Okay.
I would like to call the October seven, 2019 meeting of the Communications
and Community Engagement Committee to order at 5:04 p.m..
If we could just do a brief roll call around the room and identify your name,
and if you're school board members, staff, administration or citizen advisor,
Lindsey Drew School Board and Chair of the committee.
Tricia Steiner School Board Member.
John Abell School Board member.
Dan Tank representing the administration, and
Rick Kelley,
Citizen Advisor.
Ashley Commission, Energizer Duty Harvest School Board member.
Thank you. And Corey Reed
and Jude Meade.
Well, Citizen Advisors are on their way and will be
joining us shortly.
Real quickly,
I just need one of the school board members.
Well, first and foremost, welcome to Mrs.
Harris, who's going to be joining the
Communications and Community Engagement Committee officially this evening.
But because we have not yet had full board approval for the appointments
on the new committees, we just need a motion second and a quick vote to
admit Mrs.
Harris in on this meeting because she's not an established committee member yet.
And I'm so moved.
Thank you, John.
Tricia.
All in favor. Say, I
welcome Mrs.
Harris. You.
We appreciate you joining the committee.
Thank you.
Next to me, business is approval
of summary minutes from the May 13th, 2019 meeting.
Those who are attached to the agenda, are there any comments or questions
about those minutes?
Okay, then can I have a motion to approve this, please?
So moved.
Second.
Thank you.
All those in favor say hi.
Any opposed?
Minutes from May 13, 2019 are approved.
Moving on to unfinished business. I would.
I will circle back to this as well once Mr.
Reed was here.
But we are unofficially welcoming our new citizen advisors to the committee.
Tonight.
The full board will vote to approve appointments for the two vacancies
on each one of the board's standing committees for Citizen Advisors.
And we were incredibly fortunate this year
to have a large number of applicants
who were all incredibly well qualified
and we really appreciate the willingness of so many people to
to serve in the citizen advisory capacity.
But after review, we have
selected and made the recommendation to the full board on behalf of the h.r.
Committee to appoint Mr.
Kelly and Mr.
Jude made well as citizen advisors.
So welcome and thank you for joining
the the committee will be voting on that this evening
and it will be a two year term which will expire
June 30th of 2021.
And we'll be discussing more at length about citizen advisors in general.
So you're already be oriented before we even get there.
So just moving on to new business
when we last met and one of the goals that we've been working on
over the course of the last school year was the discussion around
community engagement and how as a board were able to try to participate
and engage with the community more outside of our normal Monday 7 p.m.
public board meetings,
because the opportunity for conversation is incredibly limited
during those meetings.
And one of the things that came up and somewhat evolved over the year
was the board participating in community and school events.
We had first started talking about it from a meet
the school director, but then
through conversation and kind of evolution,
we landed on having it just be presence.
And so all of us that are board members participated in some capacity,
but we participated at all three of the buildings
back to school nights throughout the course of September.
So we started with the high school,
then the next week was the middle school, the next week was the elementary school
and had 2 to 3, sometimes four board members
assigned to those shifts and
I'll open it up in a second to the other
board members to share their experience.
But we had put together some documents from things we had reviewed as a committee
in the spring, but provided had handouts provided
for anyone that was interested at the event to show
contact information, who's on the board, general information on how to communicate
with the board, how to access our minutes and meeting agendas when we meet,
and then some information from the Pennsylvania School
Board Association that helps define the role of a school board director
and the roles and responsibilities.
Then we also included the press release
and statement and information on the Citizen Advisor program,
which gave an overview of what a citizen advisor is.
The different committee descriptions,
and then how to apply, and had that application period open
through all of the back to school night so that everyone that we had conversations
with would have the opportunity to then get on and apply.
I was incredibly
excited about the feedback and reception.
Each building was very different and was interesting to see
how parents engage and interact
at different levels of of K-through-12
High School was a little bit more, Hey, how are you?
Good to see you. Middle school.
KIPP and I attended and we just had some really great conversations a lot around.
We had just had a board meeting that week and we're talking about the school start
time process and discussions that are ongoing.
So there were questions about that.
We were able to review chain of command and ways of contacting the district
and communicating through the appropriate levels of administration
and then just, you know, the ability to to to have conversation,
not just with the parents and students who were present,
but also some of the staff, you know, the maintenance staff in the evening staff
and the building administration.
So I feel that it was an incredibly successful
initiative and we have received great positive feedback on it.
So my hope is that this is something we'll be able to continue doing going forward.
So for those of you that attended,
you want to give any insight, things that maybe you think we could enhance.
I attended the
Elementary back to school night and the PTO there
sponsored a dinner for the staff that was going to the back to school night
and invited the board members and that was great just to sit with the teachers.
And we talked about start time and we talked about some other issues
that we were discussing as a board, and it was just really a good time
just to get to know them better and to hear their perspective and
their support for the start time
and just what they're seeing in the classroom with the kids.
So that was very insightful and helpful.
And just to hear about the programs that they're doing with them.
So I really appreciated that time too, with the staff to get to know
them better, as you mentioned.
