HCS Board Meeting Thursday, July 21, at 5:30

Despite reports that the regular board meeting would not happen this week, the Huntsville City School Board will hold its regularly scheduled board meeting tomorrow night Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 5:30 pm at the Merts Boardroom, 200 White Street.

The agenda 7-21-11.AJD.pdf, posted just moments ago on the HCS website, includes the following items: Salary policies for classified and certified employees, “Temporary Personnel Staffing,” an agreement between HCS and Barbara Johnson (Ms. Johnson is listed as the Parental Involvement Education Specialist for the Federal Programs’ Parental Involvement Network), Human Resources Report (which the public never sees), and “Certification of Expenditures” which consists of 38 pages of data which again, hasn’t been made publicly available.

Work Session

1. Salary Policy for Classified Employees. (Superintendent’s Item)
2. Salary Policy for Certified Employees Covered by Alabama State Minimum Salary Schedule. (Superintendent’s Item)
3. Adoption of Student First Act and Recission of Conflicting Policies (Superintendent’s Item)

Special Session

Moment of Silent Reflection

Pledge of Allegiance

1. Minutes–June 16, 2011 – pp. 1-5
2. Board and Superintendent Comments
3. Action Items
   1. Consent Agenda – p.6
      1. Gifts to Schools – p.7
      2. Temporary Contracts/Agreements – p.8-11
      3. Bid Tabs
         1. Recission of the Approval of Bid 11-72, Annual Fire Extinguisher, Semi-Annual Kitchen Hood and Dry Chemical Paint Systems Inspection, Certification and Maintenance awarded to Raney Fire Protection Systems, Madison, AL as approved by the Board of Education March 17, 2011. – p. 12
         2. Annual fire extinguisher, semi-annual kitchen hood and dry chemical paint systems inspection, certification and maintenance for the Maintenance Dept. – pp.13-14
         3. Key and lock hardware for the Maintenance Department – pp.15-16
         4. Fire alarm controls and instruments for the Maintenances Department – pp. 17-18
         5. Maintenance and construction of exterior lighting for the Maintenance Department – pp.19-20
         6. Network cable installation for various cost centers – pp. 21-22
         7. Anti-virus software and maintenance for Huntsville City Schools – p. 23
         8. Custodial supplies for all cost centers – pp. 24-25
         9. Cut glass for the Maintenance Department – pp. 26-27
         10. Bread for the Child Nutrition Program – pp. 28-29
         11. Dairy products for the Child Nutrition Program – pp. 30-31
         12. Temporary Personnel Staffing for Huntsville City Schools – pp. 32-33
         13. Produce for the Child Nutrition Program – pp. 34-35
   2. New Business
      1. Human Resources Report – pp. 36-46
      2. Agreement Between Huntsville City Board of Education and Barbara Johnson – p. 47
      3. Bus Rules – pp.48-50
      4. Use of Digital Devices During the Administration of a Secure Test – pp. 51-52
      5. Issue and Use of Huntsville City Board of Education Provided Communication Devices – pp.53-55
      6. Salary Policy for Classified Employees – pp. 56-57
      7. Salary Policy for Certified Employees Covered by Alabama State Minimum Salary Schedule – pp. 58-59
      8. Change Order Number 1 – Columbia High School Concessions Building and Football/Wrestling Facility Project – pp. 60-61
      9. Certification of Expenditures – pp. 62-100

Citizen Comments

Agenda developed by the Superintendent in collaboration with the Board President and Vice President

It will be interesting to see if the board actually posts the new bylaws before the meeting so that Citizens can understand what the rules are concerning citizen comments. Hopefully they will allow comments on the closing of Providence Middle School, but I’m not holding my breath. They still haven’t posted the May 25th minutes that were approved on June 16th even though they posted an incomplete set of minutes from the June 2, 2011 meeting, so I doubt that they will post the new bylaws.

It’s ironic that education administrators seem to prefer an uneducated populace.

The minutes posted from June 2nd do not include any reference to the Demographer’s Report that was offered that even by Dr. Steve Salmon of GUDE Management Group.

Also absent from the agenda is any discussion of the unfair cuts to special need staffing or the special needs consolidation plan that was first discussed in March.

While I appreciate that the board and the superintendent have been busy this month, it is not the fault of our special needs students that they decided to postpone discussing these issues.

I’ll see you at 5:30pm tomorrow, and I’ll be live-tweeting the meeting as usual. (You can follow me @russwinn if you tweet or on Facebook at the GeekPalaver page if you don’t.) The meeting will also be broadcast on ETV (Knology 71, Comcast 17).