Observations about the Clinton County School Board Meeting of January 14, 1991 for consideration by members of the school board, and any other interested citizens. By Duane Bristow, Parent, taxpayer, citizen, and product of the school system. January 22, 1991 I attended the organizational meeting of the Clinton County School Board held on January 14, 1991 in the cafeteria of the Clinton County Elementary School. These are a few of my observations of some items of business that were discussed and my comments on those. These comments, it is hoped, will be of help to people involved in the school system and to parents, taxpayers and others to understand how school business is conducted. For several years I have heard complaints about the way school business is conducted. I expected this board meeting to be unique because it was the first board meeting on which reform school board members, that is those elected by running against the "establishment", held a majority position. Several other people must have expected this also because public attendance and participation were higher than usual. The first item of business concerned electing a new School Board Chairman and Vice Chairman. I was pleased to see that the election of Bill Guffey as chairman and Larry Craig as Vice Chairman took place without controversy and that the vote was unanimous. Since I had heard complaints before that both the chairman and the board had not been active enough in running the school system, I was also pleased to see that Chairman Guffey was assertive in conducting the meeting. Several items of business discussed were informational or without controversy that I could see and these were handled as a matter of course. There were other items though which concerned me and these are discussed below. SCHOOL BUS MONITORS Since I was one of the parents who have complained several times about the lack of discipline on particular school bus routes, I was interested to see that this subject was brought up by the Transportation Director and discussed. However, my impression by my own experience and by talking to other parents was that there is an unacceptable discipline problem on a few of the 23 school bus routes and that many, probably most, routes have minimal discipline problems. I suspect that the problem that does occur is because some drivers are not as good at maintaining discipline as others, because some routes have more rowdy riders, and because some routes are more difficult to drive giving the driver less chance to watch the riders. The discussion that occurred, however, centered around the idea that all buses carrying children less than five years old should have school bus monitors hired to ride the routes. There was also much discussion of the fact that the people with the Federal Head Start program wanted these monitors to ride and that the school system might be able to get money from them to pay half the salaries of these monitors. It was finally decided to hire 13 to 14 school bus monitors to ride buses carrying 4 year old children. I fail to see how this, essentially, addresses the school bus discipline problem about which I and others had complained. I do not really think that school bus discipline problems are caused primarily by four year old children. There was no discussion of which busses have discipline problems but only of how many carry four year olds. I suspect that bus monitors are unnecessary on more than 5 or 6 buses and that these may or may not carry four year olds. The primary interest of the school system seems to be how to hire more people while getting as much money as possible from some other agency. No one at the meeting stated what should be a fundamental policy. That is that the system has an obligation to provide safe and decent transportation for all students and that as long as serious discipline problems continue to occur that this is not being done. I had heard that the previous school board when advised that there was a discipline problem had instructed the Transportation Director to ask the bus drivers if they wanted a monitor on their bus. I think this is equivalent to asking them if they are unable to maintain discipline and I would be surprised if any would answer in the affirmative. I think the function of a Transportation Director is to know where the problems are due to his monitoring of the entire system and due to the complaints he has received from students, parents, principals, and drivers. If he then decides that the problem can be best solved by the use of bus monitors, he should make the decision for himself which busses need monitors and should staff them within the funding limits provided by the Board of Education or request additional funding, if necessary. However, I suspect that because the system does not have a full time Transportation Director there has not been enough time allocated to become familiar enough with the system to know this. I also suspect that if the purpose of the monitors is seen as satisfaction of Head Start regulations or hiring more people or getting extra money for the school system, then we will soon see a number of monitors riding in the front seats of the busses watching the road with the driver rather than riding in the back of the busses watching the children. We will at least have well watched roads. Cumberland Co-op Grant Program. In talking to people about the school system over the last few months I have noticed a couple of concerns about the effect of the election of new school board members. Some have told me that they want a fundamental change in the way school business is conducted but they are concerned that what we may get is simply a change in what group is in power and what group is out of power but no changes to actually improve the school system. Another concern that has been mentioned to me several times, in some cases by the newly elected school board members themselves, is that school business has often been conducted by means of back room deals rather than with full and open discussion among school administrators, school board members, school employees, and the public. I have been told that before the school board election some teachers and other employees felt they were under no obligation to show up for work on time, could leave early, and in general could do what they wanted because their jobs were protected by the school board. I was told that after the election these people no longer had this attitude but that other employees had now developed the same attitude with one employee going to the extreme of stating to several people that since she had supported the newly elected members, she could now do whatever she wanted. Therefore I watched closely when Larry Craig asked Joyce Boles to give the board members information on a proposal he was submitting. She then gave a packet of several pages of information to board members Dicken and Davis, turned to the other board members and said that she would not give them information packets since they already had theirs. Talk about back room deals! Chairman Guffey then soon pressed for a vote on the matter while the two board members not in on the deal thumbed through their handouts trying to figure out what the proposal actually entailed. It was explained that this was the same proposal that had been turned down by the board in September and was for the school system to take over certain bookkeeping functions for a program for a six county area which was now being done by Wayne County. It was said that the cost to the school system would only be some extra bookkeeping work. Nothing was said about what the benefits would be. I then asked about the benefits and was told by Mrs. Boles that if the bookkeeping were done in Clinton County it would save her numerous trips to Somerset or Wayne County (I am unsure which) to take bills and papers. The proposal passed with three affirmative votes and two abstentions. (No surprise.) It was also interesting that after I returned home from the meeting and had retired for the evening, I got a phone call from Mrs. Boles husband, Robert Paul Boles. He asked me why I had questioned his wife and said, "From now on keep out of things that are none of your goddamned business, buddy." I guess that simply proves that everyone makes an ass of himself now and again. Most of the meeting was