Crane’s October board meeting at a glance

The crane School district governing board convened tuesday for its october meeting. Here’s a look at some of the topics on the agenda.

ASBA BYLAW PROPOSAL APPROVED

Crane’s governing board members unanimously voted to direct board Secretary minnie encinas to vote in favor of the bylaw proposal for the arizona School boards association. The bylaw would create a seat in ASBA’s board of directors so that Hispanic and native american interests can be represented simultaneously on the board.

Currently, only one seat exists for the Hispanic-native american Indian caucus (HnaIc) to occupy so Hispanic and native american representation on the board alternates every two years. the change would allow for both demographics to have representation continuously and would allow the groups to split into separate groups if the members choose.

Governing board President Jim colby said: “I can’t imagine that this hasn’t been done before. I think it’s a great idea and way, way late.”

Board member Sarah claridge explained that the HnaIc has been trying to make this happen for at least the past four years.

GOVERNING BOARD SELF-EVALUATION POSTPONED

The governing board voted to temporarily suspend the policy requiring the governing board to hold its self-evaluation. claridge explained that since there were only two members physically present at the meeting that evening, it would be better to postpone the evaluation until november’s meeting when more members will be present and better able to hold discussion for the evaluation.

CONSENT AGENDA

The items in the consent agenda were approved which included: reports on purchases, the ratification of approval of terms and conditions for awarded School Facilities board (SFB) building renewal Grant applications in Fiscal Year 2022, adoption of the 2020–2021 annual Financial report and the adoption of the memorandum of understanding between arizona PBS educational outreach and crane.

FIRST READING OF PROPOSED AMENDED GOVERNING BOARD POLICIES

Maricopa county Superior court Judge Katherine cooper recently ruled that parts of House bill 2898 are unconstitutional and void, making it legally effective throughout the state of arizona. this results in changes made to some policies concerning language for orientation and training for professional and support staff, teaching about controversial, sensitive issues and the immunization of students.

“With all that said, we just enacted some of these changes and now because of a court ruling, the law has been changed and we’re removing stuff,” said claridge.

“I’m wondering whether we should just wait until all the legal things are done,” remarked board member marcos moore after claridge explained that some of these policies may go back and forth in the legal system.

claridge reiterated that because the district is a state body, it must continue to stay up-to-date with state policies. the board accordingly voted to hold a second reading and adoption of the policies in november.

OTHER CHANGES

The governing board unanimously approved the adoption of the classroom Site Fund teacher Performance Pay Plan for 2021-2022. Superintendent Laurie doering explained that the plan needed at least 70% approval from teachers and that there was an 81% approval in the district.

The Gifted education Plan was also unanimously approved. the plan as written includes changes made by the gifted education coordinator for the district to reflect changes in the state and local education landscapes.

The governing board temporarily suspended the policy to evaluate the superintendent. the policy typically requires that the annual evaluation be conducted on dec. 15, but claridge explained that the governing board believes it more logical and appropriate to conduct the evaluation in June towards the end of the school year.

The governing board also voted to change the date for the december regular meeting from dec. 14 to dec. 7 in order to permit more time for board members to travel to the 64th annual conference of the arizona School boards association and arizona School administrators.

The meeting can be accessed at https://vimeo.com/613719508. the governing board will convene again at its regular meeting on tuesday, nov. 9 at 5 pm.