And then the parents were very receptive at the elementary level
and I thought the handouts were great,
very helpful was the contact information for people to have.
So thank you for thinking of that and doing that.
Thanks to you
and Leticia.
I just echo that I had a really positive experience
interacting with all the parents and luckily I had just
graduated out of the elementary school, so I knew where most of the hallways were.
But that was one thing, right?
It did serve as, you know, directions coordinator for many of the parents,
but that was fun too.
And and I think that the handout with the chain of command was was
really helpful to have because there were a couple of conversations that I had
and that was really relevant
to give to them and say, here's what you do.
So yeah, so I thought it was really great.
I had good conversations and it was really positive.
And I also got to check out the
that you see in some of the new renovations
that they've done down there to some of the new spaces.
And that was also really a good experience too.
So great. Thanks.
I would concur.
I was able to make the high school and the elementary school,
and I don't know to what extent we had advertised this ahead of time.
I don't think we did. It was.
Referenced in one of the social media posts, but it was not a widely.
But I remember back in the day we used to get something in the mail
like this is back to school night.
So perhaps if we decide to do it again, we can feature that in the communication
to say, and by the way, stop by
and meet your school board members and just list those folks.
But no, I think it was great face to face contact.
And the other thing, to be candid with folks, I think it also
got me into the elementary school that I had not been in in quite a while.
So it was good to get back there to see what changes there were.
So again, I think the committee should be applauded anew.
And Lindsay in particular was bringing that together.
I thought it was an unqualified success.
Thank you.
Just pausing real quickly,
Corey read our Citizens Advisors now here and then also Jeremy.
Well, our newest citizen advisor who will be officially brought
before the board this evening for approval.
So thank you for joining us. And Corey, great to see you.
I hope that you had a great summer.
So overall, I think that, you know, the feedback for that is great.
The next component that ties into our overall initiative and goal
as it relates to community engagement in this way
is addressing the fact that there is a significant portion
of our constituent base and taxpayers who are not parents in the school district
and wanting to make sure that we are offering a touchpoint
there as well, and not just for parents who are in the building
for back to school night.
So one of the things we had discussed
in May
was regarding where do we go from here?
How do we make it or create an opportunity?
And I think that that's where we can take some of the suggestions
about announcements and things like that from John and tie that in.
One of the suggestions that we had tossed around was in the winter time,
maybe like February timeline, I think we had talked about
is maybe trying to see if there was a public location, say the library
or something where we as a board would be able to offer something similar
to what we did in the back to school night venues, but do it for the public
and work with partners
and be able to promote it on social media and that, but also work with partners
such as the township who sends out a weekly newsletter
and has a greater reach to the overall taxpayer base
to be able to help us promote and and bring that forward as awareness.
Our focus would probably be a little bit different because you wouldn't
have the citizen advisor component, but I think that we could use that
and work together and use our January meeting of this committee
to really hone in on information that we think
is relevant to share from a community perspective.
So I would just like to go around, see if anyone has any thoughts
on a time frame or format for that that you think might be successful.
I agree.
I think it sounds like a good idea because there's not usually a lot going on
in February.
It's usually, you know, after but after March, stuff really starts to just
steamroll until the end of the school year.
So I think that the timing of that is is smart.
And yeah, and in a public place that's not the school that's, you know,
sort of neutral territory like the library I think is also a good idea.
Mr. Kelly I think that's probably one thing that
I would even defer to you now,
having your students out of the district, what your thought as a taxpayer
would be on opportunity to interact with the board at the school district.
And if you think that there's value in providing that opportunity.
Well, any time you're able
to engage the people who are involved,
you know, as parents is good
in February, sometimes you have to be prepared for bad weather.
But if you if you plan it with that in mind,
I think it could probably work out.
Maybe have a announced snow makeup day.
How about four
or something to be thinking about for the next time?
And we can work on dates to try and coordinate that outside of this meeting?
Dan We can work together and figure something out. But
one thing to be thinking of again is just the topic point, because I think
when we're in the buildings talking to parents and back to school night,
any current questions or even potentially
concerns are top of mind as people are walking through the school buildings.
I think that the conversation,
the context of the conversation changes a bit
when we're off school grounds and having a conversation with folks
that are not engaged with the district on a day to day basis as parents.
So how do we make that meaningful and address questions that are relevant
to to that portion of the constituency?
And I'm glad you brought that up, because I do think that's going to be
an important component of how you format this event going forward.
You know, the back to school needs.
Well, we already had the hook the hook was we had folks who were coming
because they wanted to be there
for back to school and the activities involved with their students.
And we kind of piggybacked on that in this case, what we're really asking
folks is, is you guys are sort of the center of the show for this event,
but I think we might need to have a topic or topics that you guys
might want to just do a brief presentation on or talk about.
So it's a little more focused and you might, you know, catch
the attention of someone rather than just seeing Broadwell
come and meet the representatives of the school board,
unless they have something that they already is on top of their mind.
