Board Meeting Summary & Video: November 2, 2022

Información en español

November 2, 2022
School Board Regular Meeting

On Wednesday, November 2, the school board held a regular meeting. The sessions were open to the public via live video on Zoom, live audio stream, and radio broadcast on KRVM 1280-AM and 98.7-FM.

Regular Meeting

Introductory Comments

Superintendent Andy Dey updated board members on district initiatives to ensure equitable outcomes for all students, one of his main priorities for the school year. He also extended an invitation to the Día De Los Muertos (“Day of the Dead”) celebration at North Eugene High School on Friday, Nov. 4 (watch).

Items for Information (no board action is expected to be taken)

• Discussed legislative priorities (watch): Board members discussed their priorities for the upcoming legislative session, which begins in January and runs through June.

Items for Action

• Approved items on the consent agenda (watch): The board approved a contract with Sexual Assault Support Services; authorized the purchase of new furniture and technology for the new North Eugene High School building; and approved a contract for the building control systems for the new Camas Ridge Elementary School building.  It also approved the official minutes of the second session of the annual board retreat on October 1, as well as the minutes for the board meetings on October 12 and October 19. The vote was unanimous.

• Approved the selection process for 4J’s equity trainer (watch): The district is accepting responses to its request for quotes from individuals or firms interested in facilitating the board’s ongoing equity work. District staff provided board members with three options to make their selection. The board unanimously selected the option where board members will individually rank all the requests for quotes and select three to interview during a future work session. The board will rank the finalists at a future regular meeting and then vote to hire the trainer that receives the most points. The board also voted unanimously to add working with public boards as one of the criteria it will use in assessing the requests for quotes it receives.

• Authorized changes in appointing school board members to certain committees (watch): All board members are assigned to serve on various committees, both permanent standing committees as well as ad hoc committees that are convened for specific purposes. The board discussed having more uniform representation on ad hoc committees so that board members are sharing the load, and individual members aren’t sitting on either too many or too few of these committees.

The board approved an addition to its working agreements that says before any new committee can be created, members have a chance to discuss the appointments of board members at one meeting before finalizing the appointments at a second meeting. The vote was 6-l, with Michelle Hsu voting no.

The board also removed Laural O’Rourke from the board’s mental health subcommittee, approving her request. The vote was unanimous.

Earlier, the board rejected a motion to conduct a mid-year review of ad hoc board committees — those convened for a specific purpose — before additional ad hoc committee are convened. The vote was 4-3 with Maya Rabasa, Gordon Lafer, Michelle Hsu and Keerti Hasija Kauffman voting no, and Alicia Hays, Judy Newman and Laural O’Rourke voting yes.

• Rejected changes to scoring for the equity trainer selection process (watch): Following a discussion, the board rejected changing the scoring system used to evaluate the candidates for equity trainer so four of the five criteria — work experience, lived experience, skills and knowledge, availability and access, and cost — would be equally weighted at 30 points. The final criteria, cost, would have been scored using a 20-point scale. The vote was 4-3 with Maya Rabasa, Gordon Lafer, Michelle Hsu and Keerti Hasija Kauffman voting no, and Alicia Hays, Judy Newman and Laural O’Rourke voting yes. The scoring system will be as follows: work experience, up to 30 points; lived experience, 30; skills and knowledge, 20; availability and access, 10; and cost, 10.

Items for Future Action (board action is expected at a later meeting)

• Discussed revisions to the board policy on public complaints (watch): The board reviewed changes it had requested to Board Policy KL – Public Complaints. The proposed changes will better align with board goals and best practices for supporting public complaints.

• Considered a board resolution related to protective measures to ensure safe public meetings (watch): The board heard about and briefly discussed a proposed resolution to ensure that in-person public meetings are held in a manner that that is healthy and safe for community members, students, staff and school board.

• Discussed the performance evaluation process for the superintendent (watch): The board heard a brief overview of the performance evaluation of the superintendent that the board is required to complete every year.

Public Input

The board heard live public comment virtually via Zoom (watch). Three people spoke about increasing involvement of disabled and neurodivergent students in school activities, student behavior and standardized testing. To request to provide public comment to the school board, community members may complete an online request form by the Monday before the next regular board meeting. Community members also may send comments via email to board@4j.lane.edu.