DMPS School Board Meeting 04/01/2008

With unexpected time pressures this week, I decided to cover the Des Moines Public Schools School Board meeting for April 1, 2008, from the perspective of the DMPS cable access channel. As I watched the clock tick past the 5:45 p.m. start of the general comment period for members of the public without any coverage from the board room, I quickly regretted my decision. I do not know if Channel 12 simply did not cover the comments or if there were none.

There were some interesting observations made possible by the home-viewing angle, though. Board Member Jon Narcisse, who has been a strong and vocal dissenter on the school board since his election in September 2007, attended the meeting via a telephone link. Right before the video of the board room appeared on television screens, Narcisse was head asking, “Can you hear me?” That has been the rhetorical question of Narcisse’s seven months on the board.

The quality of the broadcast was not what I expected. Movement was jerky, as though watching a webcam and the audio was not synchronized with the visual portion of the transmission. The sound was lost during part of comments made by the public on consent agenda items. The color was lost too, but there was a very entertaining pattern of flashing designs on men’s ties and the board room carpet.

Several comments were made on items in the consent agenda. Most questions by board members sought simple clarifications.

Bob Mickle picked up on the theme of Merrill Middle School being selected as one of 22 schools nationwide to participate in a renewable education project. Bonneville Environmental Foundation, with funding from Merrill’s business partner, Wells Fargo, will install a solar panel at the school. Mickle reported that the Sherman Hills neighborhood has been working on a 10-year comprehensive plan, given its proximity to development in the Western Gateway on the edge of downtown. The neighbors are about ready to present a conceptual plan for a wind energy park in the triangle of land between MLK and 19th Street. Mickle thought it would be good for the schools to use the park for additional education in renewable energy.

Another item in the consent agenda, and a feature of the superintendent’s report, was a planning grant from Siemens Corporation for energy and sustainability education at the Central Academy. The $15,000 grant will help develop a curriculum, develop partnerships, and prepare grant requests to fund operations of the educational program. During the superintendent’s report, a representative of Siemens said the company has over 600 employees in Iowa.

Alan Young, president of the DMEA union, expressed concern about the lack of advance knowledge of the Special Education Delivery System Work Group. This group was created in response to a state administrative rule change. In the past the state defined special education service delivery models and school districts adapted to those models. Now the state is requiring school districts to create their own delivery methods for eligible students 3 to 21 years old. Young said, “We can only be supportive if we know what’s going on in [meeting groups] and not learn about them after the fact.” After some brief comments by board members, Superintendent Dr. Nancy Sebring said DMEA’s and AFSCME’s omission from the work group was “just a slip-up.”

(This report is continued in the next post.)