And if they do, we've probably already heard from them in some other venue,
whether it be at a board meeting or through such a contact form,
if they're really animated about something.
So it might be worthwhile to identify some things
you as a board want to talk about, whether it's just
the whole notion of here's the roles and responsibilities,
you know, learn what it means to be a board member.
Or one of those things we were trying to be particularly sensitive to
is making sure that it was not in any way perceived as a political event.
And one of the reasons we wanted to look at doing this
for the community at large in the New Year is
because we will not be heading into an election year for school board.
So that way it was not in any way perceived, you know, under that notion.
One thing I'm thinking of as we're talking about,
I wonder if there would be benefit to trying
to maybe do it at the Mueller Senior Center
instead of the library, because I think that then we could really tap into.
And we have as a district, done
some things periodically at the Mueller Center.
They do have the sort of lunch and learn kind of program
that they've always been receptive having us there.
They in that format.
However, it is kind of more of a little bit more of a formal presentation.
Certainly there's dialog that goes on over the course of the actual meal,
but at least in the past when administration has done
those, there's been sort of expectation of some sort of presentation.
So sometimes we've done things on the budget
to remember some of the other topics that we've covered,
but we've gone in there with about a 15 minute presentation
that we deliver and then open it up for dialog.
So I wonder if it would be worth piggybacking on one of those events
though, like to be there to meet them ahead of time and
after that presentation and if there's anything that we wanted to present,
you know, so that they're coming for a dual purpose, like I don't know
if there's something in the works that you were planning a topic.
We don't have one planned at this point in time from at least from
the administration does not have one planned at this point.
I think a one to learn sounds
like an interesting concept.
One thing that always somewhat resonates
with me is being concerned of
what's the best time
to be able to meet then the schedule of so many people.
And I think that from perhaps the senior citizen
part of
Derry Township residents, that would be,
you know, something conducive to their schedule.
And we have when I've been there in the past,
the turnout has been very good,
I would say in the 40 to 50 range
for that we did a
he did one to where our tech department went over
and sort of did sort of like tech for grandparents sort of
kind of thing.
But I believe that was also part of the luncheon
luncheon learn series that they have.
So I almost wonder if we should instead of doing just
we were going to do the school based and then move into the just one community.
I wonder if we break that apart a little bit
and maybe do one in the winter, focus more on
folks that would be
drawn to the to the Mueller Center and work for that
and maybe do something like a lunch and learn.
And one of the presentation pieces could focus on how to communicate
with the school district or how to stay in touch,
because I think that that's probably another big part of it.
And stemming from the initiative of the Communications
and Community Engagement Committee,
that that could be, you know, just the different areas and ways that
that even if you don't have children
in the district, that you could still be engaged.
Anyone have any thoughts on that or any.
No. And I think that's a great message because let's be candid.
Most of the communication we have with at least folks at the senior
level is once a year when we send them a tax bill.
So anything that is a little more informative just gives them
a sense of where that money's going and why it's going there,
I think could be passed down.
From a communication perspective.
Do we ever do any district wide update mailings or
publications about things we have going on?
A long, long time ago?
Those were curtailed
before I got here because of budgetary.
Concerns, right?
I mean, obviously a mailing would have an expense
pretty significant associated with it, but
perhaps there's even a way to that.
You know, we could look at just
developing some sort of.
You know, for for a while.
You may recall we did do
any newsletter or voluntary signup sort of thing.
But again, that list with the
the molars and I don't think we had a lot of those folks
and we've since replaced that with having a social media presence,
which we have a lot more folks who follow that than ever subscribed
to the e-newsletter right?
Yeah, I like the idea of, you know, working
with the Mueller Center because I think then we do have a built in audience.
I am a little concerned if you set up a a weeknight in February,
about ten,
you know how many
folks are really going to come out on and on and on, out on a dark night,
particularly if you don't have a really good sort of lead.
I mean, I'm thinking obviously, I think this would be an opportunity
kind of for us to tiptoe, so to speak, into this.
And then if if it's we can learn from this and then roll something out on a broader
based either, you know, on its own or along with some other
organization that we could, you know, partner with,
you know, obviously there are broad topics that would not
necessarily impact anything that's currently before the board.
And I think your points really well taken,
Lyndsey, about this won't be overlapping election season.
But, you know, we've got we've got early start time, we've got vaping,
we've got perhaps long range planning for the school district workforce.
The district see itself in five or ten or 20 years.
So those, those sort of broader topics
I think would be teed up to get folks interested.
I would want to see if the folks at a mueller center
would be willing to make it a public invitation, perhaps,
and if we don't want them to foot the lunch bill for other folks.
So I think we would,
you know, want to talk to them about making sure it's open to the public
and that anyone could come to get engaged and then see if we can't do that
and then look at
something in the spring with a little bit broader base of we just don't have
sort of a built in back to school night on a community level really just.
Isn't anything. Like neighbors.
A lot of community events you know October fest and these type of things
and people are going out too but they're mostly social
and that wouldn't
I don't think it'd be inappropriate venue to have a table there
or something like that.
