MPS committee updates administration and executive-officer policies, approves remainder of Section 1000 packet

The Milwaukee School District Committee on Legislation, Rules and Policies voted to update the district's administrative organization plan and approve several executive-officer role policies, directing staff to clarify evaluation language and approving the remainder of the Section 1000 policy packet.

The committee approved a revision to policy 11.01 to add missing offices to the administrative organization plan and approved policy 11.02, board-appointed officials, after staff explained duties for the board clerk related to special education ombudsperson and charter school liaison roles. Director O'Halloran moved to update policy 11.01 to reflect the organizational chart and to approve 11.02 as presented; the motions passed by voice roll calls with Directors O'Halloran, Venoy and Chair Zomber voting aye.

The committee also discussed three executive-officer role policies (1,102.01; 1,102.02; 1,102.03) and agreed to replace ambiguous references to "feedback on performance" with the clearer term "performance evaluations." Chasen, a staff member, said, "Feedback is ambiguous and certainly in policy language," and Dr. Carrelos said, "I believe that we should use [the] word evaluation. I think everybody deserves to have a yearly evaluation." Director O'Halloran moved to approve those policies provided the language is changed; the motion passed with three ayes.

After those items, the committee approved the balance of the Section 1000 packet on a motion by Director Benoit. The secretary called the roll for each motion.

Why it matters: These policies govern how the district lists major offices, assigns certain duties to the board clerk, and sets expectations for performance reviews of executive officers and staff. The committee made explicit changes to reduce ambiguity about evaluation frequency and clarified organizational listings to match the district's organizational chart.

Committee discussion and context: Committee members noted that the administrative organization plan (11.01) omitted the Office of Family and Community Engagement and the Office of the Chief of Operations from the written policy while the organizational chart included them; staff confirmed the omission and the committee directed Board Governance to update the policy text. On board-appointed officials (11.02), staff explained that the Special Education Ombudsperson duty reflected the resolution from a prior legal case and that the office also serves as a charter-school liaison and coordinates with the city attorney's office on proposals and reviews. Regarding performance language, committee members and executive staff discussed current practice that some employees are evaluated on a three-year cycle and that a mix of formal and informal evaluations may exist; the committee nonetheless directed the policy language to use "performance evaluations" for clarity.

What the committee decided: The committee adopted the specific policy edits and approved the remainder of the Section 1000 policy packet. Staff were directed to update policy 11.01 to list the missing offices and to replace uses of "feedback on performance" with "performance evaluations" where the committee identified ambiguity.

Next steps: Board Governance will prepare the revised policy language and the updated packet for final adoption according to the board's procedures; staff indicated they will return with a developed performance-evaluation process when ready.

Sources: Committee meeting proceedings and Board Governance staff remarks.