Good Afternoon, Dr. Zentmeyer, Dr. Sovine and Board Members,
I'm Roger Stenersen, Communications Director for RISING TO LEARN, a grassroots organization with a mission of communicating Board of Education actions to those who are impacted by them. Our website may be found at RISINGTOLEARN.COM.
In Policy ABA, the first in the policy book, is found a section on Employee Participation in Decision Making. It is stated:
"The Board of Education will encourage employees to contribute their ideas for the betterment of the school district. The staff will be asked to help in developing policies and regulations, in the process of establishing goals and objectives, and in planning curriculum, services, budget, and facilities. The Board of Education will encourage employees to contribute their ideas for the betterment of the school district. The staff will be asked to help in developing policies and regulations, in the process of establishing goals and objectives, and in planning curriculum, services, budget, and facilities."
Within the last sixty days the Board has received input from two groups of employees and stakeholders and has rejected the input.
In the first example, during a board work session, administrators, teachers and behavior resource staff, when asked what steps the Board could take to help improve behavior in schools, replied that they and students feel additional school security staff are a positive influence on student behavior, and that the relationship dimension is improved by the presence of such staff. However, in its last minute amendment to the 2026 budget, the Board eliminated several proposed security positions, going against the input of school professionals and a board advisory committee, BARC, which strongly supported these positions.
In the second example the Policy Committee, chaired by Mr. Evans, met on July 7, 2025. In a discussion of Policy JFCA-student dress code, the two members of the committee who were present heard a recommendation from school administrators that the images of firearms be prohibited in schools. Mr. Evans objected to the proposal. The significant point here is that those who know the most about disruption to learning and creating positive learning environments are the ones closest to it - school administrators, and not Board members. Despite the request to alter the dress code to minimize disturbances to learning, that request from principals was cast aside.
Rising to Learn asserts that these two examples reflect either an intentional or unintentional disregard for employee input; whichever it is, it is contrary to your own policy, as quoted. Whether input is received from professional employees or community organizations and individuals, the pattern of disregard for input seems all too blatant, and it is requested that the Board reverse this trend to comply with its own policies and make decisions that are in the best interests of ALL students
In the July 7 Policy Committee meeting at which I was present, it was stated that no additional input had been received about Policy KD which was today scheduled for Second Reading and approval. Rising to Learn DID send an email on Thursday, July 3 expressing several questions and concerns with the policy, (I’ve included a copy of the email for your reference), but we are now questioning whether all Board members received that message. We want to state publicly here that we did provide feedback on the proposed policy KD.
Thanks for changing the Board meetings back to 6:00 p.m.; hopefully you will also re-adjust the public comment portion of the meeting to after approval of the minutes.
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