RUSD Board of Education, September 6, 2022

Special Meeting Summary

One item, eight minutes: the board approved the 2022-23 volunteer and overnight-chaperone list and, by an amendment made on the floor, set aside the part of Board Policy requiring a 60-day wait for TB clearance.

Overview

The board met in special session in the Board Room at 25 West Lugonia Avenue, with open session called for 4:00 p.m. 1. President Jim O'Neill opened the meeting at 4:05 p.m. and led the Pledge of Allegiance 2. Roll call recorded Patty Holohan by teleconference, Jim O'Neill, and Michele Rendler via Zoom; Melissa Ayala-Quintero and Alex Vara were absent, and Superintendent of Schools Mauricio Arellano attended via Zoom 3. On the recording the meeting proceeds on a quorum of three, with no one having given notice to address the board and no emails received 4, and the minutes record community input as "None." 5. Written comments had been due to the district's meeting-input address by 9:00 a.m. that morning, with anything arriving later held for the September 13 regular meeting 1.

The whole meeting lasted eight minutes: it adjourned at 4:13 p.m. 6.

The action: the volunteer list, and the 60-day TB wait

The published agenda carried one item of business, under Human Resources Consent Items: "Other – Approve volunteers and overnight chaperones for the 2022-2023 school year (Appendix Item)" 7. Nothing about tuberculosis clearance appears in the item as printed. That part was added in the room. The minutes record the motion as Jim O'Neill's, seconded by Patty Holohan, amending item III.a., and record the board taking action to "Approve volunteers and overnight chaperones for the 2022-2023 school year and set aside the part of Board Policy that stipulates waiting 60 days for TB Clearance" 8. The minutes record no other action on the policy at this meeting. On the recording, the motion as stated from the floor is to approve the list as shown in the appendix and to "set aside part of the policy that stipulates that you have to wait 60 days for a tb clearance" 4.

The appendix itself is the bulk of the document: a roster that begins on page 3 and runs seven pages, listing 511 volunteers for 2022-23 9, followed by a page of eight overnight chaperones 10. Both lists are printed under the heading "Board Approved September 6, 2022".

Board comments

Three members were present, and the minutes give each of them, and the superintendent, their own entry.

Jim O'Neill noted that the Board Policy needs to be reviewed as it is outdated so student safety is not compromised, and that the policy needs to be reworked so it reflects what the board wants for parents regarding the 60-day wait period. He further noted that the board wants to hear about policies and issues that need to be upgraded, which can be a future discussion, in order to find better ways to protect kids and serve volunteers 11.

Patty Holohan thanked all of the volunteers for bringing the issue to the board's attention, and thanked them for stepping up, because without the volunteers the district would not be so efficient and the children would not be able to get the proper attention 12.

Michele Rendler noted that Board Policy has been in place for volunteers requiring TB clearance, and that a person can volunteer five times before board approval is required 13.

Superintendent Mauricio Arellano noted that the board policies belong to the board and that the board has a right to review them at any time, though he would recommend having legal counsel involved when making revisions because there are pieces of the policy that are Education Code driven. He further noted that many of the policies are antiquated: those that come to the district from CSBA are revised right away when case law or the Education Code changes, while board-driven policies coming from years back could be outdated. He suggested that the board do a full review of the policies in the near future 14.

Two points made in the discussion are on the recording but not in the minutes, and the recording's speaker labels are automated, so neither is attributed here to anyone: that a TB test now returns a result in about three days, which made the 60-day wait "old school" 15; and that the question reached the board this year after "pushback from some parents" who wanted to volunteer in their children's classrooms 16.

The policy behind the item

The board's volunteer policy in force that afternoon, BP 4229, was adopted in 1995 and last revised in January 2006, and it sets no waiting period of its own. It leaves the mechanics to the administration: "The Superintendent or designee shall establish procedures to protect the safety of students and adults. These procedures shall include laws related to tuberculosis testing and may also include laws related to criminal record checks." 17 The minutes call what was set aside "part of Board Policy". What the district went on to change was the accompanying Administrative Regulation: the October 11, 2022 minutes record the revised regulation adjusting the wording for the 60-day waiting period 18.

The pre-revision text of that regulation is not in this archive, so one detail in the minutes cannot be checked against it here: the five-visit allowance recorded under Rendler's name appears in neither the 2006 board policy 17 nor the regulation as it now stands 19.

What happened next

Five weeks later, at the regular meeting of October 11, 2022, "Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 4229: Volunteers" returned as a discussion item. Board President O'Neill commented on the revisions made to the Volunteer Administrative Regulation; the minutes record that the board appreciated the parent feedback as it provided an opportunity to review an old board policy and make it current, that the revised regulation adjusts the wording for the 60-day waiting period after a valid tuberculosis clearance to reflect that the submitted test must fall within 60 days of applying to be a volunteer, and that volunteers may commence service prior to Board Approval if the necessary documentation has been completed and verified 18.

The regulation on file carries a revision date of October 25, 2022 and reads that way today: "Persons approved to serve as volunteers shall submit a valid Tuberculosis Skin Test clearance indicating they are free of active tuberculosis. The valid clearance must reflect a date that falls within 60 days of the submitted date to the District." 19