Board adds policy-education session to agenda after attorney review and GEA grievance

The Goshen Local Board of Education voted unanimously to amend the March agenda to add a board-of-education policy education session under old business.

A board member made a motion to amend the proposed March agenda to add "board of education policy education" as Old Business item B; the motion received a second and the roll call produced all affirmative votes. Mr. Schenkel (asked to call the roll) recorded "yes" votes from members who answered in turn: Mr. West; Mrs. Markey; Mrs. Pat Brocking; Mr. Rera; and Greg (surname not specified in the transcript).

Nut graf: The amendment formalized a planned review of district policies the superintendent and the board's attorney recommended after the district received a grievance from the teachers' union (GEA) and the administration reported two students had left school during the day because of stress tied to material that moved from a board meeting onto social media. The board signaled it will study several policies and consider an executive session if issues meet statutory criteria.

During the presentation of the policy-education packet the administration identified nine policies for review, including board member authority (BBAA and BBAA‑E), school board member ethics (DBF), the board member code of ethics (BBF‑E), the board‑superintendent relationship (BCD, CB&I), public complaint procedures (VEIL) and personnel-complaint procedures (KLD and KLD‑R). The superintendent said these policies are available on BoardDocs and encouraged board members to re-familiarize themselves with the chain-of-command for complaints and with the formal complaint process outlined in the teachers' contract.

The superintendent and the board's attorney recommended that, if a matter arises during a public meeting that fits one of the statutory reasons for closed session, any board member should move to place that item into executive session; the administration said it will present the policy review as a response to the GEA grievance and discuss the items further at the upcoming board retreat.

Ending: The board did not take any disciplinary action at the meeting; the amendment commits the board to an educational and policy-review process with the attorney, and the administration said it will follow up with the union and schedule further discussion during the retreat.