GILROY
– The school board might get a little help with the tedious task
of updating board policies, but so far hasn’t found the one-stop
solution it was looking for.
By Lori Stuenkel
GILROY – The school board might get a little help with the tedious task of updating board policies, but so far hasn’t found the one-stop solution it was looking for.
There are more than 600 policies governing the Gilroy Unified School District Board of Trustees and revising even a handful – as was done earlier this year – takes hours of the board’s time over the course of multiple regular and special meetings.
The district began updating policies eight years ago and is about 40 percent done, Superintendent Edwin Diaz estimated.
The district invited Kitty Simpson, a policy consultant with the California School Boards Association, to a recent school board meeting to discuss which services are available to GUSD.
The district recently subscribed to a service provided by the CSBA that electronically sends required changes in board policy about four times each year. As many as 100 board policies must be updated each year because of new legislation or court case rulings.
Another option, Simpson said, would be to hold a two- to four-day workshops, facilitated by CSBA, in which cabinet-level staff and board members would look at policies and make revisions.
When Diaz said the district wanted a service that would actually facilitate the process, Simpson said there was no direct service that would handle revisions for GUSD.
Although the district was planning to hold a workshop of its own to update policy, Simpson said the CSBA consultant would help staff and trustees achieve more in less time.
“It is my feeling that many districts that feel they can do it on their own never get around to it,” Simpson said.
Since the district already subscribes to the CSBA’s service that announces changes in state board policy, it would be charged half price for the workshop, she said.
A parent at the board meeting said that if the district holds such a workshop, parents should be invited so more time is not taken up during regular meetings.
“We’ve already seen the time it takes to come before the board and work out the kinks here,” said Sandi Zappa, a GUSD parent who has attended most of the meetings in which board policies are discussed. “It would possibly make sense to have a chance for parents to talk during that process, almost like a study session.”
