School board talks ongoing initiatives, later erupts
- Published: December 26, 2024
Though the bulk of the school board’s most recent regular meeting Thursday, Dec. 12, was business as usual, the meeting’s last half hour was a return to the heightened tensions that have marked several of the board’s public interactions over the last few months.
Ahead of that dramatic ending to the evening, however, district leadership updated the community on a number of initiatives that will affect students and teachers in the coming months, including a new digital hall pass system, the ongoing facilities upgrade project and state legislation.
Securly Pass
McKinney Middle and YS High schools Principal Jack Hatert reported that the campus has begun using Securly Pass, a digital system that helps keep track of students when they request hall passes.
Hatert began by addressing concern from parents and the wider community that was communicated largely via a Facebook post last month that garnered more than 100 comments. That concern from the public centered around the number of hall passes that were initially allotted to students to use the bathroom or visit the schools’ nurses, counselors or student advocate while class is in session. When Securly Pass was first rolled out, the number of passes allotted to students each week was five — but after feedback from students and caregivers, that number was doubled to 10 per week.
Hatert noted that the motivation behind the new digital hall pass system was not to “limit or take anything away” from students, but to allow the schools to “take a step back and assess our systems and programs and make sure that we are right-sized, that we have duties assigned properly to the right people, to make sure kids have access to what they need.”
He added that the Securly Pass, which is accessible to students via the login page on the Chromebook computers they all have, allows students to make requests for a hall pass digitally without interrupting class, and helps staff keep track of where students go when they leave class and how long they spend in out-of-class locations.
“[For example] we didn’t know exactly how many kids were going to the nurse or how long the kids were staying at the nurse,” he said. “And now we have all of that data … and that becomes particularly important when you get into the cold and flu season.”
The Securly Pass also keeps track of how much time each student is spending outside the classroom while class is in session — data that Hatert said can be valuable for some parents.
“If a parent calls and says, ‘My kid’s struggling in all their classes,’ I can [look at the data] and say, ‘In two-and-a-half weeks, they’ve been out of class for eight hours — so yes, they’re struggling,’” Hatert said.
He added that he believes the Securly Pass will be particularly useful for staff to keep track of students at the middle and high schools once they transition to modular buildings at the beginning of 2025 as the district undergoes its facilities upgrade project.
Facilities update
Superintendent Terri Holden gave an update on the facilities project during the meeting. She noted that the modular classrooms and offices, which were delivered to the campuses of all three local schools in October, are currently undergoing installation of plumbing, electricity, decks and ramps, siding and flooring.
She also offered a firm update for when students and staff will move into modular buildings: Schools will be closed for students Tuesday, Feb. 18, to accommodate the transition to the modular buildings. Students will return to school and begin receiving instruction in modular buildings the following day, Wednesday, Feb. 19.
A groundbreaking date for the facilities project has not yet been determined, but is expected in early 2025.
State legislation
Holden also updated the school board and community on recent state legislation that affects the schools, beginning with the “Save Women’s Sports Act” — the text of which states that it does not allow males to participate in female sports, though it is intended to prohibit transgender girls from participating in girls sports. The bill became law this January after the Ohio House overrode a veto from Gov. Mike DeWine, and was enacted in April.
Another bill targeting transgender youth, SB 104 — the “Bathroom Bill” — was passed by the Ohio Senate in November and signed into law by Gov. DeWine later that month. The new law, in brief, forces students in primary and secondary schools and institutions of higher learning to use the bathroom, changing room or locker room that corresponds, not to their gender, but to the biological sex listed on their birth certificate.
Holden pointed out that the new law allows schools to “establish a policy to provide accommodations upon student requests due to special circumstances [in order to] allow a student to use a single-occupancy bathroom.”
“As I talk about this legislation,” Holden said, “I want everyone to be aware that there’s a variety of penalties for noncompliance with these laws [including] loss of licensure, criminal penalties, either misdemeanor or felony, depending upon the particular law, and financial penalties.”
With regard to the mandates of the “Bathroom Bill,” board Vice President Rebecca Potter said community members may wonder how it will affect the “new build” involved in the facilities upgrade project at the middle and high schools.
“We’re working on that, and I think we’re in good hands with it,” Potter said.
“Correct,” Holden added. “And I would just say it’s my job to report the facts. I’ll leave it at that.”
Later in the meeting, the board also discussed a piece of pending legislation, House Joint Resolution 7, that could affect a board member. The “American Allegiance Amendment,” if passed, would amend the Ohio Constitution to prohibit those who hold citizenship in another country from holding public office.
As board member Dorothée Bouquet communicated in a Dec. 6 letter to the editor — the same letter that was shared with members of the school board last week — she is a citizen of both France and the United States. If the amendment is passed, Bouquet would be precluded from serving on the school board.
