Note: These minutes should be considered preliminary until they are approved at the next Policy and Amendments Committee meeting
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Windham Southeast School District (WSESD) Policy and Amendment Committee
Monday, June 5, 2023
Regular meeting 2:30 pm
Hybrid meeting: WSESU Central Office, 53 Green St., Brattleboro, VT and
Remotely via Zoom
DRAFT MINUTES
Policy and Amendment Committee members present: Deborah Stanford (DS, Chair), Tim Maciel (TM), Anne Beekman (AB), Eva Nolan (EN, via Zoom)
WSESD/U Staff and Administrators present: Superintendent Mark Speno (MS), Tate Erickson (TE), Paul Smith (PS), Mo Hart (MH)
Guests attending: Jaime Contois (JC, via zoom), Liz Adams (LA, via Zoom)
Call to Order
Chair DS convened the meeting at 2:34 pm and read hybrid statement.
I. Approval of Minutes and confirmation of next meeting date
The minutes of 05/22/23 meeting approved by assent.
Due to Monday federal holiday, the next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 20, 2023, at 2:30 pm at the WSESU Central Office.
A discussion took place on whether the committee will meet during the summer. Suggestion was made to take July off from meeting and resume in August. This will be confirmed at the next meeting.
II. Edits and Updates
Announcements
DS: Subcommittees are being asked to review their mission statements.
Committee agreed to DS suggestion to put this on hold for now.
DS announced that people have come forward with requests for new policies. Michelle Green is bringing forward a district school choice policy request and a staff member is bringing forward one on gender freedom. These are on hold for now. Drafts will be circulated to everyone.
To clarify procedure: New policies come directly to the committee and do not have to go by way of the board. A community member’s request for new policy goes to the chair of the
P&A committee and the voting members of the committee make a determination, in a public session, on whether it is a policy they want to consider or not.
DS asked that discussion of the district school choice policy be held off. It was noted that there is a current relevant policy, F13, Admission of Resident Students, which will be looked
at along with Michelle Green’s proposal.
Looking forward:
DS announced that as a result of the signing of S.138 by the Vermont legislature, the VSBA has released two new required policies, F3 (Fire and Emergency Preparedness Drills) and F4
(Access Control and Visitor Management). These will be looked at today.
F21 — Policy on the use of restraint and seclusion — will be coming up again. It is coming up in the state legislature, and F21 will need to be re-evaluated when legislators make a
change.
E16 — Security camera policy — information will be coming in an email. Policy discussion of new mandatory policies F3 and F4
Policy F3 Fire and Emergency Preparedness Drills — now E17
Currently have a similar policy: E10. In order to move F3 to the board for a first reading, the suggestion was accepted to take F3 (now E17) without eliminating E10, with the
understanding that there will be overlap and redundancy.
On page 2 of F3, number 3: “parents and guardians…” Add “and caregivers” to this line.
DS announced this policy will go for its first reading on June 13, 2023 by unanimous consent.
A discussion ensued on the process for reading and adoption of policies.
Only one reading is necessary for a mandatory policy. Warn E17 for adoption after first reading on 6/13/23, so that it can come to the board for adoption at June 27, 2023 board meeting.
A discussion ensued on how the policy of announcing fire drills changes the nature of it and on best practices around lock down drills.
Policy F4 Access control and visitor management – now H8
A discussion ensued about access control, locked doors, and security.
JC: Asked about the policy’s practicality in school day. Noted that there are radicalized people in community, sometimes associated with schools, and there are
concerns about active shooters. She understands the importance of locked doors, but is also aware of the necessity of working towards de-radicalization. How is the superintendent and others working to address radicalization? What are pathways for creative partnerships and relationship-building in the community?
DS: Groundworks just took month hiatus after their tragedy, to look forward. What are they doing differently now?
EN: Can look at recommendations of FBI threat assessment teams, to look at holes in the system. Thinks parents want to hear what we are doing for security.
TM: Expressed appreciation for what JC said. Asked for examples of how schools could connect with community resources on issues of radicalization.
JC: Example from Putney: restorative justice practice; nonviolent communication course. It’s unfair that schools have to carry this heavy burden and we need to think creatively on how to carry it.
DS: F4 now H8 Access Control and Visitor Management to move forward to first reading on June 13, 2023, by unanimous consent from committee.
Discussion returned to broader questions of how to address school safety in creative ways. Highlights / questions included:
EN: Do the questions raised by JC and EN get taken to the retreat? What is the appropriate forum?
TM: Full time restorative justice staff at HS is retiring, maybe opportunity there.
DS: It is a problem when it’s just one person handling something like restorative justice. This is something for the board to look at.
EN: Suggested a discussion around the superintendent as threat assessment coordinator (training from FBI resources).
DS: Noted that the social justice committee is being resurrected and maybe parts of this discussion can go there.
MS: Noted that each school has a safety team that meets regularly, to assess and reflect on drills. MS serves on the town safety committee, along with fire and police and emergency from town. For next year, building leaders are participating in professional development alongside fire, police, emergency. PD done on a cycle, every couple of years.
DS: Suggested that maybe this does need to come up at the retreat, as a reporting mechanism to entire community. People will want to know that we are on heightened alert.
Policy E16 – Security Cameras
DS: This will be put on hold since no one has seen it yet. It will be sent around before the next meeting.
4 min break, reconvene 3:47 pm
F42 Student Dress Code
DS: Noted that the committee previously talked about need for an introduction to this policy, one that explained the philosophical rational behind it. JC’s revisions to the introduction were sent around a couple days ago; a link was provided in the agenda.
AB: Read the proposed edited introduction.
Several wordsmithing suggestions were proposed and accepted, including removing the “but” in the last sentence, to be replaced with a comma, and changing “whole people” to “well-rounded.”
The other changes to the policy were reviewed.
On page 4, “Students who feel they have been subject to discriminatory implementation of the dress code should contact _____” … committee agreed the contact should be “school personnel.”
DS asked if this policy was ready for a first reading. Committee agreed to put F42 through for a first reading at the next board meeting.
H7 Leadership Councils
Following legal consultation, the question of whether LC meetings need to be recorded (audio-visually) was discussed at the previous meeting and revisited today.
DS: A ruling from the VT Secretary of State office, General Counsel, indicates that municipal meetings must have an audio/video recording only when no physical location is offered for the public to attend. In other words, remote-only meeting must include audio/video recording, but hybrid meetings do not need to do so. Meetings may opt to record — and it is encouraged — but it is not required.
In the context of the LC discussion, if the LC meets in a physical space, with remote capability, it is not required to do audio/visual recordings. This applies also to the school board and to this committee. The onus off of this committee to determine what LC meetings ought to do.
Remote-only LC meetings that do not have at least one person on site will need to record the meeting.
Given this information from the Secretary of State General Counsel, a discussion about edits for H7 ensued and new wording was agreed upon. The sentence specifying that the
video recording policy would be reviewed next year was removed.
Committee agreed to hold onto H7 and continue the discussion at the next meeting after looking at Ruby’s edits.
The most recent edits will be in the next agenda.
MH raised the question of whether the recordings of remote-only meeting must be posted.
Review
DS: Reviewed what is being presenting to the full board meeting:
Going for first read:
1. Dress code
2. Fire and emergency preparedness drills
3: Visitor Access Control
No need for executive session on recorder contract
Agenda for next meeting:
E16 Security Camera policy
Michelle Green’s proposal on student choice
