Todd Grimes
Subcommittees of the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. board will meet later this month to discuss possible changes in the way the school corporation conducts public meetings and communication.
Superintendent Jim Roberts gave a public notice at Monday’s board meeting of two upcoming subcommittee meetings, which will both be held on Feb. 20 at 6 p.m. in the BCSC administration building. The subcommittee on school board meeting agendas will be held in the Terrace Room, and the subcommittee on public engagement will meet in the boardroom.
The school board approved appointments to these new subcommittees on Jan. 23. The public engagement subcommittee includes board members Dale Nowlin, Logan Schulz, and Rich Stenner as chair. The meeting agenda subcommittee includes members Pat Bryant, Jason Major and Todd Grimes as chair.
Roberts said that he would like to see recommendations from the two subcommittees in the spring.
“If we can start having recommendations come in in May, we can process those in June, and then our July board meeting, any changes we would have in place to start the new school year,” he said.
He also indicated that the groups are meant to address current items of concern but are not intended to continue long-term.
Schulz mentioned at the board’s most recent meeting that the subject of public communication came up during new board member training with the Indiana School Boards Association.
“One thing that we talked a lot about at the ISBA training was how integral we are to setting policy,” he said. “And one of the best practices shared was looking at how to get those in front of the public to drive engagement.”
He said that since the board is expected to vote on a number of policy updates at its March 6 meeting, he would like to have the final drafts available to the public at least two weeks in advance so that they can be informed and prepared to make public comment if they so desire.