The proposed resolution was introduced in June, and has been in committee since then.
The school board drafted a letter to Reps. Bill Dean and Scott Oelslager, urging them to reject the resolution on the grounds that it would violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which grants equal rights to those who are born or naturalized citizens.
“We are proud that our board reflects the diversity and strength of our citizenry, including individuals who have demonstrated their commitment to this country through naturalization,” the letter reads.
The board unanimously voted to approve the letter of opposition.
Board erupts
The unanimous vote over HJR 7 was just about the last moment of unity the board held during the Dec. 12 meeting. Tensions rose after board President Judith Hempfling opened discussion of a proposed revision to the board’s Code of Ethics she had brought forth — specifically, to repeal section P of the code, which states that board members agree to “express personal opinions but, once the Board has acted, accept the will of the majority.”
Hempfling suggested that the section was “too vague and broad” and did not “meet the basics of democratic governance” as it generally limits the speech of the board’s voting minority, both to outside groups and to the school board itself. She wrote: “It is understood that a member with a minority view has a right to continue to advocate for that view within the deliberative body itself.”
She further suggested that the code’s section should be replaced with a more narrowly defined section, reading: “Once the Board has appointed representatives to speak for the board to other specific parties regarding specific matters, other board members shall not lobby those other parties on those matters.”
Specifically, Hempfling wrote in her letter, the recommended replacement section was in response to her view that board members “Dorothée Bouquet and especially Amy Bailey have been directly lobbying the Village Council on a regular basis, regarding LIHTC.”
Hempfling noted her view that Bailey and Bouquet were “trying to undermine the decisions made by the school board on this issue,” adding that she and Potter were chosen to represent the school board in communication with Council on the proposed low-income housing tax credit, or LIHTC, project. As such, Hempfling recommended that the Code of Ethics’ language be changed to direct dissenting board members to instead bring their concerns to the school board.
She referred to three emails, which were included in the meeting’s agenda, all addressed to Village Council. One was co-signed by both Bailey and Bouquet, and two others were signed solely by Bailey; all three reminded Council the LIHTC cannot move forward without replacement soccer fields and adequate funds to fully develop those fields, per the text of an option to purchase agreement that the school board approved in a 3–2 decision on Nov. 21, with Bailey and Bouquet dissenting.
Bailey disagreed that the emails referenced by Hempfling represented an attempt to undermine the board’s decisions.
“I am providing factual information to the governing body that is making these decisions — you should be doing this,” she said, addressing Hempfling. “I’m advocating for this school district. You are not, and you’re going to block me from doing it.”
Hempfling later suggested removing section P from the Code of Ethics without replacing it with the earlier suggested text; district Treasurer Jacob McGrath opined that it would be wise to consult the district’s policy advisors before making any changes to board bylaws, with which Bouquet agreed, adding that any changes would affect future boards. Potter suggested that, because of the “heat in the discussion,” the board should move on from discussing the Code of Ethics, saving the topic for a work session.
The board did move on, to a discussion of a potential school board self-assessment of its work and performance, which was no less heated. Hempfling said she felt that an evaluation in which board members assessed one another, which was suggested by Bailey, would likely not be “constructive,” considering the “lack of trust in the board around the kind of issues that will come up.” She recommended that a retreat or work session would be the most appropriate place to discuss how the board should be assessed.
Opinions were varied on the suggestion, with Potter agreeing that a retreat to help clarify the parameters of an assessment and a third party, such as a representative from the Ohio School Boards Association, or OSBA, to help the board assess themselves would be productive. Bailey countered that it could be expensive to involve the OSBA in another retreat, as the board did earlier this year, and have “legal counsel tell [the board] how to behave.” Bouquet said her main concern would be the content of a discussion around the board’s annual goals, which she said she hoped would include creating onboarding training for new board members, as well as an evaluation of the board with input from Holden and McGrath.
The discussion came to a head after board member Amy Magnus suggested that the board had already outlined its goals within the district’s strategic plan. As Magnus was speaking on the facilities upgrade project, Bailey, who was seated next to Magnus, began to make a comment, to which Magnus responded: “Excuse me. Let me finish. We can rumble anytime.”
Holden immediately responded by saying: “We cannot get to this point where we’re talking about fighting at a board meeting.”
Though Magnus interjected, after prompting from Hempfling to continue, that the comment directed toward Bailey was meant in jest — “Anyone who knows me knows I’m playing,” Magnus said — the meeting quickly devolved.
“Madam President,” Potter said. “I’m going to use a parliamentary procedure trick right now, because I would agree that this conversation has gone way off track, so I move to adjourn.”
Bailey seconded the motion, and the board unanimously voted to end the meeting.
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