The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Board elects new officers at organizational meeting
The Bay Village Board of Education, at its Jan. 7 organizational meeting, elected new officers for 2019, according to a news release.
Board member Beth Lally will serve as president and member Lisa Priemer as vice president.
In addition, after months of considering a change to its committee structure, the board now is designating one of its two monthly meetings as a work session, the release said.
The work session remains a regular, open meeting, the release said.
The first regular meeting of the month, generally held the second Monday, will be designated as a work session.
Administrators will be scheduled to present updates on topics like curriculum, facilities, finance and school building programs, according to the release.
It is expected that no board action will be taken at these work sessions unless unavoidable.
The second regular meeting of each month, generally scheduled for the fourth Monday, will have board members consider and vote on the usual business of approving contracts, policies, etc.
The work sessions replace the board’s former committee meetings, where two of the five members met to delve into various topics with administrators.
Committee members then shared minutes of those meetings with their non committee member colleagues.
Board members decided that designating a regular board meeting for the topical updates would better serve everyone’s time, the release said.
“Usually, the members who are not on a committee bring up a good number of questions at the board’s regular meeting,” Lally said. “As a result, we duplicate that time spent in committee meetings to some degree at the regular meeting.
“We will now have these topical discussions with the full board present so that all five of us are well informed on all these issues.”
Superintendent Jodie Hausmann suggested the new arrangement as something she has seen work in other districts.
“It respects everyone’s time by eliminating all the extra meetings,” Hausmann said. “It also keeps the entire board, and the public in attendance, apprised of all the details of each area.”