There's just nothing like that on the, on the broader township level.
So perhaps between now and our next meeting in January,
what I can do is reach out to the Mueller Center
and just run this, pass them and see if it's something
that they would be interested in engaging with us on.
Find out what the parameters would be around that.
And then even if it wasn't in February, because
the more
they think about it, like things always end up being
weather affected that time of year, maybe even early March
or something like that, that we could look at and that would give us time
as a committee at the next meeting to really lay the groundwork.
It would also, between now and then, be able to allow for dialog
with the Mueller Center if they were doing this to maybe
receive their participation on finding out what's important,
what would folks want to know or what would be beneficial to them?
And then we can use our next meeting to really dive into that and help
create the content that we want to share.
And then, I don't know, like John, you had mentioned,
if it's worth looking at, just if the library has anything going on
in the near future that would be appropriate for us to piggyback
something down the road in August, of course, is National Night out.
I don't know if that would be.
That's way down the road.
But right before school starts,
I know they sometimes like a good thing to plan for.
So we did do like the senior citizen or senior center event in the spring.
And then National rolled into something like National Night Out and engage
the school board at that level.
I think that those are a couple of really good ways, like on
an ongoing basis to have the board at several times
throughout the year engaged with the community outside of our meeting.
I agree.
I think that's an excellent suggestion.
Julie,
I know our Transportation Department has participated in the National Night
Out for the last couple of years and I found it very informative.
They've caught a lot of folks,
even though they've done mailers or other things out in terms of bus stops.
They found that's a good opportunity to have some of those sort of last minute
conversations right before school and another potential venue
as we look again going forward, not so much for this year, but I know
at various times at the farmer's market here,
they've made space available to community organizations.
That one came to mind because I know recently
they approached the church and foundation to see if they wanted to be in
one of the folks who had some space there during one of the times.
So that might be a possibility as well.
We can also look once
I'm the liaison to the Church and Foundation board and John's the alternate.
So that's also something we keep in mind as dates are established for next year.
What is the taste of Hershey
looking to see if there's an opportunity there as well?
Because I think that that's a perfect segue way into the board's.
Involvement and from a timing perspective, that kind of hits your spring thinking
as well, because that will most likely be sometime in March.
I have a church and foundation meeting coming up in two weeks.
So that's. Already. Yeah, right.
I'm glad.
I think it's the week of the 20 something right before the next board meeting,
so I can contact the center and then have that conversation
at the Church and foundation meeting in the interim and see if we can do that.
But I do love the idea of National Night Out as well, and I think that
that could just be an added bonus
if, if not established purposes.
Okay, great. Thank you.
So I will communicate to the committee in the interim so that we can be
thinking further.
Okay.
Next up is the Citizen Advisor Program Orientation Document Review.
The documents were attached
to the agenda and I know to our new citizen advisors
I included those in an attachment.
There are two documents on here.
The first one is one that we had already reviewed and approved
at the last meeting, the the Program Orientation Guide.
We had previously been calling it a reference guide, but I renamed it
just to keep it in line with the orientation.
And then the other document is the
Citizen Advisor Program orientation.
This is the actual slide deck that would be used.
I was talking I was at agenda planning for the board meeting
this past week and was talking
with Superintendent McFarland and the board members present there.
And we're talking about what's the best way to deliver this orientation
because the h.r.
Committee obviously just reviewed applications last week.
Originally when we were looking at this, we were thinking about having it be
an actual physical person in person orientation
and then as we were selecting citizen advisors for our
to recommend for appointment and looking at it, we were like this
to add one more thing onto the calendar
that someone has to be at physically
could be a strain, especially because we only have,
I think, 12 new citizen advisors coming on this year.
Last year we had a few more because of vacancies,
so I took the information that we had gone through with the program Orientation
Guide and put it into the slide deck and what we're going to be doing is tonight,
after the Citizen advisors are approved, a letter will be going out to them from
our school board president
Cathy Seger and Superintendent McFarland
to welcome and let folks know of their appointment to the committee.
And it will also reference that they will be contacted
by the Communications and Community Engagement Committee about a time
that will be hosting a webinar like
go to meeting style online orientation.
And that's what this slide deck here is.
So it just goes through.
And what I did is expanded a bit on the Orientation Guide reference guide
and took some of the information that we shared
at the back to school nights and put all that together.
So we'll be able to have an online format
where we have the orientation
for the citizen advisors on the line and be able to use it again in the future.
There's vacancies or whatnot that goes through an introduction
to the board, provides information on the school board meetings
and minutes agendas, board policies in general.
It gives room on page five
and you'll be able to see it to it in the attachment,
in the agenda, but it'll go through just that brief overview.
What is the school board kind of reestablishing information
and making sure that our citizen advisors, as they come on to a committee,
regardless of which committee they're serving on, all, are presented
with the same information
at the onset of their service.
And so it goes through that.
It gives an overview of this as an advisor program in general,
a review of the board
standing committees, and then dives into the information for new citizen advisors,
talking about the terms of appointment and attendance.
