Tomorrow night’s School Board meeting (Thursday, 2/12 at 7pm, Central Library) is chock full of agenda items. Even though the budget discussions have dominated recent meetings, there are still a number of other matters to cover, including:
- A proposal to change the “Hidden Valley” attendance area to be for Heather only, and not a choice between Heather and Arundel. (As many people have heard me say, I prefer a more comprehensive boundary change and plan across the District, but I am realistic that we will not be able to finish that in the near term. So, I think this is a prudent step to end a number of issues we’ve been having with enrollment at Arundel and Heather.)
- A propsed “Board protocol” regarding public participation in meetings and publishing guidelines to meeting attendees. (I actual authored this document to outline our protocols — a Board meeting is a weird animal, and I think it’s essential that we’re very clear with the community how best to engage with us.)
- A proposal by the administration to transfer school site money back to the District so as to be eligible for the flexibility that may be granted by the State regarding the use of “categorical funds.” (This one may be a bit controversial as it may be construed as “taking away” money from the sites and may not be seen as equitable among the schools. However, there may be an overriding issue here in terms of leveraging all District resources so as to minimize the budget crisis. This will require more Board discussion and we may or may not take action at this meeting.)
- Discussion on when we will have a “Town Hall” meeting with the community to get more input and have a dialog on potential budget cuts. (This is merely a scheduling challenge, but something I think we all want to do.)
See the agenda for more details. Hope to see you all there!
