During two public‑comment periods Tuesday, speakers asked the board to revisit the district’s approach to social promotion and to clarify wording in a staff leave policy while raising concerns about recent district purchases.

Dr. Estee Kirby, an educator and South Side resident, urged the board to reconsider the district’s social‑promotion policy, which she said is rooted in dated guidance. “We need what works, what is supported by research,” she told the board, adding that earlier retention practices can reduce dropout risk and that district strategies should focus on earlier grades and preschool access rather than waiting until high school.

Later in the meeting a community member asked for clarification of language in policy 6551 (family and medical leave language in the draft cited as 65 51 on the agenda). The commenter pointed to a section that alternates between “may” and “will” regarding whether employees who take intermittent leave “may/will be required to provide a completed fitness for duty certification,” and said the difference should be resolved before adoption.

The same speaker raised budgetary concerns about recent vehicle purchases, asking for transparency on roughly $290,000 recorded in a June treasury report for vans the district bought this school year and whether administrators had a policy for vehicle use and ongoing costs. The commenter also criticized a district mobile-phone/‘bag’ program described as a “one size fits all” solution and urged published trial results before further expenditures.

Discussion vs. direction vs. decision: these were public comments; the board did not take immediate formal action on the topics. The board and superintendent acknowledged the comments; the superintendent earlier noted that policy 6551 was scheduled for third-reading/adoption consideration this meeting, and the commenter urged that the “may/will” language be clarified prior to adoption.

What’s next: the board asked staff to note the public comments and indicated staff would follow up on questions about policy wording and vehicle expenditures; no formal vote or formal policy change was recorded in the transcript regarding the points raised by commenters.