BVSD accountability committee looks to update policies – Boulder Dai…

Boulder Valley’s District Accountability Committee is asking the school board to update policies around the group’s role and membership, returning to a request that was sidelined by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The school board plans to talk about the proposed policy changes at a special meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Education Center, 6500 East Arapahoe Road, Boulder.

The accountability committee, comprised of one representative from each district school plus at-large members, is a state mandated advisory group that provides feedback on budget priorities, improvement plans, student achievement, charter school applications and district policies.

District Accountability Vice Chairperson Chris Haynes said a subcommittee started working to update the policies guiding the accountability committee in the fall 2019. While the proposed updates were complete in the spring of 2020, the pandemic pushed it off the school board’s priority list. The board agreed to revisit it this school year.

“We want to reinforce the idea of the District Accountability Committee as a body committed to accountability and transparency,” Haynes said. “The policies don’t spend much time talking about aspirations.”

On membership, one suggested change is including a high school student or students on the committee. Another is expanding the requirement of a member who is involved in a community business to one who is involved in a for-profit, nonprofit or social organization.

For the individual school accountability committees, the recommendation is to switch from the principal appointing members to electing members — with a goal of members who better reflect the demographics of the school population.

Haynes added that several schools every year don’t have either school accountability committees or representation on the district committee, with the district committee providing resources and support to try and increase representation.

“Kids age out of the school, parents move on,” he said. “It’s a constant process to keep the school committees healthy.”

This spring, the district committee is focused on policy. Along with the updates to the policies governing the committee, plans include providing feedback on the district’s family partnership policies and open enrollment policy.

“Generally, the work we’re doing is making a difference in the district,” Haynes said. “We want to build on that positive momentum.”