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Board approves consent agendas, personnel items and district contracts; treasurer authorized to be covered by insurance in lieu of bond
Summary
At the Oct. 21 meeting the Brooklyn City Board approved multiple consent agenda items including minutes and financial statements, authorized treasurer coverage under employee dishonesty insurance in lieu of a bond, approved supplemental assignments and field trips, and authorized design work and a change order for facilities work.
The Brooklyn City School District Board of Education approved a series of consent-agenda and personnel motions on Oct. 21, including financial reports, grants, personnel actions and several facilities and travel authorizations.
Treasurer Robert Shearhart presented the treasurer consent agenda items that included approval of minutes from Sept. 16 and Oct. 7, financial statements for September, acceptance of a Ruby Bridges Walk to School grant (part of Safe Routes to School) and a donation from Nestle. The board moved, seconded and approved the consent agenda by roll call.
The board then approved a resolution allowing the treasurer to be covered under the district’s employee-dishonesty insurance in lieu of maintaining a separate fidelity bond. The treasurer explained that a recent change in state law allows the district to include the treasurer under the liability insurance rather than purchase a separate bond; he said the insurance offered broader coverage for multiple employees and that canceling the bond could yield a refund.
Superintendent consent items approved included overnight and day field trips (fifth-grade Greenfield Village, eighth-grade Washington, D.C., and a 2027 Europe high-school trip), an amendment to advertise for a passenger van bid (rather than a bus) to explore alternatives, authorization of addendum #1 for professional design services for a boiler replacement project, and change order #1 for demolition and installation of lockers at Brooklyn High School.
Personnel consent actions the board approved included supplemental teaching assignments for the 2025–26 school year (contingent on required certification and background checks), classified personnel changes, on-call substitutes, a classified resignation effective 09/18/2025, unpaid leave requests, long-term substitutes and retirements and commendations for several retiring staff members.
Board members and the superintendent and treasurer were authorized to attend the OSBA Capital Conference in November 2025 for professional development. The board also approved additional supplemental roles (literacy implementation team: Britney Hubbell).
Where the transcript recorded roll call, board members returned affirmative votes for the listed motions. Specific roll-call lines are in the meeting record; the motion outcomes recorded in the minutes were approvals with no motions defeated that evening.
Next procedural steps: staff said they will follow up on the boiler design pricing and return with detailed cost breakdowns for board consideration; the board also discussed painting the bus garage ($8,800 quote) to be charged to bond allowance and asked whether to record/tape the Nov. work session for broader public access.
The meeting adjourned after the chair announced upcoming meetings on Nov. 3 and Nov. 18 at the Brooklyn Early Childhood and Family Resource Center.
