It’s time for the October meeting! The Ozark School Board will meet on Thursday, Oct. 24 at 7pm at the OIC, 1600 W. Jackson St. in Ozark.
Some new policies regarding prohibited substances, including marijuana — which is still a federally prohibited substance — are being introduced, some are being revised and expanded, and there are a few adjustments in some job descriptions. An especially exciting topic might be the discussion about the ways our bus drivers are being compensated.
The full agenda — and a Zoom link in case you can’t make it in person — can be found at https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/SB_Meetings/ViewMeeting.aspx?S=99&MID=15809
Please share your thoughts with the Board — our job is to represent your views in how the school district is managed! Come to the meeting to share in person (see more info about that below), or write us! Contact information for Board members can be found at https://www.ozarktigers.org/school-board , or, if that doesn’t work for you, please feel free to write me at ChristinaforOzark@yahoo.com
Additionally, the Board is having an all-day work session (open meeting) on Wed., 10/30 beginning at 8:30am. Feel free to come watch and listen, or find the agenda — with another Zoom link– in the same place on the District website.
*Edited to add: I neglected to update you about any progress in the efforts making sure that our district paperwork includes a written definition for “males” and “females”, not just some unspoken guideline, but a written policy that students know to follow and teachers can be empowered to enforce. An unwritten policy is no policy. As I’ve shared on my website (https://www.christinatonsing.com/clarifying-title-ix-with-one-definition/ ), we need to define those terms in order to keep sports competitions fair for girls, and to keep bathrooms and locker rooms private. We could pretty easily do it, too, with a one-sentence definition:
“The terms ‘gender’ and ‘sex’ have been frequently used interchangeably in society, therefore the Board clarifies that the intent of either of those words used throughout the District’s policies and other written documents should be understood to mean ‘physical, chromosomal sex,’ and, in every decision requiring a distinction between ‘male’ and ‘female’, the differentiation will be based on physical sex.”
So far, there is still resistance to even placing that topic on the agenda to allow the Board to merely discuss adopting that sentence into our policies. What do you think? Does it need to be discussed?
As always, I speak only for myself and do not at all intend to represent the Board to you in anything I write or post.
I do, however, fully intend to my job representing YOU to the Board!