Understanding that it's hard to get members of a public body (ex., a school board) together for a meeting or a workshop, I recommend the following online course to the seven members of the Richland 2 school board.
If they got together in-person with a live training, there would have to be Notice of a meeting, and it would have to be open to the public. Some members would be "politically correct" and choose "nice" words, rather than being totally honest, if a workshop were held in public. Then some feelings will get hurt. And then, Look Out!
So, instead of a workshop on a Saturday and its attendant expenses, I urge the seven members to register for this online course by Ann G. Macfarlane titled Take Control of Your Meetings Using Robert's Rules. It'll cost the District $179 x 7, or $1,253. All should enroll, and they should agree on a certain minimum pace of completion. There are 16 short lessons; less than two hours in total time.
Click on the course title for more information.
From the website comes this information, if you are not going to look for more detail.
"This self-paced online course will equip you to run controlled, fair and democratic meetings using four fundamental guidelines. After taking this course, you will be able to:
- Describe how to conduct meetings as a “benevolent dictator.”
- State the correct action when fundamental guidelines are broken.
- Process the motions Point of Order and Appeal.
- Label and respond to five inappropriate remarks.
- Assert the authority of the group when the chair is out of line.
It's time for order in the meetings. After each board member completes the online training, having paid attention, taken good notes, and recorded questions, then the board ought to get Robert's Rules of Order expert, Attorney Helen McFadden, back for an in-person workshop.
No comments:
Post a Comment