And then one of the new things that we discussed last year
relative to attendance of citizen advisors,
so that citizen advisors who are absent from two consecutive meetings or
four nonconsecutive
meetings because some committees meet monthly
throughout this one school year would be considered
as having resigned from that so that we don't hold open
these positions when we've had an influx
of applicants who are willing to serve
talks about the voting.
Obviously
all citizen advisors are
non-voting committee members
with the exception of the curriculum Counsel
But we encourage all citizen advisors to participate in the vote.
Their votes are just not tallied
for the purpose of advancing something to the board.
Typically at this committee we very infrequently have something
that is going to be referred to the board for full board approval
compared to the policy or Finance Committee.
But it outlines that information just to make sure everyone's
on the same page going into that.
And then meeting information and logistics, the schedules,
all the things that citizen advisors should all equally have,
information provided, you know, to them upfront,
where to park, how to log in, how to access the district, why
where to sit when you come in,
how to participate, you know, and be engaged.
And obviously to encourage folks to be able to
to feel engaged and
encouraged to express their insights and provide feedback
and meeting information and logistics about where to find a recording.
So that if sometimes especially for this committee,
because they're only meeting three times this year during the school year
to refresh where you can find the minutes and recording of this meeting online
so that you can go back and some refresh yourself because I know
it can be a little difficult at times when we go months in advance to be
like, where do we leave off?
And then the current committee chairs
for this new round of new citizen advisors
coming on board and then how to use Agenda manager, making sure that everyone
is linked in to that and able to log in
to Agenda Manager and pull that up.
So I did some screenshots and arrows and you know, put that together
to walk through how to find,
how to log in, how to find the meeting.
And then once you're inside of the agenda, how
to access the various attachments so that
citizen advisors can feel as prepared
as a board member who uses this frequently in preparation for that,
and then where to where to go if you have trouble
accessing it.
So I would welcome,
if anyone had any thoughts or information on this.
Ultimately, this will be kind of the first piece of it where we welcome
citizen advisors and then kind of turn them
over to the individual committee chairs, because at the end of the day, each
individual committee chair is responsible for welcoming
and making sure that the citizen advisors on their committee
have everything they need to,
you know, to be successful on the committee.
I want to thank you for putting this together
because I thought it was just an excellent tool, very helpful and beneficial.
And it's sad we haven't had something like this sooner.
So thank you very much for thinking of that
and for doing such a great job in putting it together, because this
very beneficial I think it cleared up a lot of questions
maybe that people have coming on about being a citizen advisor.
Yeah, I thought it was very well done.
I appreciate you taking the time to do the screenshots
from Agenda Manager because I know that's probably
one of the things that's most uncommon to see someone coming on.
I think most folks who are have stepped forward have served
on some sort of committee before so they understand
the proper roles of orders and those sort of things.
But those are some of the little things that we take for granted,
I think sometimes can be the biggest stumbling blocks to folks
who are new to our process.
So I really appreciate that that attention to detail.
Thanks a had a question.
I don't know if this was operator error or not, but I tried to get a copy
of the of the school board's agenda for tonight
and it sent me to that
and I couldn't access an agenda
was that is that was that operator error on my part or.
It sent you to or
did you log in?
I did not log in.
Oh, so I'm sorry, What screen were you.
Well, I thought it was it was on the it was on the home page of the
of the of the the district's
website. Right.
So were you able then to get to the page that you see up here on the on the screen,
Did you see anything like that when you click the.
I saw I saw that page, but I couldn't see but I couldn't get to an agenda.
Did you see the tab there up in the top left a home
meeting search
when you are not logged in and then you click on meeting,
it should go.
It would look something like this.
There be, for example, for this evening, since there's two meetings,
there'd be far less options than than what was shown here.
That would have been the agenda for this meeting,
which is public and the agenda for the for the board meeting.
So I just didn't go far enough.
I'm actually going to what is the airplane for for this.
To be over and then you'll get to go.
Oh, I think the code will just pop up.
Yeah, that's associated.
Is it training?
I'm looking for it to pop up.
I apologize.
I don't know what it's like a similar before.
There's a large conference room team one training,
a conference.
It's definitely not large conference room.
That's
where you have executive session.
It could be possibly training room, even though that's technically
the room across the.
I would have thought it would have said boardroom, but.
That's for meetings down, right?
Right.
That's where I went.
That's meetings.
Nothing that little okay there
then that would give you this one.
Oh, that's how you get because.
You're walking through getting things.
I was trying to explain to this.
I could walk through it real time, but it wasn't.
It's not it it's not connecting me.
So that's what members of the public have to do.
That's kind of.
Oh, there it is in It just came up.
Oh, of course, of course.
It's a recycle and.
I was waiting for the code to come. Up.
Of course it went away again.
It's a great point
because I am curious to see what that is when you're not logged in because.
No know, you'll see the screen,
you'll see this basically this stream.
I get to go to the meetings.
I think that might have been the missing piece is that meetings turned?
Yeah. I didn't I. Didn't get to go through.
Right, Right. Yes.
