Swearing In of New Board Members

Dr. Crandall swore us in as New Board Members and we signed our Oaths of Office.

We then began the first meeting as School Board Members. I was very nervous and unsure of what I was supposed to do.  We had a discussion about how we would run our meetings and I was trying to remember the way we said motions would be made.

I won't get into all the details about the meeting, because you can read the minutes, but I will mention a few points in this post.

Dr. Crandall was unanimously voted as President and Mr Perotti, as Clerk. Later in the meeting we voted to change the title from Clerk to Vice President to keep consistent with the structure of most other official boards. Because this is a change in Policy, we must follow the Open Meeting Laws and this must be listed on the agenda for two Board Meetings before becomes official.

There was a discussion about location of meetings and a unanimous vote was made for meetings in Tombstone to alternate between the High School and Walter J. Meyer.

I wasn't able to approve vouchers, because I wasn't even sure of what the vouchers entailed.  I requested a work session to learn about budgets.  Because it was necessary to approve the vouchers for payment, I accepted the other members consensus to approve them. 


Dr. Crandal made a very good argument for why Tombstone USD should join the Hispanic/Native American Indian Caucus. The Hispanic/Native American Indian School Board Caucus (HNAIC) promotes quality education for all students with emphasis on the unique needs of Hispanic and Native American Indian Students.  We have a 27% Hispanic population of students.  The Board unanimously approved the decision to join the Hispanic/Native American Indian Caucus.

We discussed procedures to disseminate the Board Packet. All members, except Mr Yale, agreed to have information sent via e-mail.  Mr. Yale requested hard copy, because he doesn't have a computer. The discussion to follow was about purchasing netbooks for Board Members. Although, I agree with Dr. Crandall about the need for Board Members who make decisions to be computer literate, I expressed the concern about the follow-up cost to provide Internet and was not in agreement that this should be the Districts expense.  Mr. Yale, refused to use a computer, even if one was purchased for him.  Mr Perotti is the only one without a computer who is need of one.  The computers at the school are available for his use and he agreed he could access e-mail from the school, therefore the vote did not pass.

The finial discussion topic I will discuss in this post was regarding the Board Policy.  I requested it placed on the agenda, because this would be the policy we must follow and believed it important for us to review the policy.  Mr Yale, suggested that Superintendent Uterhardt review the policy and suggest the changes that should be made and we give 15 minutes before each Board meeting to review the recommendations of Superintendent Uterhardt.  With the Policies comprised of two-three inch think binders, I didn't see how we would get through even one section, before the year is out, but the Board voted and I had to work within the approved schedule.