To: Marshall Miles
From: Gale Courey Toensing
April 21, 2012
During the March meeting of the Region 1 Board of Education I tried to put a list of initiatives on the agenda, but my effort was shut down by the superintendent and Phil who advised the board to vote against adding my item to the agenda. At last Thursday’s community meeting, Lou Timolat asked Phil to put the initiatives on the agenda and Phil said, ”I have no problem with that. . .Anything that should be on the agenda will be on the agenda.” Below is a copy of the initiatives that I asked to be put on the agenda for the board to take home and think about, so that we could have a discussion the next month. They are all based on the statutes, our policies and bylaws, and Connecticut Association of Boards of Education policies. I plan on re-introducing them next month:
From: Gale Courey Toensing, Falls Village representative
March 5, 2012
Region 1 Board of Education
Meeting March 5, 2012
Suggested Initiatives:
1) Series 3000/Business
3160 Transfer of Funds between Categories:
“Transfer of funds to a new item or new position will be done only after full Board consideration and discussion.”
Action: Motion that the board is to review and approve transfer of funds before they are transferred.
3170 Budget Administration:
“Over-expenditure of a budget category as these categories appeals on the one-page budget summary (see 3120), except as provided in 3171, will not be permitted except by formal action of the Board.”
Action: Motion that the board is to review and approve over-expenditure of a budget category before the category is over-expended.
3326 Paying for Goods and Services and 3432 Budget & Expense Report/Annual financial Statement
The1990 version of policy 3326 says “payment of properly approved invoices will be made once a month, following approval by the Regional School Board at its regular meeting and upon recommendation of its designated officers or agents.” That policy was revised in 1993 and does not include that sentence. However, policy 3423 requires that the board reviews bills each month. It says, “A monthly report of disbursements and budget balances will be submitted each month at the board of education meeting.” We are receiving budget balances, but not disbursements.
Action: Motion that the board receives a monthly report of disbursements to include the names of payees and amounts.
2) Board goals, board self assessment — from CABE Series 2400.
Attached is suggested CABE process for board self assessment. Obviously a board can’t fully assess itself if it doesn’t set goals for itself. Number 2 on the CABE assessment list is that the board sets annual goals. This board met in 2009 and set long range goals, which now appear on our agenda each month. Some of these ”goals” which should not be considered as annual goals because they are part of expected duties and responsibilities as a board (for example, “continue to maintain the building” and “support curriculum, instruction, and assessment development.” Setting annual goals will help focus our work and give us standards by which to measure our performance.
Action: Motion to set a special meeting before the end of June, 2012, to set board goals for school year 2012-2013.
3) Superintendent’s goals and job evaluations from CABE Policy 2400
Clearly, it is inappropriate for an employee to devise his or her own evaluation instrument for his or her employer to use in evaluating the employee’s job performance. Equally clearly, it is inappropriate for an employer to use as an evaluation tool an employee’s self evaluation on how well he or she has performed against a set of goals he or she has set without consultation with the employer, although such a self evaluation can be a supplementary part of the superintendent’s job evaluation by the board. One of the key questions on CABE’s Superintendent’s Performance Evaluation – which was developed collaboratively by CABE and CAPSS – is “Does the Superintendent of Schools consistently meet or exceed the mutually established performance goals . . .?” in the various categories in the evaluation process. The board needs to develop ‘mutually established performance goals” with the superintendent and replace the superintendent’s job performance evaluation document.
Action: Motion that the board meet with the superintendent in public (as required) to discuss and develop district goals and objectives for the upcoming school year.