CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Laramie County School District 1’s Policy Advisory Committee will continue to function as part of the district’s procedure on proposing new or amended policies following trustee action Monday.
Trustees were initially to consider adopting an amended Chapter 2 Section 11 that would open proposals for policy amendments, deletions or additions to anyone, including trustees, the superintendent, parents, students or district employees in lieu of the Policy Advisory Committee. That proposed change didn’t sit well with Todd Reynolds and Abigail Nelson, both of whom urged trustees to retain the committee for transparency and as a check and balance on themselves.
“Policy change should be a lengthy, thoughtful and difficult process. Giving the board unchecked authority to make sweeping changes in policy would be chaotic and cause instability. Good governance requires checks, balances, and the Policy Advisory Committee is a huge part of that,” Nelson said to applause from the audience.
Reynolds, speaking first, said the proposed changes do away with a process and replace it with a search for a process. The process in place protects the board from lawsuits, he said.
The initial proposed changes to Chapter 2 Section 11 are as follows:
Some trustees also had trouble with the proposed changes. Trustee Rene Hinkle said she understood that if the changes were approved, there were to be administrative regulations governing the process rather than rules stated in the policy. She expressed concern that she had not yet seen the administrative regulations.
Superintendent Margaret Crespo said there were no administrative regulations in place because the policy had not yet been adopted. She said regulation is “fleshing out” the policy while the policy provides the guidelines for establishing the process.
“I’m not comfortable voting for a policy change where I don’t know what the change is going to be, so if we had a copy of what the administrative regulations would be going forward, then I would be much more comfortable voting on changing a policy advisory committee knowing what those rules will look like,” Hinkle said, adding she understands the regulation is dependent on the policy adoption.
“They’re very clear differences in policy and procedure, so I don’t want to convolute that conversation because those typically are informing the work that we do whereas the policy informs where we’re going and then we do that into an actionable component,” Crespo said, adding that the proposed policy changes came at the request of the board and they have been submitted for the 45-day public review twice.
“We’re in this very nebulous stage where you’re — as new trustees, no disrespect — you’re kind of learning how that process looks and I want to make sure that we’re following statute, policy, procedure as we have the conversations,” Crespo said.
Echoing the public comments, Trustee Alicia Smith said she was concerned about doing away with the committee as an element of transparency. The process of going through the committee can be long, drawn out and tedious, but it’s important, she said.
Regarding the issue of transparency, trustees were reminded by counsel that they are governed by the Wyoming Administrative Procedures Act, which requires a 45-day public comment period any time there is a proposed amendment, new policy or policy repeal. State law requires a public hearing if 25 members of the public or a group representing 25 public members asks for one.
Smith presented an amended version, featuring changes resulting from public feedback. Her changes effectively put the Policy Advisory Committee back in, retaining the outline of membership and terms of service, but changing that the committee shall be “activated by October 15” to “designated by October 15.” She also deleted the words “as appropriate” from the following proposed new sentence: “The process shall seek, as appropriate, input from affected parents, students, staff and other stakeholders before recommending the policy for Board consideration.”
Trustee Christy Klaassen said she was open to the idea of Smith’s proposed amendments after hearing public concerns about removing the Policy Advisory Committee. She added it was important for staff to have a chance to make and draft policy changes because they are the people working with the issues.
“I think the way that Trustee Smith has this written, it’s just inserting the Policy Committee — instead of doing away with them, just inserting them back into the groups that are consulted, and I think that’s a fair compromise,” Klaassen said.
Prior to voting, Chairman Tim Bolin called on Reynolds and Nelson for their feedback on the discussion. Reynolds said the committee is a needed check and balance and Smith’s amendments were acceptable. Nelson said she also agreed.
Trustee discussion on the subject is as follows in the video below:
Cap City News has reached out to Laramie County School District 1 for a copy of Chapter 2 Section 11 as adopted Monday. It will be attached to this story when it is received.
