Next working referendum meeting is Wednesday
By Tracy Ouellette
Editor
One of the discussions during the East Troy Community School District’s Board of Education special meeting on Dec. 16 focused on establishing “team norms” for School Board member behavior.
Board President Ted Zess brought the idea to the board at the Dec. 2 working referendum meeting as a way for the board members to work through the problems that have cropped up during the referendum process and failed vote on Nov. 4.
Zess said he thought this was a good place to start and even handed out a copy of the book “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” at the Dec. 2 meeting and a summary of the five behaviors that lead to dysfunctional teams contained in the book. They are: the absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability and inattention to results.
The board members agreed to look over Zess’ suggestions for team norms and read the book and return with their thoughts at the Dec. 16 meeting.
The packet Zess gave the board members included four specific norms to establish as a board. They were:
1. Arrive to board meetings on time and demonstrate attentive listening throughout all aspects of the board meeting;
2. Address conflicts by attempting to understand the area of conflict while not personally addressing an individual, but rather, the problem;
3. Work with the administrative team and the district’s consultants on solutions to the problem. For transparency, solutions and questions to be addressed at board meetings; and
4. Adherence to East Troy Community School District Policy 161, which involved many “norms.”
All the district’s policies can be found at the website www.easttroy.k12.wi.us, under the Board tab. Policy 161 is included in the “100-Board of Education” tab.
While the board members agreed that the team norms proposed by Zess were a good place to start, there was some discussion as to what exactly the board was creating with those norms.
“I think they were very well thought out and can be built on,” Board Member Chris Smith said.
Board Member Dawn Buchholtz wanted clarification as to whether the board was creating new policy.
“Are we trying to establish more of a code of ethics?” Buchholtz asked. “I don’t think there is anything on here anyone would disagree with, but I think we should do a little research and establish a code of ethics.”
Smith suggested revisiting the current board policy with an attorney present to help the board create such a code at a future date.
“But at this point in time, it’s just a basic team norm for working together,” he said.
“Anything on paper looks fine,” Board Member Martha Bresler said. “But if I have a questions about things, I’m going to go further to get it.”
Smith said he thought the team norms could be used as a reminder to the board members at each meeting of how they should be handling conflict should it arise and how to treat each other with respect. He suggested having a hard copy at each meeting for that purpose.
Buchholtz again asked if the board was making police with the norms.
“Not really,” Zess said. “It’s just an agreement on how we’re going to work together.”
“I feel like this has been put on the table because of Dawn and me and that our behavior is being addressed,” Bresler said.
Smith disagreed and cited his own behavior as an example, saying if he had been listening to them during the referendum process, things might have been different.
“I came up with this through reading the book because we are a dysfunctional team,” Zess said.
Board Member Steve Lambrechts brought up the first team norm and said board members shouldn’t be on their cell phones during meetings. He said he had received complaints about board members texting during meeting.
Buchholtz admitted she often used her cell phone at meetings to check her calendar, record meetings, take notes or to check on a text from her daughter. She said she was an adult and was able to handle a little multitasking if required and it didn’t mean she wasn’t paying attention.
“Anything you do in an open meeting is subject to open meeting law,” Lambrechts told her, adding that if a reporter asked for the texts, she would have to surrender them.
Buchholtz said she was fine with that.
Zess had concerns with the fact that Buchhotlz had been recording the meetings, not because she didn’t have the right to tape a public meeting, but because the audience needed to be informed if they were being recorded.
District Administrator Chris Hibner also asked if Buchholtz had been keeping an archive of the recordings in case anyone wanted to review them. She said she had archived them and would be happy to share them with anyone who asked.
The board approved the team norms set forth.
The board is holding another working referendum session at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 7, in the High School library.
