The Pleasant Valley School Board is working on a policy to form a citizen advisory committee.

Policy 905 would consist of three board members, interested residents from the community and administrators from the district recommended by the committee. The purpose of the committee would be to address specific school issues and keep the board and administration informed about community opinion, according to the policy.

Any resident interested in being a committee member would need to submit in writing a request to be on the committee explaining how he or she can contribute to the committee’s function. The school board is seeking a wide range of community interests and backgrounds for the committee.

School board President Sue Kresge asked the directors for comment on the policy. She asked them if any of them would like to volunteer for the committee, suggestions of topics for the committee, and whether or not there should be different committee members for different topics or the same committee members for all of the topics.

Directors John Gesiskie volunteered, and director Michael Galler suggested he chair it. He also suggested director Robert Clark be on the committee to which Clark said he would consider it.

Galler said he thinks the committee should meet monthly and there should be a component that educates the public on how the school district works, but not just for that purpose. Gesiskie and Vice President Matthew Walters agreed.

“The whole idea is we sit here, we represent our community, but let’s expand our community. I think that’s what we’re trying to do here,” Galler said. “Someone may have a great idea and bring it, and we can have a brainstorming session on that.”

Director Norm Burger suggested that the board members on the committee should be dependent on the topic.

“We need to maintain some degree of flexibility,” Burger said. “Each one of us brings different set of experiences.”

Walters suggested that there be two constant members and one rotational member based on topic.

Gesiskie suggested the committee include one person from each municipality in the school district. He would also like to encourage teachers and administration to attend the meetings.

Director Melanie Zipp was concerned that the committee meetings could get off the topic.

“We want (the meetings) to be meaningful, all right, and productive,” she said.

Kresge replied that she thinks the board needs to come up with some topics, and then ask the community to give their ideas.

“I think we have to initiate it,” she said.

Director Ryan O’Keefe said this is the first version and it isn’t going to be perfect, but they will work out the specifics.

He added, “I think the community deserves it. We deserve the interaction with the community. … I want to think this through, do it right, and make sure we’re capturing what the community wants.”

Burger said the committee meetings limit their discussion to one topic per meeting.

“What you’re going to find yourself is you’re going to be drug in several different directions, and you’ll be going nowhere,” he said.

Gesiskie suggested the meetings be kept to one hour.

The policy states that the committee meetings will be open to the public, and the committee will submit reports to the school board, but the school board is free “to accept, reject or amend/modify committee recommendations.”

The first reading of the policy was held at the school board’s meeting on Thursday. The board liked the ideas presented, and Superintendent James Konrad said he would incorporate the comments of the board into the policy. The new policy can only be adopted after the second reading and an approval vote of the school board. The second reading of the policy will be on the agenda for the April 27 meeting.