Jim Roberts
Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. will have a work session on Monday to discuss proposed policy updates prior to its regular board meeting.
The session will be held at 5 p.m. in the boardroom of the administration building and is open to the public. No final actions will be taken at that time. The regular board meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Terrace Room. To see agendas for both meetings and a list of the proposed policies, go to bcscschools.org/schoolboard.
The policies were presented in a first reading at last month’s meeting. According to Superintendent Jim Roberts, the plan is to have a second reading at Monday’s regular board meeting with the policies hopefully approved at the board’s Aug. 7 meeting.
He said that if there are suggested revisions after Monday, he will work on the changes with board officers, share the changes with the board, and then share the changes with the public before the next meeting.
“Just trying to get a flow going here where people feel like they’ve had plenty of time to review and comment,” said Roberts.
An earlier docket of policy updates resulted in much debate among both the school board and members of the public.
An overview of the changes was initially presented at a previous board meeting in January. School officials later posted a link to the proposed changes at bcscschools.org/schoolboard. However, a number of community members expressed confusion about the document, saying that it changed multiple times.
In April, the board voted 4-2 to delay voting on the proposed policy updates after hearing confusion and opposition from members of the public about the changes. The policies were approved at a later meeting in a split vote.
The current docket of policy updates and revisions that the school board will be discussing at the work session covers topics such as board approval of bylaws and policies, public comment, background checks, state law regarding transgender athletes, adjunct teacher permits, public hearings for collective bargaining, suspensions and expulsions, eLearning days and school resource officer training requirements.
The agenda for Monday’s regular board meeting also includes a first reading of revisions to policies on purchasing and Teacher Appreciation Grants, as well as a vote to adopt a recommendation from the school board agenda subcommittee.
Board member Todd Grimes, who chairs the subcommittee, presented a first reading of the group’s recommendations in June. The proposed changes focus on how school board meetings are conducted and include allowing members of the public to speak on any topic during the time for comment, not just items that are on the meeting agenda.
