annual report to the Secretary of Education, no longer required, and replace with an annual report to the Board. Annual Report: In a standard format provided by the Vermont Department of Education, the Superintendent (or his /her their designee) will submit an annual report to the Secretary of Education BOARD describing substance abuse education programs and their effectiveness .
● With consent of the committee, F9 will go to the Board for a first reading on 9/26.
E15 Security Cameras
● The proposed edit to E15 was reviewed.
● By consent of the committee, E15 Security Cameras will go for a first reading at the 9/26 Board meeting. LSP -11 Video Security Cameras must first be rescinded.
III. Comments and Recommendations
G8 Continuous Improvement Plan
● G8 has been rescinded by the VSBA.
● The Board admin retreat in June worked on identifying strands in the CIP that the Board or community would want more information on. The overarching Continuous Improvement Plan will be the focus of Tuesday’s Board meeting.
● Discussion of G8 sparked a conversation on what collaboration means among the Board, administration, and the Superintendent.
● The link for the AOE’s Education Quality and Continuous Improvement framework document will be sent with the agenda for the Board meeting and included in the resources. People will be encouraged to read the introduction.
● For the agenda: Time at next meeting will be set aside to compare F1 with the model policy.
IV. Evaluate
E14 Environmental Awareness and Responsibility
● E14, page 2, Priority 5) Continuous Evaluation: “The Climate Crisis Task Force will regularly review progress and planning in the course of its regular meeting schedule.”
● After a discussion, the language was edited to read: “The Climate Crisis Task Force SCHOOL BOARD will regularly review progress and planning in the course of its regular meeting schedule.”
● MS: There is a presentation planned that covers this policy later in the school year.
● A discussion ensued about aspects of sustainability that are not included in the policy, particularly the food s ystem. Food is a big source of emissions and there is a lot of waste. The suggestion was made to look at the Putney Food Program and the Milk with Dignity program. It was suggested that the committee could work on a food policy and procedures document, an d it could either become a new policy or added to E14.
● E14 will be presented as written, with the understanding that we need to revisit concerns about other aspects of sustainability, such as the food system. Before sending E14 to the Board, TM will ask the town’s sustainability coordinator, Stephen Dotson, to review it.
● By consent of the committee, E14 is on hold until the next meeting.
F32 s taff distribution of literature, referenced at conclus ion of F36.
F1 Student conduct in conjunction with model policy
F2 bus discipline with edits from today.
New policies that need to be reviewed.
Policies on today’s agenda that were not reviewed:
D11 Public Complaints About Personnel
C9 (Board Commitme nt to Non-Discrimination) referenced in D11
F36 Student Freedom of Expression in School Sponsored Media
G13 Acceptable Use of Electronic Resources & the Internet
Tuesday Oct 3, 2023
Meeting concluded at 4:30.
Submitted by Tim Maciel (vice chair)
