October Board Meeting

It was a doozey - Where to begin?

Robert's Rules of Order

The meeting kicked off with a challenge from the audience. Last month, you may recall, the Board voted to change the meeting format. Particularly controversial were the changes to the public input segment. Many people felt that the new format was designed to minimize public participation and keep critics of the district away from the microphone. Well, immediately prior to this meeting, the word had gotten out that the new format was not going to be implemented this month after all.

The challenge, from a teacher of American Government, focused on the Board's failure to adhere to Robert's Rules of Order and their own policies. According to Board policy (and Oregon Revised Statute, I would add) once the Board has made a decision to change their policies, those changes become effective the very next day. All of the other changes (location, shortened business portion, work session at the end) to the meeting format that they agreed to last month were implemented except for the public input portion. It may seem strange that teachers and members of the public who had disagreed with the changes were now angry that they were not being implemented. But here's the thing - teachers had prepared themselves for the new format and a large number of them had come to the Board meeting for the proposed "small group listening sessions" only to be told at the last minute that it was not going to happen. Dealing with the Board seems like a constantly shifting terrain in which the rules change in ways designed to keep public participation to a minimum. The public would like to maximize its participation - hard to do when then the rules keep changing.

Susan Stoops, the Board Chair admitted that she and Joseph Hunter had agreed between the two of them to delay implementation of that single part of the new plan. She was obviously flustered and asked for a short recess so that the Board could consider how to proceed in the face of the challenge only to be reminded by the audience that the Board was to conduct all deliberations in open meetings. They recessed anyway and when they reconvened a few minutes later Traci Hamilton offered the opinion that since it was not a policy change it was OK for the Board Chair to decide whether it had to be implemented or not. First of all, it was a policy change. Board policy BDDH specifies how public input at meetings is to be gathered so, whether they explicitly stated that this was a change to Policy BDDH or not, it was in fact a policy change. Secondly, when a duly elected Board votes on anything, policy changes or not, it is binding. The Board Chair cannot set aside any part of decisions made by the Board as a whole. If the Board wants to avoid a complaint to the Secretary of State's Office, I would recommend a refresher course on parliamentary procedures from the high school teachers who teach this stuff to kids. The abridged version: Majority rules, votes count. I was disappointed that none of the other Board members spoke up in protest. I was particularly disappointed in Paul Evans who knows better but who nonetheless sat there like a bump on a log. The end result was that they went along with the Chair's dictates.

The Board did take public comment at the beginning of the meeting as they have done in the past. Although the stated policy is that they will not comment on anything heard in "comments from the floor," the reality is that they do when they want to - usually to disagree with something that has been voiced and when the speaker has no opportunity to respond. When they don't want to engage, they hide behind the policy. I think a little consistency is in order. For my part, I would appreciate more actual back and forth discussion with the public.

Circling the Wagons

After a short business meeting, the Board adjourned and went into work session. The Chair announced that they would not take comments or questions and then they moved the tables into a circle (a square actually but the effect was the same) in which they were all facing one another and the public was totally excluded. The had their backs to us and we could neither see them nor hear them very well. It was a rather stunning demonstration of apparent contempt that left most of us shaking our heads in disbelief. As critical as I have been of the School Board, even I have trouble believing that this was their intent. Hopefully, they won't do it again.

As usually happens, the public was not furnished with the documents the Board discussed including the bond report and the superintendent's report on the print shop issue. It gives every appearance of trying to keep us out of the loop and uninformed. And, based on the part of the discussion we could hear, it would seem that they still don't have a real bond budget to look at. I hate to say I told you so but see the post below titled "The Run Around."

While the work session is separate from the "business agenda," they do conduct business. Paul Evans, for example, moved to restore the half-time position to the print shop. He, Kathy Zehner, and Mary Shellenbarger voted "yes" and Susan Stoops voted "no." Sara Ramirez and Traci Hamilton both abstained and later said that they felt rushed and overwhelmed. The issue will apparently be revisited next month once they have more information about where the money will come from. I have some suggestions although I doubt they will ask me. I thought the Board asked the supt. last month to figure out a way to restore staffing at the print shop but all he did was reiterate his initial decision.

Another topic that came up was the debate on what to do with the modulars at the high school. Hunter seemed to be suggesting that the City of Independence was forcing the district to move them. People have checked with the city, however, and they said all the district needs to do is apply for a variance and they can stay where they are currently. The superintendent has been eager to move them down 16th Street to the lot across from Talmadge. The original plan for the 16th St. property was to construct two new athletic practice fields and to use the modulars to create a new campus for district wide programs. The total cost of $1.6 million was deemed too high. $1.3 million of that was for the practice fields which would have been inconveniently located and difficult and expensive to maintain. A citizen's group was successful in convincing the Board to scrap that plan in favor of artificial turf which was not only more useful but cost half as much. So the development of 16th St. is officially on hold. In the meantime it looks like they have already begun to build the road into the property. I'm not sure where that money is coming from and I know the Board has not yet approved the plan to relocate the buildings. In my experience, the superintendent generally does whatever he wants and then maneuvers the Board into rubber-stamping his decisions. I hope that is not what is happening now.

Working Without a Contract

Teachers spoke out at the meeting and begged the district to come back to the bargaining table. I've sat through three bargaining sessions now as an observer and it doesn't seem to me that the union and the district are too far apart on money issues. I could certainly feel the teachers' frustration - no matter what they offered it was never enough. The difference between the two sides on insurance costs, for example, is only about $40,000 which is about half of what the district allocated this year for travel and administrative mileage. Surely health insurance for the teachers is more important? The superintendent is playing a dangerous game, demanding steep concessions from the teachers while maintaining his own salary and benefits. If the two sides go to mediation the clock will start ticking down to a possible strike. The Board, unfortunately, did not order the superintendent to go back to bargaining and our teachers are now working without a contract. This has necessitated changes in school schedules as the old agreement on the Professional Learning Communities and early release for students on Mondays has now expired.

Sorry this post rambles. There was a lot that happened. Some of it I will have to cover later after I get clarification on the wording of their final business which was conducted after the Board emerged from executive session at 10:15 pm.