Fayetteville superintendent establishes committee

FAYETTEVILLE -- A committee will begin reviewing all School District policies for possible revision.

Superintendent Matthew Wendt announced his plans at Thursday's meeting for School Board members to serve on task forces and committees, with board member Megan Hurley taking on the policy committee role.

Fayetteville School Board

• Justin Eichmann, president

• Traci Farrah, vice president

• Nika Waitsman, secretary/treasurer

• Susan Heil

• Tim Hudson

• Megan Hurley

• Bob Maranto

Source: Fayetteville School District

"The board is only as strong as the policies that are in place," Wendt said. "We have great policies in place. We also have policies that need to be updated."

The board on Thursday also met in executive session for the superintendent's annual evaluation. This is Wendt's first evaluation since he became superintendent July 1.

Board President Justin Eichmann said Wendt and the board will be in an ongoing discussion about district goals this year.

Leadership is a gradual process, said Bob Maranto, a board member.

"It takes awhile to have the impacts you want to have," Maranto said.

Wendt said he has assured the district's two personnel policies committees they will have the opportunity to see proposed changes before they go to the board, he said. The district policy committee will have representatives from both the certified and classified personnel policies committees.

Hurley anticipates monthly meetings, she said. She and Kim Garrett, associate superintendent for administrative services, will schedule a meeting to discussed the details.

The board on Thursday also received notice of Garrett's plans to resign June 30. She and her family are moving to Tulsa, Okla., she said.

The board president traditionally has served on the board of the Fayetteville Public Education Foundation, Wendt said. Eichmann now represents the School Board on the foundation's board. Eichmann's wife Sara Eichmann is president of the foundation's board.

School Board member Tim Hudson will act as the board's liaison for legislative issues, Wendt said.

Wendt, who has worked with committees in previous districts he has led, plans to announce other committees over the next couple of months, including a technology committee, he said. The committees will involve a School Board member, a district administrator and parent and staff representatives.

"When the policies arrive, our goal is not to do your job," Wendt said. "If content does not arrive in a comfortable state and you want to tell us to send that back, I've had that happen for years."

The new policy committee will focus on details, such as grammar and words of policies, said Trevor Cooperescue, a Fayetteville High School theater teacher who is president of Fayetteville Education Association. The district has not had a committee for that purpose in years, Cooperescue said.

Cooperescue thought the change would mean the district's personnel policies committees can turn their attention to larger policy issues, he said.

Heil said she supports the idea of individual School Board members developing in-depth knowledge they can share with the rest of the board.

"Sometimes it's difficult as a board member because you're supposed to know everything about everything," Heil said. "I'm anxious to get into technology."

NW News on 01/27/2017

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