School Board Meeting

March 11, 2016

Education 210

Mariah Connor

Dr. Warby
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The regular board meeting took place on March 10, 2016. They started the meeting with a flag

and a prayer. It was interesting to see that the student body presidents from Palo Verde and

Centennial hills were invited to open up the meeting. They both went over how well their schools

were doing statistic wise. The meeting was incredibly long. 415 minutes to be exact. This

meeting is very beneficial and relevant to the content in this course.

We just learned about student led prayer in class. In the beginning of this board meeting

they initiated a prayer. It obviously didnt violate the establishment clause in this case. So its

intriguing that they did this at a meeting because we just learned about prayers involving school.

That is one relevant issue that is related to content in this course.

During the meeting, there was a time allotted for public comment. We learned in class

that parents are able to say in the education. In this meeting they give up 2 minutes of time to

address issues to the board. However, the board is unable to take action on anything raised

during the public comment period.

In the meeting we learned about sexual orientation harassment. Sexual harassment

towards a gay or lesbian student that is serious enough to limit or deny a students ability to

participate in school programs constitutes as sexual harassment prohibited by title IX. At the

school board meeting a teacher talked about how a student that was in the LGBTQ program was

being harassed. She just went on to let the Board know that it is very important to make sure

students are safe. Parents were very concerned about choice. They want the board to opt in for

parent choice.
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Another teacher brought up how we need to teach the same things more frequently. This

teacher wants curriculums to be more frequent and lengthy. Some kids dont learn everything off

the back. If a student needs more time to learn something then the curriculum should have it

more frequently. Some students said they did not know something that was supposed to be in the

curriculum. It is our duty to teach students within the curriculum. If not we can be disciplined.

We can even be dismissed. This is all of course within the guidelines of due process.

Another person talked about performance pay salary structure. Merit pay is a concern

among teachers. It can be good and also bad. Sometimes teachers cannot be held accountability

for students lack of motivation. There will always be students at some time bound to not be as

motivated. Techers that are doing excellent jobs in the classroom with great evaluations should

be rewarded and compensated.

A lot of teachers were actively involved in the public comment section of this school

board meeting. Once person said there are over 600 vacancies for teachers. But they are hiring

substitutes instead. This is inconsistent students. They suggested that instead of using money for

signing bonuses they use the money as incentive to hire more teachers.

In conclusion this meeting was found very comprehensive on many issues. There were a

lot of situations that are relatable in regards to our course content. With continue attendance and

support of our community, these school board meetings will bring involvement of parents,

teachers, and citizens.