At its June 16 regular board meeting, the Conroe ISD board of trustees voted to table the approval of the CISD Board Operating Procedures Manual. The manual is an internal document detailing the board’s operating procedures, while also granting new powers to the CISD board president. The board of trustees previously voted to approve the draft of the manual but has now voted to table the final adoption due to what they described as the outside distraction it has caused.
The breakdown
Melissa Dungan, vice president of the CISD board of trustees, said the development of the Board Operating Procedures Manual was originally recommended by a third-party consultant. It was designed to be a guide to inform the Conroe ISD community on board operations and procedures, Dungan said.
The 30-page document outlines the different responsibilities and duties of the CISD board of trustees as well as the president. Inside the internal document, the outline of the president’s powers has expanded beyond basic meeting operations, which raised questions among Conroe board members at the May 12 regular meeting.
Some of these duties include:
- Approving all reimbursements submitted by board members
- Facilitating all training for board trustees
- Speaking on behalf of the Conroe ISD board of trustees
- Considering all suggestions, concerns and complaints against the trustees
The discussion
Dungan said she believes that the manual has been misinterpreted online as a “power grab” by the board, rather than a tool to improve board effectiveness and communication.
“Unfortunately, both the process and the resulting product have had the opposite effect,” Dungan said. “Rather than creating greater efficiency, it has become a distraction, consumed valuable time and diverted attention from the important work put before us. Our focus should be on critical issues facing the district, including employee compensation, annual budget, adopted tax rate and, most importantly, student success.”
CISD Secretary Lindsay Dawson said that she agrees to table the operations manual but not indefinitely, as the board still needs a document in place, but currently there are “too many moving pieces at this point.”
Board President Misty Odenweller said that since the proposed board manual contradicts certain internal board policies, it would be more prudent to table the manual for now.
“In both of our work sessions, our council told us each time something was suggested to be put in that we would be creating a need to make a policy change,” Odenweller said. “So in retrospect I agree if we are going to do some sort of operating procedure I believe it would be more prudent to make sure our board policies align. Even though we knew we would have to make changes, right now we need to be focused on all the other things going on in the district.”
Next steps
After further discussion among board members, the board voted unanimously to table the approval of the manual.
The board does not currently have a set date for revisiting the document for revision.
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Publisher: Houston – Community Impact Newspaper