And if you don't click on the main tabs any wouldn't know where to go
right from there.
And then once you click on the meetings tab, it does bring it up.
Yeah.
Oh, here we go.
I can jump to now.
What's there?
It keeps coming in and out.
Technology is so great when it works,
when you want.
Like how you want to do
it shows up and then when I click on it, it disappears.
So I'm just moving it back to the.
Yeah.
Can you pull up an Internet browser and just go
like into agenda manager?
Sure.
Which is actually because I'm not logged in.
Or go to like the district site, you know, and follow that path.
This is what you would see.
I'm not logging on on this particular thing.
So when you go. From the district homepage.
Yeah and then this is the screen that appears after you
access it from the district home page, or if you type in the URL directly.
So then you set the meetings tab.
And as you see, there's two for this evening.
Okay.
And it goes a 60 day date range. Yes.
So it brings up those that are the most current,
which would, of course be the the two meetings this evening. Right.
And then you have to go to page two to see tonight's.
Do we have the opportunity
to determine if it's previous 60 days or not?
That's just a default that the idea is set for agenda.
Okay. That's their default.
Okay.
I was in say if there's a way to get it so that it's most recent date at the top,
I think that might make it easier for folks to access.
But perhaps Dan, is it
something that under agenda where it says
on the board meeting page of the district website, it says a school
board meeting in 10 minutes can be access to the district's agenda manager site.
Can you add to
there something about click on the meeting tab to.
Do a screenshot like you've done in the the orientation.
That way there's just like, that's great feedback.
Thank you.
Because
the ideal thing
would be to have it available right at the link so that so that
when they when they click on the home page they get it.
But but if you if you explain it that they if you explain
what they need to do to get it that's that's better.
Yeah I think the notion of adding some verbiage in the graphic
showing the the need to click the meetings tab because otherwise.
We'll actually just have the link go to the gentleman intercom slash
deets slash meetings.
So the default landing.
Instead. Of is the meetings tab instead of.
The, the welcome page.
Because they don't know that
it has the sophistication that we can integrate
because the agenda is subject to change
leading up to it and you can't put it in as a feed on the website
but having a direct link to the meetings tab
I think would probably be more effective and not have folks.
And that's easily enough. Accomplished. Awesome.
Thank you and thank you for the feedback on that.
That's
important.
I now son
myself out, so I got to get back in but one of the
so to move on so does anyone have any other comments
or questions regarding that orientation for citizen advisors?
And if there isn't any, if we could move to recommend this,
to move to the full board and during the committee update this evening,
I will motion this to new business so that the full board can approve
since they've had the opportunity to review it
so that we can get started and provide that orientation.
So I just want to point to clarifications.
I'm not sure I heard correctly the
the concept is some sort of go to meeting or online.
Has a date been set for that yet or.
No, because the board has not.
It is because there's 12 new folks.
What we talked about doing was
after the document itself and the presentation
is approved by the board, I'll send out a doodle poll
to the 12 new members
and offer a couple of dates and times that work best for a go to meeting
and then
select whatever the majority would be available.
And then for those who are not able to attend,
we would be able to send out the link to the recording for it following.
Thank you for that clarification.
So does anyone have any comments or questions
before we would look for a motion to move that forward?
Okay.
Then can I have a motion to move this to the full board for this evening's
board meeting? So mood. Setting.
Thank you, Judy.
All those in favor say hi.
Any opposed?
All right.
That will be moved on.
So thank you to everyone for all the input
over the past year, we've been pulling this all together.
The one thing that did come up as we were going through
this process is realizing that some of the things that we have updated
and talked about in developing these documents
is where it relates back to policy
and one of the things is the Citizen Advisor program is referenced in
Policy 905
as well as the board operating guidelines.
So I went through those documents and identified the areas
where things are either
not included or would have changed.
So how we would address vacancies
and made some
suggestions and revisions there,
which was attached to the agenda.
We'll start with Dan if you can pull up the 905
policy attachment.
This policy references
advisory committees that are set up by the administration
as well as Citizen Advisor Program to board standing committees.
So the suggestions and changes that I made inside of that
just somewhat outlined
more of a separate in between advisory committees
such as what the administration's currently doing for the school
start time, and then the citizen advisor to board standing committees
redefined the process.
Up to four citizen advisors will be appointed to serve on each
talking about the terms and the will two years in length, commencing
upon the majority vote and ending on June 30th of the second school year.
And then we also talked about adding the no more than.
Is. Required
that citizen advisors who have successfully completed a two year
term are invited to apply for reappointment for another term.
But no than two terms for a total of four years, maybe consecutively served.
So we looked at putting, I guess, term limits, if you will,
because in some our committees we've been fortunate to have citizen
advisors who have reapplied to serve
upon the completion of their terms for a number of years.
And with the increased participation,
it seems to make it fair and allow opportunities for as many citizens
to participate as well that that we would put that on there
to anyone.
Have any thoughts on that? I just want a question.
So does that mean they can a third citizen advisor on one committee,
four for two terms, can they then apply for another committee or is it just.
