Parent asks board when discussions about state policy changes and curriculum will be made public

Haley Turner, a Glenwood parent and Oak Ridge Schools alumna, used the meeting’s public forum to ask when district discussions about potential state policy changes and funding impacts would become public.

Turner said she had previously received an email indicating staff lacked specific state guidance and asked whether the district would wait until policy changes were final or make planning discussions public earlier. “When does this conversation become public? When do we become aware of the plans that are being made to protect our schools if we lose funding or if there are policy changes that impact the kind of curriculum we are allowed to teach,” she asked.

Superintendent Dr. Borchers said he preferred to “take some time with my staff to put together a response,” and added that budget meetings and a multi-hour session scheduled the following Monday would include discussion of budget-related topics. The superintendent and staff said they were still waiting for guidance from the state and that some internal conversations were ongoing; staff said they were not yet prepared to hold a broader public discussion until more state guidance was available.