MCHS Governance Team Meeting Minutes
May 14, 2015 12:35 p.m.
Freshman Academy Conference Room
Members Attending:
Sally Tuell, Chairperson
Ken Kuperberg, Vice Chairperson
Dr. Jim Malanowski, Principal
Patrick Alligood
Ruth Bearden
Andrew Biersmith
Lisa Hamilton
Tim Ligon
Brandy Nichols
Andre Peterson
Mariella Plumley
LaReece Reynolds
Glenn Tolbert
Call to order 12:38 pm – Sally Tuell
Pledge of Allegiance - led by Sally Tuell
Inspiration – Sally shared a quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes appropriate for this graduation season: “The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.”
Approval of Minutes from April 9, 2015
Tim Ligon moved to approve the minutes as written. Ken Kuperberg seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous.
Pride Time – Dr. Malanowski
Dr. Malanowski shared with us the recent success of the Miss MCHS Pageant, which was a fundraiser for the MCHS Wrestling Team. It was very professionally done, with 16 contestants – 15 participated the night of the pageant. Shayna Barnett was crowned Miss MCHS – both ROTC and tuxedo-clad wrestlers participated in the evenings’ event.
Old Business
Election Update:
Parent Representatives: The election of the two new parent representatives for the MCHS SGT is underway this week – voting via campus portal and/or paper ballots (located in the MCHS and MCMS school offices) concludes on Monday. There were 9 nominees for the 2 open spots. Dr. Malanowski will contact the two nominees with the most votes on Monday and confirm their willingness to serve. He will notify the SGT members and then the entire school community about who the new members are. It was noted that we need to review the voting procedure for future elections with specific attention to allowing parents to have multiple votes when there are multiple openings on the council.
Community Representative: Dr. Malanowski suggested Neil Walker, Education Director of the Madison Boys & Girls Club as a candidate for the open SGT Community Representative. Mr. Walker is willing to serve in the position and is very involved with Morgan County youth in many ways. Patrick Alligood moved to appoint Mr. Walker as a community representative for a two year term beginning July 1, 2015. Ruth Bearden seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous.
There will be a training session for all council members – both returning and new – scheduled during the summer of 2015.
Charter Update:
Dr. Malanowski reported that the Morgan County BOE met Monday evening, May 11th, and voted unanimously to terminate the MCHS Charter as petitioned and allow MCHS to join the Morgan County Schools System Charter which is being prepared for renewal at this time.
Sally reviewed a letter dated May 9th, 2015 to Dr. Woodard which outlines the petition for termination of the individual MCHS Charter and for unification with the Morgan County Schools Charter System. The letter outlines the unanimous vote of the MCHS School Governance team in favor of this petition on March 30, 2015, the parent meeting on April 29, 2015, where this petition was unanimously approved and the MCHS faculty meeting held April 30, 2015, where the faculty voted 53-6 to approve this petition .
From here procedure will be to complete the Application for renewal of the Morgan County System Charter with the request to add MCHS to the System Charter by the end of June. The State DOE will then review and approve the request. It will then be sent to the State Board of Education for review and approval.
A question was raised about why the charter is being renewed now if it does not expire until 2016. The council discussed that possible reasons for this included the advantage of getting the charter done in conjunction with the development of the MCHS College and Career Academy and also prior to the ELOST vote this November and to align the schools for fiscal year purposes. Completion of the new charter is critical for planning and development purposes.
New Business
Discipline Review Committee- Mr. Rickard is requested that SGT members consider participating on the newly formed Discipline Review Committee, which will be tasked with reviewing discipline at all schools and bringing continuity between schools. The committee will be made up of administrators, school resource officers, local law enforcement, community and parent representatives and other stakeholders as necessary.
Morgan County School System – Governance Team System Bylaws:
The team reviewed the proposed School Governance Team Bylaws which will replace the current MCHS School Governing Council Bylaws as part of the new system charter. The bylaws have been developed for all schools with a few details modified where necessary for individual schools.
The council made suggestions about the proposed Bylaws as follows:
Page 3 – Discussion of student members. The committee discussed this at length and understands and accepts the legal ramifications and reasons for not allowing students to be voting members of the team. We do, however, feel that students at the high school level are critical to the process and want to ensure their participation. After discussion, the committee came to consensus that the concept of student liaisons – one from each grade - may be a better solution.
Tim Ligon moved to propose that the System Leadership Team strike the last paragraph on page 3 that begins with “Two students elected by their peers…” and replace it with this:
“There will be a student liaison from each grade at MCHS that will be appointed by the principal to serve an annual term from July 1- June 30th. Student members may be reappointed for consecutive years.”
Lisa Hamilton seconded and the vote was unanimous. The MCHS SGT understands that the Leadership Council may need to reword this paragraph to include all schools. The intent is for the student liaisons to be present at all meetings, to be non-voting, and to be excused for any Executive Session.
Other notes related to proposed bylaws:
Page 4 – The Requirements of the Co-Chair – Patrick Alligood pointed out that his research on the State of GA code for School Governance Teams indicated that the Co-Chair does need to be a parent representative, and not a community representative. The description ( Non-Principal and Non-Teach/School Staff) needs to be modified to indicate that the Co-Chair must be a parent representative.
Page 5 – It is suggested that under Section C: Voting Rights, the first sentence be changed to read “Each voting member is entitled to one vote.” Since there are nonvoting members on the team (ie, principal), there are members that are not permitted to vote.
Page 6 – Section F : Vacancy – some members of the Team felt that the intent/meaning of #4 (Any reason other than the expiration of a member’s term) was unclear.
This concluded discussion of the proposed minutes. There was concern throughout the discussion of which bylaws the team should operate under until the new charter is finalized. For purposes of the votes in this meeting, requirements of both old and new bylaws were met.
Adjourn - 1:45 p.m – Brandy Nichols moved to adjourn. Ken Kuperberg seconded. The vote to adjourn was unanimous.