Personal Narrative: Cleveland County School Board Meeting

On April 08, 2016, I arrived to my designated school, Cypress Point Elementary School. Upon my arrival to Cypress Point Elementary School, I went to the main office of the school to see the assistant principal, Mrs. Dewitt. She could not make it to school on time, due to her having car troubles. The secretary told me she would notify her that I arrived and to set me. As I waited for Mrs. Dewitt, I noticed quite a few students having to call home due to violating the school dress code. Mainly it was more girls violating the dress code than boys. I am assuming from what I saw, the children only wore clothes that they saw the adults wore, or whatever their parents picked out for them. During this time, I noticed a little Asian or Hispanic boy being brought to school but he was supposed to be at home due to suspension. The secretary asked him “Why are you at school?” This young man told the secretary that his mother brought him to school. The secretary informed him that he needs to call his mother so that she

Local school board meetings are a venue that allows the public to attend and be a part of the educational process. These meetings provide community members with important information about upcoming events so that they are able to be well informed of the happenings that are taking place within the school system in which their child attends. Along with being able to learn about what is taking place within the school, it also allows parents and parent groups the opportunity to express their opinions and concerns about matters that could likely affect their children. Monthly school board meetings are a way to help establish and maintain open lines of communication between the school and community members. By allowing the community members the opportunity to be heard, it further enhances the relationship between the school and the community.

The topic of the meeting was, “School Nurse Professional Development Day”, focusing on school nurse and school health issues. The program was were organized and presented. The presenters were all well prepared and knew their materials. Although, the program was engaging about 99% of the time, but I felt the Somerset County discussion panel could have provided more information instead of just introduction. The meeting was accurate and with the focus on all new information for the 2016/2017 school year.

For my community meeting assignment, I attended a Green Lake County Board meeting. I have never attended a County Board meeting before and I found it to be quite interesting. I found this meeting posted on the Green Lake County website and that is where I pulled the agenda from to take to the meeting. The meeting was about one and a half hours long.

The Hallsville Independent School District board meeting was very conductive. An agenda was handed out to everyone present, and it had every point to be made at the meeting neat and organized for everyone to follow. The meeting is mostly open to the public which provides a great way for everyone to feel up to date with what is going on in the school district, and be able to help in any way they can when problems arise. Once the superintendent had finished speaking about who was being recognized, the updated itinerary, and the HISD Education Foundation Report, he closed the meeting from the public. School board meetings benefit the community by letting the people not associated with a job through the school know what is going on in the district.

I went to the San Bernardino City Unified School District Board meeting that took place on October 3, 2017. In this board meeting, there were a lot of interesting topics that that were discussed. The board members voted on various topics throughout the board meeting, the community could see the members’ votes. This board meeting focused more on High School students rather than on Elementary students.

All board members/trustees, Interim superintendent, assistant superintendents, executive assistant, and the principals were in attendance. Although, the vice principal for Sunny Hills was proxy for the principal and the student board member was not present at the meeting.

When I started Unity High School I felt a little nervous because I didn't knew nobody in the school. In the begging of the first class I was quit and I didn´t talk to noone. I also didn't knew nobody in the class so I could tell them if they could help me on the problem that I need help. I was shy to talk to the teachers and and answer question or ask them for help when I needed help. During lunch time I just knew one person that came from my middle school. So I just hand out with him most the time. But, then weeks and months past I began to have more friends and I was not shy or nervous to ask for help in class. I wanted to join the soccer team of the school but I was to nervous to do it. But, now I know that I´m going to join the soccer team

The school board meeting I attended was the Norris School District. The meeting was located at Norris Middle School in the Mary Louise Robinson Library. The address was 6940 Calloway Dr. at seven PM. The Norris school district contains four elementary schools and one middle school. Total number of elected board members are five. The board president is Cy Silver. They meet once a month on the second Wednesday. The board is required to address the reports from superintendent and staff. Such as enrollment, district proposition 39 California clean energy job acts funding, district cafeteria report, local control accountability plan progress report. They also discuss new business such as approving budgets and achievements. The general format of the meeting is the board members sit in the front of the general attendees and the president sits in the middle of all the board members. Staff members sit to the right and left of the board members. The atmosphere was very welcoming, and they spoke of the business like they actually cared.

During the past few weeks, I attended the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) June 2 meeting and the SDCOE June 10 meeting. After observing a board meeting in a traditional school district for the first time in ten years, I was reminded of the strong parent and community voice that is often shared during board meetings in local districts. On the other hand county board meetings are

Every school district has board meetings throughout the school year. Unfortunately, many parents, community members, & school personnel do not attend such important meetings because they don’t realize or understand the importance of such board meetings or how informative they can be. According to Kankakee School District (2017), the Kankakee School District Board of Education is composed of seven elected members, who were elected by the citizens of Kankakee to serve a four-year term that do not receive no salary for they services, are committed to ensuring a quality of educational excellence that will enhance the opportunities and challenges facing today’s student and additional responsibilities that board members include are selection of the District superintendent, developing general polices according to wishes of the community and requirements of law, hiring school personnel based upon recommendation of the Superintendent and the Assistant Superintendent of Personnel, adopts salary schedules, approves funds to finance school operations, must adopt and review the annual operating budget for the District, and setting the property tax levy to produce adequate funds to meet the District’s financial needs ranks among the responsibilities of the Board of Education (Retrieved from https://www.ksd111.org/domain/68). For this paper, the Kankakee School District board meeting will be used, information learned from board meeting, use of

I am grateful for the opportunity to attend the council’s meeting. I was a little nervous about this assignment because I never been to a meeting and I never ask to interview a council member, so I went down to my local city hall and inquired some information about what day and time the council meetings are held. So I chose to go to the meeting to get some insight on what really goes on at a council meeting. I did want to interview a committee member because I was afraid that they would decline the offer, but my plan is to talk to a council person if time permitted.

The meeting began with the motion to open, roll call, and the meeting agenda. The first objective was to discuss the tax rates for the next year, which the property taxes were voted to remain at the same rates. Approval of working Budget for the 2017-2018 year was approved working within the contingencies required by the state. The vote to perform the host agency agreement of the Senior Community Service Employment Program was passed unanimously. Fundraisers for Russell Springs Elementary school, Russell County Middle School, and Jamestown Elementary was also approved unanimously. Field trips and overnight trips were approved for all the school systems within the district. The Work ready skills program funding was discussed and approved.

I feel like Section 2:Reports of Special Committees went by at a really fast pace. We flew by a lot of the topics brought up such as Part A:Executive Sessions, Part B: Planning Commissions, and Part C:Economic Development.One topic that was given a little more attention was Part H:Stormwater Management. It is going to need a two step process, the processes referred to last meeting. Worst case scenario Annville pays $83463.63 per year for 5 years to renew 10% of the settlements on the creek and chesapeake bay to keep them clean. Everyone was in favor of the two step process. From this topic and others in this particular section I felt like the board really trusted their own judgement which is an important quality to have as an individual in their position. They even had the courtesy of turning to us and informing us on the exact amount of money that we would need to spend in stormwater management if there was to be a huge problem. I appreciated that because a town hall meeting if not only for the representatives, it’s for the community to stay informed as well.

The meeting began when the school board members entered the large group instruction room and took their seats at a panel table angled to the side of the audience. The school board consists of nine elected members from the community. The members are as follows: Paul Ridley (President), Pat Vigliotta (Vice President), Helen Cumminskey