conducted from a prepared agenda and it was obvious that the board members had been provided with the background information on matters that were taken up in the meeting. This, of course, is the way such meetings should be conducted and, in my humble opinion, controversial matters should never be brought to a vote until the board has had a chance to study the matter and allowed for full discussion in a public forum, usually a board meeting. I see no reason why any board member who wants to bring a matter before the board could not have that matter put on the agenda by the chairman a few days in advance of the meeting and provide all board members with all relevant information. The only exception to this should be matters of an emergency nature or matters of a non- controversial nature which simply came up too late to be placed on the agenda. Suggestion Box A motion was made by Larry Craig that locked suggestion boxes be provided in the teacher's lounges of each school and that suggestions be removed from each of these boxes by the board chairman before each board meeting. There is nothing wrong with this motion and there was no opposition. I hope, however, that the board is able to properly implement this idea. All board members should have a chance to see all suggestions before the beginning of the board meeting or in executive session. Probably many suggestions will be discarded with board members choosing only those which they think have value for further action. These suggestions should be used to find ideas for changes in overall school policy which will improve the school system and should not be used to undermine or second guess any principal or other supervisor. I hope that all comments which should properly have been taken up with the employee's supervisor will be ignored by the board. Otherwise this idea will be simply a means of griping used by dissatisfied employees and will only create dissension. Student Sales Policy The Superintendent, Dr. Carver, stated that a committee including the school principals had worked on a proposal for a change in the wording of the school policy on product sales by students but that, if desired, discussion of this could wait until the next school board meeting. Although, I think no official action was taken, a discussion ensued without any of the school board members even looking at or referring to the committee report to which Dr. Carver had referred. This seemed to me to show that the work of the principal's committee was held in little regard by the school board members. The essence of this dicussion was that principals should report to the board the results of all fund raising efforts and account for use of the money. This seems reasonable. Another suggestion, however, was that all proposed fund raising efforts should be approved by the board before being implemented. This seems to me to be a case of micro management of school affairs by the board, of preempting a responsibility which properly should belong to the principals, and probably a policy which in practice would prove to be a nuisance, both for the schools and for the board. In my opinion no student of the school system should be asked to raise money to support the school. This money should first be provided by the school board and, if not enough is available from that source, it should be raised by parent's, teacher's, and community organizations. Also all fund raising by students should be initiated by the students or student sponsors within students clubs and organizations, not initiated by the school system. I also am adverse to fund raising which is promoted by a third party, such as a commercial fund raising business, in which a part of the proceeds of the fund raising go to that business. I am opposed to the idea of the school's general fund being augmented by sales of items to students. I feel that school stores, snack sales, and sales of school materials such as pencils, notebooks, etc. should be conducted by student organizations as their fund raisers. We do not send our students to school either to support the school or as customers of the school. It is the obligation of parents and taxpayers to support the school system. Recommendations School board meetings are usually conducted from a prepared agenda and the board members are provided in advance with the necessary background information on matters that are to be taken up in the meeting. This, of course, is the way such meetings should be conducted. Controversial matters should never be brought to a vote until the board has had a chance to study the matter and allowed for full discussion in a public forum, usually a board meeting. I see no reason why any board member who wants to bring a matter before the board could not have that matter put on the agenda by the chairman a few days in advance of the meeting and provide all board members with all relevant information. The only exception to this should be matters of an emergency nature or matters of a non-controversial nature which simply came up too late to be placed on the agenda. Therefore, I encourage the board to adopt a policy that no motion will be brought to a vote unless it has been placed on an agenda provided to all board members at least 24 hours prior to the vote. They should also be provided access to all relevant information in advance. The only exception to this policy would occur if the board by unanimous vote suspended the policy to allow votes on emergency or non-controversial matters. The purpose of the Clinton County School District including the board and all employees is to provide the best possible education to the citizens, usually children, of Clinton County. However, in my discussions with school officials and in discussions I have observed in public school board meetings there is usually a lot of discussion of financing, of personnel, of state and federal requirements, and of a number of subjects. Very seldom do these discussions include specific statements about the effect of the subject being discussed upon the education of students. Perhaps I am too dense to realize the relationships involved, but I suspect that many times policies and regulations and rules are made and implemented without much thought given to their effect on education. Therefore I request that the school board adopt the following or something similiar as a policy: "Whereas, it is the purpose of existence of the Clinton County School District and the Clinton County Board of Education to provide the best possible education to all the citizens of Clinton County, Kentucky and especially to the children of the county, That therefore, it shall from this moment forward be the policy of the Clinton County School District that no motion will be passed by the Board of Education, and no significant policy, rule, action or regulation will be implemented by any employee of the school system, unless such motion, policy, rule, action, or regulation includes within its wording a statement of the specific effect that it is expected to have upon the education of a student or students in Clinton County." Some specific examples of the effect of this policy would be: No budget could be passed without a statement to the effect that this budget had been studied and compared to other alternatives and that it would provide specifically stated benefits to education over other alternatives. No personnel action could be taken without a statement that it was being taken in the best interests of the education of the students in the county and in what way it was expected to be in their best interests. No policy could be adopted without a similiar statement. The School Board could not pass the following: "The Clinton County School Board resolves to support all Clinton County residents serving in the armed forces in any capacity during the Persian Gulf War." But it could pass either: "Although it is expected to have no effect on education in Clinton County, The Clinton County School Board resolves to support all Clinton County residents serving in the armed forces in any capacity during the Persian Gulf War." or, "To encourage patriotism among Clinton County students, The Clinton County School Board resolves to support all Clinton County residents serving in the armed forces in any capacity during the Persian Gulf War." or some other similiar statement.