Saturday, March 28, 2020

Board Meeting - time change. Attachment missing

The re-scheduled meeting of the School Board, now on March 31 (not last week, as it should have been), includes an earlier start time for the Regular Session. NOTE: If you want to be there at the beginning and want to speak, plan to arrive before 6:00PM.

The Executive Session will be held at 5:30PM, and the Regular Session will start at 6:00PM (not 6:30PM).

A significant omission from the agenda for the March 31 meeting is the attachment for revisions to Board Policy BEDH. Without that attachment, it is very hard to know what the Administration and the Board have up their sleeves for changes to the Public Participation board policy.

The Public Participation segment seems to be only a "courtesy" time allowed to members of the public. The board does not  respond to speakers at the meeting, and my experience has been that the board does not respond after meetings, either. The first segment is before the board addresses business on the agenda. The second segment could allow members of the public to comment of actions taken by the board at the meeting, but there are seldom any speakers slotted to the second segment.

Often the Chair announces that no one has signed up for the second segment, except that isn't how it works. There is no place of the required advance form to indicate a preference to address the board at the second segment.

What is the Board cooking up for revisions to Policy BEDH?

Usually the revisions to a board policy are attached to the agenda, so that the public is given notice of changes and has an opportunity to provide input. Not this time. Why not?

ALERT: At the April 7, 2020 board meeting a Public Input session will be held at 5:00PM. This likely has something to do with the budget, but no information is provided in the preview of the agenda.

Why does the board schedule a Public Input session for 5:00PM? Generally, few or no members of the public show up. The Public Input session remains open for 30 minutes, and then the Board disappears into Executive Session for 60 minutes. Generally, board members chat privately (even though it is an official meeting of a quorum of the board) or look at their phones. At 6:30PM the Regular Session on April 7 is scheduled to start.

Why doesn't the board schedule the Public Input session for 6:30PM and then continue right into the Regular Meeting? The Public Input portion could be part of the board meeting. If no one shows up, the board could move right into agenda items.

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