At a Sept. 10 policy meeting, the school board debated how Policy 105 should treat pilot instructional programs and whether staff should need prior board approval before running pilots. The board agreed to remove the sentence that would have required prior board approval and to retain a requirement that the superintendent report periodically to the board on pilot objectives, evaluation criteria and costs.
Why it matters: Pilot programs are commonly used to trial instructional resources before wider adoption; the policy language determines how much board-level oversight is required and how rapidly the district can respond to time-sensitive state pilot requests.
Staff described pilots as trial tests to vet materials before district-wide implementation. "A pilot is never intended to be adopted into full implementation. It's simply a trial basis," a curriculum staff member said, explaining the staff's rationale for keeping operational flexibility. Staff noted that state pilot requests sometimes come with short turnarounds; the district previously had a two-week window to respond to an assessment pilot.
Several board members said they wanted the curriculum committee to be informed and involved. One board member proposed a middle ground: requiring that information about pilot programs be shared with the curriculum committee and come to the committee for review, rather than requiring full prior board approval. Elizabeth, a board member, suggested modifying the language so pilots come through the curriculum committee first and then the board is informed before any larger rollout.
On research language, staff and board members agreed to remove the phrase about "actively pursuing research activities," citing limited staff capacity to proactively seek external research partnerships. "We don't have somebody who has the capacity to do that," a staff member said. The board agreed to remove the word "research" from that clause so the policy did not imply an active, resourced district program of research procurement.
Action and next steps: The board directed staff to scratch the prior-approval sentence and keep the superintendent's periodic reporting requirement; Chair Chris and staff agreed that the pilot-program description would be advanced to the board as amended. Staff will return a redline of the policy showing the deleted sentence and the retained reporting provision. There was no formal roll-call vote recorded; the decision was made by consensus at the meeting.
Ending: The district will continue to run short-term pilots as needed, inform the curriculum committee of pilot activity, and provide periodic reports to the board on pilot results and recommended next steps.