Running head: School Board Meeting 1

School Board Meeting Summary

Genevieve Weems

Dr. Isbell

EDU 210

December 9, 2017
School Board Meeting 2

The board meeting started as they all do, with the flag salute and the invocation. As

everyone sits, the board takes a few moments to recognize members. Revisions were read, and

the trustees voted to adopt the agenda, the motion passed unanimously. The meeting was them

opened to the first public comment section. Each person had two minutes to state their concerns

with items not on the agenda.

The first to speak was Jana Pleggenkuhle, a special education teacher with CCSD. She

said CCSD discontinued a dedicated self-contained program for special needs kindergarteners.

By removing the program, the kindergarteners were put in with the first and second graders, and

the teachers were surplused. This meant the teachers now had sixteen special needs students, and

only the teacher and an aid to teach them. This made the already overworked teachers even more

overworked. Though the school district has problems retaining aid in special needs classrooms,

Jana says that more are needed. For more information on special education, see chapter eight of

School Law for Teachers (Underwood et al. 2006).

There were two more speakers from the community. Fernando Romero, President of

Spanish in Politics, spoke on the ELL program update. John Baietti, a caterer who has worked

with the school district, talked about budgeting and school lunches. Then there was a motion to

pull 3.04 for discussion. Motion 3.04 discusses the donation of busses the school district can no

longer use. The trustees agreed to donate the busses this time, however they would discuss it

beforehand next year. There were several Items not discussed in length, but with more

information in the minutes. One such item was motion 3.07 on page three of the minutes. The

item discusses student expulsions, and the possible action on approval of student expulsions. For

more information on student expulsion see pages 173-174 in School Law for Teachers

(Underwood et al. 2006).

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There was talk of more motions one being discussion on updating the Teachers’ Heath

Trust. The new model was talked over and they provided studies that had proved its

effectiveness. Jana Pleggenkuhle spoke again when the board called for public comment on this

issue. Jana claimed that updating the Health Trust might help with recruitment and retention of

teachers. That by just raising the contribution to the trust and getting teachers better health plans,

it might entice more to the teaching profession. Another teacher, Jose Solorio, said that as a user

of the health plan he had seen improvements, however if there was to increase in contributions

the THT could not survive. For more information on teachers’ health see pages 26-29 in School

Law for Teachers (Underwood et al. 2006).

After more discussion on movements, including discussion on the ELL topic brought up

by Romero at the beginning, there was another public comment section. There were several

speakers concerned about the safety of students around James Cashman Middle School. Sonia

Diaz, a parent of a student at Cashman, brought up the topic of traffic around the school. The

parents have identified the problem, and formed a parent organization to address their concern.

However, the school’s administration stopping the organization from meeting through

discrimination, political influence, and retaliation. Jeshua Olmedo, a student at Cashman,

commented that he feels scared walking to school due to the traffic. Sasha Smith shared the time

she was nearly struck by a car on her way to school at Cashman. For more information on the

consequences of a student being hit by a car on school grounds, see pages 113-114 of School

Law for Teachers (Underwood et al. 2006).

The Board meeting ended with one last call for public comment. As no one wished to

speak there was a motion made for adjournment, and a second. The board voted, and the meeting

was ended after three hours, fifty-one minutes, and thirty-one seconds.
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References

Board Meeting, (2017, January 12). Retrieved December 09, 2017, from

http://tv.ccsd.net/watch?v=5vqTKZZIc8eo

Minuets CLARK COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD

OF SCHOOL TRUSTEES (pp. 1-13). (n.d.). doi:ccsd.net/trustees/pdf/minutes/minutes-

01-12-17-pdf

Underwood, J., & Webb, L. D. (2006). School law for teachers: concepts and applications.

Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall.