Bismarck school board retains superintendent-accountability policy and finds superintendent in compliance

The Bismarck Public School Board on Monday read and retained Board Policy BSR 5, the district's statement of superintendent accountability, and voted unanimously to find the superintendent in compliance with that policy.

Board President Dan Eastgate opened the policy reading, saying, "The Board considers superintendent performance to be identical to district performance," and then led a public reading of the document that defines monitoring methods and the board's "reasonable person" standard for judging compliance.

Trustee Miss Presky moved to retain BSR 5, saying, "I would move that retain BSR 5, superintendent accountability." The motion was seconded and passed on a roll-call vote; each trustee recorded an affirmative response. Later in the same agenda item, Trustee Hager moved that the board find the superintendent in compliance with BSR 5; that motion was also seconded and carried by unanimous roll call.

The policy reading explains that the board evaluates superintendent performance through a systematic monitoring process that may include internal reports submitted by the superintendent, external third-party reviews selected by the board, or board inspection. The board will make the final determination on whether the superintendent's interpretation and implementation of board policies are reasonable and whether reasonable progress toward the board's results policies has been made.

No members of the public addressed the board during the meeting's public-comment period. With the policy retained and the compliance finding recorded, the board moved on to other routine business and adjourned after the superintendent's report.

What's next: the board did not direct further action on BSR 5 at this meeting; the votes preserve the existing policy and formally record a finding of compliance for the current evaluation period.