24 January 2012
Greetings!
This meeting appears to be running late, but I wanted to make sure I got a mailing out to remind you of a few things:
• We will be in Richmond this next week. We approved our Legislative Agenda recently and will be speaking to our local reps who are currently in session.
• We went through a couple agenda items tonight that addressed sports for home school students as well as tax credits. The board is asking for comment on sports until the next meeting. I did not support the sports legislation because it is imposing changes to VHSL. Because VHSL governs sports, debate, theater, and more, I am concerned about what would happen to our programs that are currently in place if VHSL is removed from its role.
• The budget discussions continue – please continue to comment. There has been much support for the proposed budget. The problem lies in that a $30 million plus possible revenue crunch was placed before the School Board before the discussion even began – our local governing body removed the opportunity for a +5% budget discussion to take place for our entire county budget. I am concerned as your representative, but I am also concerned as a citizen about what direction our county may take in what it offers its citizens. On the schools’ side, it appears that popular program enhancements like Full-Day Kindergarten are not even possibilities. Furthermore, removing AP and sports fees are unlikely in this budget scenario. In some parts of the district, middle and high school students are on the bus together, and an opportunity to try to split those bus routes would be unlikely. Thanks for your input so far! I appreciate the time you take to give me feedback on what is in front of the board.
• Budget information, including questions that have been asked, are on the LCPS website. You can go to the site here and then go to the Budget link on the front page.
• Please visit your schools and see what is taking place in them! With the winter season, it is a good time to go indoors for games and events! Please visit my Jennifer Keller Bergel – School Board page in order to link events at your school in the district. This Friday night I know Lovettsville Elementary has its annual Chili Cookoff and Bingo night for the community.
• My new counterpart for the Catoctin District is Geary Higgins. I will miss serving alongside Sally Kurtz, but I can assure you, Geary too is looking forward to representing our district well. He too will be sending out newsletters during this new term.
Best to you all in this New Year! I look forward to hearing from you.
Best Regards,
Jennifer
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Bergel Newsletter Jan 24, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
LCPS Employees sneaking peaks at Board Member Emails?: Updated
Yesterday morning I checked the agenda for tonight's School Board meeting online, and wrote a routine post about it. This afternoon, after learning that the School Board would not be voting on its budget tonight as previously announced, I checked the agenda again to see if it had been updated to reflect the change, and indeed it had.
But there was something new on the agenda as well, Item 10.01, Modification of Policy 7-32 - Electronic Communications Equipment and Services.
Here's another interesting change:
This isn't interesting in that it excludes School Board members, as I don't see any reason why a school employee should be reading Board member emails. It's just interesting that Eric Hornberger and Jill Turgeon feel that it's necessary to put this in writing, and that it can't wait to go through the normal committee process.
I know that there has been some tension under this Board with Dr. Hatrick being left off of the distribution list of some emails that went out to the whole Board. I know that when I started as Chairman I did the same thing, which led to friction with Dr. Hatrick. I had valid reasons for doing that, but probably overshot the mark in my effort to make a point. But it became pointless when other Board members went ahead and forwarded every email to Dr. Hatrick anyway. I've heard that's happening now too, and the new policy doesn't (and couldn't, legally) prevent that.
This is curious. Have LCPS employees been reading School Board member emails? Why was this added to the agenda on the day of the meeting, with no other advance notice? Will the Board suspend the rules and enact this change immediately? I guess we'll find out tonight.
7pm Update: I spoke to one of the new School Board members today and learned what this is about. When you send an email to the School Board email address, "lcsb@lcps.org", the School Board members are not the only ones who receive that email. The Senior Staff and all members of senior staff also receive that email. I was also bothered by this when on the Board, but other Board members weren't. Frequently the emails really have nothing to do with the Board and are more appropriate for staff to handle. I never saw any harm done as a result, so it was not a battle to focus on.
It's fine if the six-pack want to change the way that works. Still, putting it in a policy rushed past the Committee review process still seems to me to be like using a cannonball to swat a fly.
From Eric Hornberger:
But there was something new on the agenda as well, Item 10.01, Modification of Policy 7-32 - Electronic Communications Equipment and Services.
The Chairman and Vice Chairman of the School Board recommend modifying Policy 7-32, Electronic Communications Equipment and Services to promote communications from and to Board Members.This is a policy modification that would normally go through the Legislative & Policy committee. A redlined copy of the proposed policy is available online. There are minor edits throughout the policy, but the most interesting part is a brand new Paragraph #2:
To facilitate open communication with the public and between members of the School Board, electronic communications received or sent by School Board members shall not be viewed or accessed by any LCPS employee except as may be necessary to comply with the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (VFOIA) or with a lawfully issued subpoena or court order. Emails received by School Board members may be forwarded by those members to others as he or she deems appropriate.
Here's another interesting change:
Computer equipment, software and networks in schools and administrative offices are the property of LCPS and are intended for carrying out LCPS business. The School Board sets forth this policy to insure proper and acceptable use by LCPS employees in accordance with §22.1-70.2 of the Code of Virginia. Licensed staff, administrative staff and classified staff (collectively “employees”) do not have personal property or privacy rights to any material created, received or sent via LCPS equipment, software or network systems.
This isn't interesting in that it excludes School Board members, as I don't see any reason why a school employee should be reading Board member emails. It's just interesting that Eric Hornberger and Jill Turgeon feel that it's necessary to put this in writing, and that it can't wait to go through the normal committee process.
I know that there has been some tension under this Board with Dr. Hatrick being left off of the distribution list of some emails that went out to the whole Board. I know that when I started as Chairman I did the same thing, which led to friction with Dr. Hatrick. I had valid reasons for doing that, but probably overshot the mark in my effort to make a point. But it became pointless when other Board members went ahead and forwarded every email to Dr. Hatrick anyway. I've heard that's happening now too, and the new policy doesn't (and couldn't, legally) prevent that.
This is curious. Have LCPS employees been reading School Board member emails? Why was this added to the agenda on the day of the meeting, with no other advance notice? Will the Board suspend the rules and enact this change immediately? I guess we'll find out tonight.
7pm Update: I spoke to one of the new School Board members today and learned what this is about. When you send an email to the School Board email address, "lcsb@lcps.org", the School Board members are not the only ones who receive that email. The Senior Staff and all members of senior staff also receive that email. I was also bothered by this when on the Board, but other Board members weren't. Frequently the emails really have nothing to do with the Board and are more appropriate for staff to handle. I never saw any harm done as a result, so it was not a battle to focus on.
It's fine if the six-pack want to change the way that works. Still, putting it in a policy rushed past the Committee review process still seems to me to be like using a cannonball to swat a fly.
From Eric Hornberger:
The question is not "have" LCPS employees been reading School Board member emails but rather should they be allowed to? The proposed policy effectively closes a loophole in existing School Board policy that enables LCPS employees to review communication to and from School Board members without their knowledge. As such, it provides policy protection for the public to more openly communicate with their elected officials who are responsible to represent their interests within their public school system. The fact is, under the current policy, School Board members and members of the public would not necessarily know if their emails were being read, nor would they know if they were distributed to somebody else within LCPS. This issue surfaced during the new Board's orientation session on December 10th and remains of concern to many of us on the Board. This policy modification serves to address that concern.
Monday, January 23, 2012
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