Sunday, June 28, 2020

The Board of Ed closes this school year on Tuesday

...and you can find the agenda here. The livestream will be here.
My understanding is that so many people have signed up for public comment that they maxed out the time raising questions about what that means during a pandemic when people may wish to question state guidance.

An update on DESE-pandemic-related action is on the agenda, as is the fall re-opening guidance, and a proposed emergency amendment to time on learning regulations, though a description of what the proposed changes are is...not attached to the agenda. Interestingly, both of those items were added Friday night to the agenda. 
As a side note, note that the CDC updated their list of who is at increased risk or may be at increased risk from COVID-19 on Thursday. 

There is the annual June update on actions of the Student Advisory Council.

There's an update on the FY21 state education budget (fingers crossed they know something?).

There's also a vote on on making permanent the change in the regulations that have been allow the Commissioner to alter deadlines, I believe (that one ALSO doesn't have a backup...can we please post what the Board is discussing when we're doing something like changing regulation?

There's the annual "we're not meeting during the summer" delegation of authority.
There's proposed modifications to the probation for City on a Hill and Paulo Freire charter schools.
There is a proposal for the regular Board meeting schedule for the coming year.

And there is also the evaluation of the Commissioner, with no backup. Here's the deal: the Commissioner is an official is who is appointed and evaluated by a public body, which itself is subject to the Open Meeting law. As such, the evaluation document cannot be shared with the Commissioner unless and until it is shared with not only the entire Board, but also the larger public.
As the document is not posted, are we to believe that neither the Board nor the Commissioner has seen his evaluation as of now?

Other Items for Information:



There also is a (very rare) executive session, regarding the lawsuit of PLESH v DESE, which alleges discrimination against Latino families in the Holyoke schools; the case is against a number of people in positions in Holyoke and the Department.

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