BERKELEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

TO:                  Facilities Subcommittee

FROM:             Donald Evans, Ed.D., Superintendent  

DATE:              October 17, 2018

SUBJECT:         One Year Evaluation of the Facilities Sub-Committee

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The District created the Facilities Sub-Committee on September 13, 2017.  A year after its creation is a good time to review and evaluate the value of the Sub-Committee and the evolution of its review process.   It is important to remember that the prime purpose for creating the Sub-Committee was to allow for a deeper discussion of facilities items prior to items being forwarded to the Board. 

The Sub-Committee generally meets at 9 AM on the Wednesday before the Board Meeting that facilities items are forwarded to the Board.  The timing of the Meeting holds some challenges to receiving broad public input.  In addition, the timing of the Agenda preparation makes it impossible for the Superintendent’s Agenda review team to review Sub-Committee Agenda documents.  Consideration may be made to conducting meetings at a different time or date and possibly having the Superintendent’s Agenda review being conducted in advance of the meeting (perhaps two weeks earlier).

The Sub-Committee has sometimes reviewed all facilities items to be recommended to the Board and has sometimes only reviewed large scale or time intensive items.  It appears that in the past few months, the very small items are no longer being reviewed by the Sub-Committee.  This trend is a positive approach and should be institutionalized.

The administration should put a document before the full Board proposing dates and topics to be presented at the Sub-Committee Meetings.  The full Board can accept the proposal or amend it to have more or fewer items reviewed by the Sub-Committee.  Doing this at a televised Board Meeting with Board Meeting Minutes can help with transparency so that members of the public who are interested in a particular subject matter can know in advance which Sub-Committee Meeting to attend.

The Sub-Committee is an important arm of the Board.  It would increase transparency if the Sub-Committee was listed on the full Board Agenda and that there was a report from the Sub-Committee to the Board at a regular Board Meeting.  This could be done separately or in conjunction with Board Member comments. 

Generally, the Sub-Committee has been providing a great service to the Board and I hope it will continue to do so in the future with some minor improvements.

RECOMMENDATION

Review and provide any feedback on the proposed improvements.    

FISCAL IMPACT

None.