Board approves several policies, tables formal rules-of-order vote for two weeks
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Summary
The Kingston board approved three policies on elections, campaigning and resignation/dismissal, accepted donations and passed the consent agenda. Trustees debated adopting formal parliamentary rules and voted to postpone consideration for two weeks.
The Kingston City School District Board of Education moved through routine governance items, approving policies and accepting donations while postponing a decision on formal rules of order.
After the consent agenda passed by voice vote, the board accepted donations announced for Kingston High School (four backpacks donated by Vincent Singara, value $65.33) and Miller Middle School ($800 from the Community Foundation of the Hudson Valley for an art field trip).
On policy business, the board presented four policies for second reading. Trustees discussed policy 21-20.1 (candidates and campaigning), specifically whether use of district property for candidate events must be conducted in an even-handed manner. Board counsel and trustees clarified that any organization requesting use of district property must offer opportunities equally to all candidates; the board approved policy 21-20.1 by voice vote.
Policy 21-21 (board member qualifications) drew discussion about whether noncitizen residents can vote in local school elections; trustees observed that state law typically requires citizenship for school-district voting and deferred any local changes to applicable state statutes. The board approved 21-21 by voice vote. Policy 21-30 (resignation and dismissal) was also approved by voice vote.
On old business, trustees debated a counsel-provided draft of parliamentary rules and discussed Robert's Rules as a possible fallback. Several trustees asked for more time to review the document. A motion to postpone formal adoption for two weeks (to the next meeting on the 18th) passed by voice vote.
The meeting record shows these governance items were handled by voice votes during the session; specific roll-call tallies were not recorded in the public transcript for these items.
The board also discussed communications strategies to make board resolutions and news more accessible to families, including posting translated materials in school buildings and improving a centralized "news from the board" location on the website.