Yeah, it would be for a specific committee term.
Okay.
The only comment I have on that is that
we just have one citizen advisor I know on one of our committees
that's been there for a long time and she's actually been
a really stable force on the committee, even through different board members.
And she's really reliable and a really hard worker.
So I guess I would just sort of hate to see her go
because of this ruling, but I understand that
we have a lot of applicants that are also dedicated and
and have, you know, a lot to offer as well.
So as long as that's why I just want to clarify it,
if that person would be able to serve on another committee,
just not necessarily same committee. Right.
It's just that that you wouldn't stay on the same committee for a number of years.
And that was one of the reasons that
like looking
at that was that there is an individual who's been able to serve.
And I think from the perspective that I looked at it as is, while
I am incredibly appreciative and value
what the stability, you know, can be brought forward,
I also don't want to see as a board that we minimize
or discount anyone else's involvement just because someone's been on,
you know, in that capacity for a long time.
So it seemed like if you were serving two different terms,
you'd have served for four years and then to have a one year break,
you know, in between before another vacancy round would come around.
And I think this came about because we
we have the luxury of a problem, right.
Of of now having more folks applying for these positions
than there are positions, which was not the case previously.
We were not even receiving enough applications to fill the vacancies.
So we're now in, you know, this new position of having to
look at it from that, which I personally feel is an incredible problem in.
Terms as problems goes. That's a great one.
Well, then on the flip side, though, you know, do we want to put something
like that in policy?
If we do have an issue with trying to get people to apply,
do we want to say you can't apply
because you're 80 there then, but we still don't have enough people?
I'm just looking, you know.
Yeah, I guess I'm like it from the optimist perspective.
It's like we've turned, like the tides turned and we're
now going to have, you know, we've built enough awareness about the committee
and we've changed our method of announcing the citizen advisor.
We're now emailing it out
and like publishing it in several different places other than
just the social media sites.
And we're also consistent for when the application and process, right?
We were kind of it.
Sometimes we do it as an opening came up on on for a particular committee.
So there were some times
we'd have three calls within the course of a year, right, for different things.
So I think a lot of things that we've tried to standardize
have helped grow the number of folks
and the understanding of how to go about applying.
And obviously these recommendations are something that I would just say as a
as the communications committee, that we're going to
recommend this to the policy committee and then the policy committee
would review that.
So the only action that we would be taking on it right now
would be to refer these suggestions, suggested revisions
to the Policy committee for their next agenda
to discuss before we come before the full board for policy change.
I mean, I don't know if maybe putting in a clause that just would say
to address your issue, unless the number of applicants
do not meet the you know, however you want to phrase that.
But so there is a clause to cover that in case we did have a year
where there wasn't enough applicants, you could
then you wouldn't have to change the policy again.
But maybe the policy committee can think of a clause that says
unless the number of applicants does not meet the,
you know, number of vacancies or whatever.
I like that.
Yeah.
Then you're covered for both.
Thank you.
I would also maybe add some language that does make some clarity.
There as far as saying that if they would like to apply
to another committee that they can
and it isn't quite clear there.
But that way to make sure that they can.
And I was thinking was wondering
I would interpret this to mean that, but let's say it goes to a policy committee
and then it gets approved by the board and,
you know, June or whatever, one month
we are now
in two months time, who gets approved?
I guess the question is, is it effective immediately?
So if I have a two year term and already as an advisor, am I capped at another term
or would it be
as the effective date of the policy change?
I, I don't have those past years counted against me.
Do you see what I'm saying?
So are. We grandfathering? Yes. Or we grandfathering?
And I guess my gut tells me I'd like to have it effective
so that if I'm already on an A citizen advisory
for two years, that doesn't count against me.
So I would I would have renewed clock would start to run
a new for everyone once this gets approved.
To say this is approved in February March
citizen advisors who would be completing their first two year term.
Right.
Would still be able to apply for one more
from there, like we're not going to be capping.
And unless someone's been, I think I don't think we have many people.
I don't think that we have many citizen advisors
outside of
Policy Committee that have been there for more than two years at this point anyway.
Which I guess I'm thinking that way, Tricia
going to have this person for four more years
as opposed to two
this year, I'm saying is I think if the policy goes into effect,
this policy says you can only have your max is two two year terms.
Right.
That's that's the new policy says and I just don't think
that would be fair to people who've already given us
multiple years.
Right so that I think so.
Now like the person that that Tricia was referencing is being approved right now
for the start of a third two year term?
Yes, I think I think I think I think they would get offers a 6 to 6 years.
I mean, that's.
Well, that's
where it's being approved to right now, because policy doesn't support the limit.
So I think that it would just be going forward.
Going forward. Right.
So no grandfathering, just.
Yeah, right.
No grandfathering.
We're not going to kick someone off
that as a citizen advisor because we change policy.
But it's like for the next round of appointments we would look at at
term served.
So the way things are now standardized,
this call for applicants goes out every September
with appointments every October because everyone's on a two year cycle.
