Assignment Criteria:
Attend a local school board meeting and write a brief synopsis of what occurred at that meeting.
Ontario-Montclair Unified School District, Board of Trustees Meeting
The meeting reconvened to Open Session with the Pledge of Allegiance led by two sixth-grade students from Ramona Elementary School and a musical performance by the District Middle School Honor Choir.
Following the conclusion of the performance at 7:30 p.m., a recently-promoted employee of the district was introduced.
The Board invited comments from visitors. A representative of the district employees expressed disappointment at the Board's lack of action regarding recent issues involving crediting of employees' contributions to the retirement fund.
Time was allotted for public hearing on two issues; no one was present to speak on the issues.
The items on the Consent/Information Calendar which included approval of previous meeting minutes and various financial and personnel decisions were accepted by the Board without discussion.
The items on the Discussion/Action/Information Calendar which included student expulsions, revisions to policy, financial reports, etc., were approved without discussion.
Closed Session items were reported.
Board members, the superintendent and cabinet congratulated the students who led the pledge and performed in the honor choir. One board member addressed the comments of the employee representative and expressed the board's continuing concern for its employees.
There were no further communications from the public, and the meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m.
Indicate what locality (geographic area) the school board has jurisdiction in and where and when the meeting was held.
The Ontario-Montclair School District has jurisdiction over 25 elementary schools and 6 middle schools in Ontario and Montclair, California.
The Board meeting was held on Thursday, March 3, 2005, in the Central School Auditorium located at 415 East G Street, Ontario, California.
Indicate the full name of each school board member and (if available) his or her occupational background.
James B. Downs, purchasing
Steve Garcia, educator
Robert Hardy, retired educator
Doreen McDaniel, parent/volunteer
David Van Fleet, educator
Indicate what the major topic of discussion was and what was, or was not, resolved as a result of the discussion.
There was no discussion on any of the items on the agenda.
Indicate what personal value was derived from attending the meeting.
In the course of my career, I have attended many board meetings for private, nonprofit organizations, but I had never before attended a board meeting for a public entity. In my experience, while most work on issues is done in committee, there is still some discussion at board meetings. The actions taken at this meeting were apparently without controversy. I felt that the issue raised by the employee representative seemed to warrant more response from the board; perhaps it will be discussed further at a future meeting.