SBHS trustees want handle on meeting minutes

A discussion of the minutes turned into a lively discussion about how extensive those recordings should be made during a recent San Benito High School Board of Trustees meeting.
When TrusteesEvelyn Muro and Juan Robledo expressed concern about the way a shared joke had been immortalized on the record and asked for it to be given context, labeled a joke or cut, Superintendent John Perales cautioned the board against asking Tricia Cooper, who writes the minutes, to make subjective judgments such as determining what is and isn’t a joke so she could strike jokes from the minutes.
“If we’re going to have minutes but then retract certain things at certain times, then are those really minutes?” said the superintendent.
Perales said the board had asked Cooper to “capture every word,” but at least four trustees said that had not been the direction.
Robledo said Cooper was not getting every word and pointed to specific spots in the record where he wanted changes. Minutes and supporting documents for meetings held Aug. 3 and Aug. 19 spanned more than 50 pages in the board’s agenda packet.
“I don’t remember us taking a hard position on this,” said Trustee Bill Tiffany. “My recollection was that we, as a board, wanted minutes that were more than just a real simple outline … I, for one, would not expect and did not think it was happening that we were trying to capture every word.”
“I did not get the idea either that we were trying to capture every single word,” Muro said. “I only can speak for myself. I really do appreciate reading a little bit of the narrative to get a bit of flow for how the narrative went.”
Muro added that the minutes were “pretty lengthy” and said there might be a middle ground between “capturing every minute and having just the vote,” she said.
“Folks is it realistic?,” asked Trustee Bill Tiffany. “I mean minutes, I thought, was a summary not verbatim.”
Superintendent John Perales suggested the district consider videotaping the meetings and having Cooper keep minimal notes.
“That’s what I’m used to doing and that works very well,” said Perales, who was formerly an employee of the Gilroy Unified School District. “It’s a simple fix and I think it would take away all of this concern.”
Ray Rodriguez, the board president, asked for an example to be brought before the board “because we are human beings and we’re used to the way it’s been done,” he said. Trustees did not vote on the topic because it was listed only as “approve minutes” on the agenda.