The last meeting of the 2022 Noblesville School Board was held Tuesday, Dec. 20. This was also the last meeting before the newly elected board members are sworn in.
It was an agenda-packed meeting beginning with the recognition of many of our athletic championship teams. For the sake of brevity, I will skip through several of the agenda items.
Once the meeting progressed to Consent agenda items, votes were approved for claims, donations, overnight trips, and personnel changes. There was also the approval of Action items under the proposed NHS course additions, which I would encourage the reader to review. In addition, approval was received for the resolution establishing supplemental payment for teachers as well as the bid for the high school athletic addition project.
Of note was the speed with which the board moved through the second reading of 19 policies and straight to the adoption of such. The policy on Participation at Board Meetings was finally amended to reflect that public comment must be allowed as enacted by our state legislature at the last session. There were several changes to the policy on Mandatory Curriculum, including the addition of the requirement for civics education in grades 6, 7, or 8 as per state law. New policies were adopted on Dress and Grooming, Staff Dress and Grooming, as well as Staff-Student Relations.
Missing from any new policy was a means to address many of the concerns expressed by parents and other community members during the last year of meetings. Some of the concerns arose out of the revelations brought to light during the virtual learning of the COVID-19 shutdowns.
Other concerns were a result of the direct knowledge of parents regarding the quality or bias in the instruction of their children. Although the 2023 board will see the return of the incumbent president and one newly elected member, let’s hope that the makeup of the new school board will lead to improved responsiveness, greater communication, and more transparency with the Noblesville community.
The first School Board meeting of 2023 will be at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 10 in the ESC Board Room. The newly elected members of the board will be sworn in, followed by a regular meeting.
Click here to read the NHS course additions.