Detroit City Wire

Paying for the ongoing education of board members for the Crestwood School District was a topic of discussion at the March 6 school board meeting.

The board was presented with two options on how to reimburse board members for attending conferences and professional development experiences.

The first choice would be to limit board members to only being reimbursed for attending state conferences. This would not prohibit them from attending a conference out of state, but it would prevent them from being reimbursed.

The second alternative was to let board members attend any local, state or national conference with district reimbursement.

Both of the motions were presented with a clause stating their proposed conferences would still face board approval.

The board members went on to weigh the merits of the proposals in a back-and-forth discussion.

Board member Trustee Nadia Barry advocated for the first proposal.

“I do not think that any board member should ever be limited from furthering their education in a situation like this,” she said in the meeting. "We allow the superintendent, we allow staff members. I don't think that anybody [should be limited]; if that's the case, then we need to look at the whole picture of everybody else. Also, if you know, if you feel like you want to go and get yourself educated, it shouldn't be a problem.”

Trustee David Williamson thought that the board approval clause would prevent a board member from spending too much district money on a national conference, while board member Bo Sabbagh wanted to limit it to the state to keep the maximum amount of money in the district for the students’ use.

“I just don't feel like these kids and the money for these kids should be doing that,” Sabbagh said. “We talk about other school districts. We have 4,000 students here. Okay, I don't I can't speak for other school districts in who they send or don't send. I have no problem if you want to go pay for it. If I want to go educate myself right now, guess what? If I'm taking classes, I'm paying for it. That's all I'm saying. I have no problem with people that want to do that. If you want to do it within the state, that's fine. It's minimal expenses. But to pay for somebody to go to Orlando or San Diego or wherever, that's a whole different ball of wax.”

The board ultimately approved board members attending any conference they choose, either state or national, with district reimbursement.

Under the approved motion, board members can attend state conferences and get reimbursement without prior board approval, and they can attend national conferences and get reimbursed if the board approves it by vote before attendance.