So every year you'll have just like we have two folks who are coming on now
and October of two, you will have the two other folks
who on their terms will be done at the end of this school year.
There'll be an application or re application.
Right?
So everyone that's currently serving with within with an expiration of June
30th, 2020, will still be able to apply
for another two year term because we didn't re-up anyone
the last time like for that would be pushing them over the limit.
So and I'll confirm that too,
so that when we go to Policy Committee, we make sure that that's addressed.
All right.
Anyway, so we will
I will update this to include
the unless the clause of unless
another enough applicants
or unless the number of applicants is not sufficient
to meet the vacancies reference, that it would be
a specific like term limits for one specific committee.
But you're welcome to apply for additional committees
and then we'll address the when it takes
place and current citizen advisors.
If no one else has any change, then with those amendments, I would ask
for a motion to move these recommendations to the Policy Committee.
So moved Second
thing, all those in favor say I any opposed.
Okay, then we'll move those to that.
And now we just have like 2 minutes.
So I'm going to turn over to Dan real quick to discuss 930
the review of policy, 913, which we already know
will be a continuation into the January meeting.
Correct?
And that's my only intent here this evening was to basically cue
this discussion up for the next committee meeting
of the four Policy Committee is actually currently
taking a look at policy 913, which covers a lot of aspects of relationships
with with the community of the policy was being looked at specifically because
of some recommendations that were coming from the Pennsylvania
School Boards Association and a lot of those recommendations.
And Tricia, please correct me
if I'm characterizing this wrong from what you've seen,
have to do with fair use of the facilities and when we can make
when we will make facilities available to folks.
But there is, however, a part of this policy
which has been, quite frankly, a thorn in my side for many, many years,
and that has to do with the distribution of materials to outside organizations.
The policy and I'm paraphrasing here and what I'll do after this
media sent everyone a copy of the current policy,
the proposed revisions that are coming from SBA
and then call your attention to the area that I'd like to talk about
the next meeting.
But to paraphrase what the policy saying is essentially the superintendent
or the designee, and in this case, the superintendent has designated me
to review material requests, distribute materials through the schools.
And there are some there is some language in policy that says what those can be,
but it's fairly broad and it talks about basically,
you know, having some of some value or adding to the experience
beyond the school day.
Over the years,
this is this gray area has become very, very murky.
And we get a lot of requests.
The volume of requests from outside organizations has probably gone
down over the years because we've said no to some folks over the years.
And so they've stopped asking.
But I will say the complexity of the requests
has probably grown in ways that we didn't anticipate.
I'll also send to you a copy of the guidelines that we have
administration have been using to try and determine
how we're going to approve or not approve some of these in a nutshell, essentially
what we're looking at is right now we currently approve
only those that are locally based nonprofit organizations.
We don't approve anything
that has anything to do with fundraising because that's part of board policy.
We do put some limits in place as to what grade levels we distribute.
We only distribute K through five.
And that's really because administratively when you get to the secondary level
at middle school and particularly than at high school
where you don't really have a true homeroom, there's not a good mechanism
to distribute physical copies.
We also don't send anything home.
During the first and last weeks of school simply because we send home
so many school related materials, particularly the first week of school.
It's a burden to our staff to have to deal with these other materials.
So we've built that into place.
So I'll send that to you so you can see kind of where
we've been coming at this from an administration for now.
And think about going forward, is this where we want to go?
And I will talk about some of the complexities at the next
at the next meeting, but I'll give you an example of of the complexity
we talk about.
It has to be a locally based, nonprofit organization.
Many travel
sports organizations, including some of those that are based in our area,
have five or 1c3 designation.
So technically they are considered a nonprofit.
I will also tell you, however, that many of these organizations
charge upwards of 1000 to $2000
for there to be a participant in their program.
And they're using that money to pay
for their coaches, for travel, for all those sort of things.
So we need and then they also tend to be competing with one another.
I think when this policy was set up, it was really more in mind with like
the local recreation associations, things like the public library.
But since it's not specifically referenced in policy,
we've kind of had to try and feel our way as we've gone.
So the question I'll leave in your mind that I'd like to discuss at length
at the next is what do we see our role as a school
in distributing materials from non-school organizations?
And that will then dictate if we need to make a change to policy
or if we need to make change or administrative guidelines
about how we administer the policy as it's currently written.
Thank you, Dan.
All right.
So just as a quick recap, I'm going to we'll follow up
with providing a copy of that policy so that we can all review it
and have any questions or comments to discuss at the next meeting.
I'll also review or get in touch with the Mueller Center
and then build a discussion item list for our meeting.
Our next meeting is January 13th, which is a monday at 5 p.m.
right here.
So in the interim, I hope everyone has a great fall and holiday season
and we will communicate through district email and citizen advisors.
Welcome.
Thank you again for your willingness to participate.
We look forward to your involvement over the next couple of years
and I'll be reaching out about the orientation.
If you have any questions,
do you have my district email address that you can contact?
All right. Then we will adjourn at 6:04 p.m.
and we'll see you January 13th at 5 p.m. Thank you.