Poway Unified board discusses streamlining meetings

The Poway Unified board of education took some initial steps Tuesday night to streamline board meetings.

The board met for two hours to discuss board policies, several of which involved time lengths for speaking and how the board should conduct themselves in public.

The board and district employees also did some brainstorming for the district’s Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP).

No decisions were made on either agenda item, and both will return for more discussion at a future meeting.

The focus of discussion on board policies, procedures and policies focused mainly on meeting guidelines. The guidelines in the draft were taken from other school districts including Palo Alto, with the goal of adapting them to suit the needs of PUSD.

Some of the most insightful points at the meeting were brought up by student board representative Neel Pujar, a senior at Del Norte High School.

One of these was a request to see if there was a way that the board or Supt. John Collins could follow up on public comments, as there is often the same issue brought up at several meetings in a row. Pujar suggested that Collins could possibly give a report at the meeting, saying what issues have been followed up on by district staff.

Collins said that while some items under public comment could be reported on, some cannot, and he was “torn” about the amount of time it could take to give details. Collins also said that he could perhaps give a brief report during his superintendent’s report at the beginning of the meeting if it was appropriate and an update was available.

Board member Kimberley Beatty said that the public also requests reports on issues, so giving updates as to where the district is on working on issues could be helpful.

Board President Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff agreed, saying even a two-minute update would show the public that the district is following up on issues.

Collins and the board agreed to look into adding a brief report on following up on community issues into Collins’ monthly report.

The board is also considering limiting their own reports to three minutes each, as this is what the public is allowed during public comment.

Pujar also managed to bring compromise between board members during a debate on a policy about not saying negative things about the board, staff or district in public by suggesting that criticism could be phrased in a positive-looking way. Board member Charles Sellers, who had been looking to strike this policy, said that he agreed with Pujar and criticisms could be instead phrased in a constructive manner.

As the board was unable to finish discussing the changes within their self-imposed hour time limit, sections of the board governance were assigned to board members to revise and bring back for more discussion at the regular February board meeting, which will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 9 at the district office 13250 Avenue of Science in Carmel Mountain Ranch.