The North East School District publishes the agenda and backup documents to be discussed and/or voted on before every school board meeting. They are posted on the school district website just over 24 hours prior to the meeting which is within the time they are required to do so. Backup documents can be quite long, a brief set might be 60 or 70 pages, but often run over 100 and sometimes over 200 pages in length. If you consider the time necessary just to eat, sleep and tend to family and jobs or business, the public has very little time to examine the agenda and documents before the meeting.
If the school district’s intention is to inform the public about the topics up for discussion, they would be far better served by making those documents available sooner, perhaps using the same time schedule as currently followed by both North East Borough and Township where agendas are posted 3 days before their meetings. That extra time makes it possible for interested citizens to adjust their schedule so they can attend the meeting to hear the discussion, offer comments and ask questions if a topic listed is of particular concern to them.
Publish agendas and documents 72 hours before meetings
Earlier publication is simple, the public would have the opportunity to study the materials, becoming more informed and meeting attendance might increase with citizens who are interested in how their schools operate. The school district would benefit by having better discussions and comments from the public.
The school district might counter this proposal by saying last minute agenda changes are sometimes necessary, but that is already dealt with since “agenda revisions” is the first item on the agenda after taking the roll call of board members present.
So, a more informed public, increased attendance at the meetings by interested citizens as well as more and better comments from engaged voters and taxpayers who want the best for our students and everyone in the community, what’s not to like?
The school district could start immediately, perhaps even today. What do you think?
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Jo Tomasino says
Absolutely !!!!!!
Jen says
Agree …. Everyone understands changes but they can get the core of what’s being discussed available ASAP… Thanks again Paul for making people stop and think. It’s so easy to just accept “this is the way we’ve always done things” explanation.
jeffery L Buchholz says
Transparency is vital in maintaining the public’s trust. The 24-hour notice is incompatible with transparency. I emailed Dr. Hartzell and each board member today requesting an agenda revision to address this issue at this Thursday’s board meeting. I suggested they visit this site and consider changing the public’s time to receive the agenda and supporting materials to a 72-hour notice.
An agenda revision can be voted on if it does not require significant money or a contract. If Dr. Hartzell does not add this to the agenda, I assume she will offer a logical reason for not doing so.
jeffery L Buchholz says
Dr. Hartzell did not amend the agenda at the 10-17 meeting, and no board member made a motion to discuss the issue I described above.
I sent the following to Dr. Hartzell and each board member two days ago.
Dr. Hartzell
School Board members
Mr. Jeff Fox
Folks,
I hope you each will give me the courtesy of reading this.
I am perplexed by Dr. Hartzell’s and each board member’s refusal to discuss my request to change the time frame required to give the community the Board meeting agenda and supporting materials from 24 to 72 hours. Dr. Hartzell’s refusal to put this issue on the agenda would not have prevented any board member from making a motion to discuss the issue.
I’m very confident any unbiased community member reading the community (#900) school board policy, and the language in the Open Meetings Law (Sunshine Law) would readily agree that a 24-hour notice does not align well with the spirit and intent of the public notices.
I understand that board members receive the supporting materials even earlier than 72 hours before a meeting.
The Borough and the Township send out meeting information 72 hours before a meeting, so why can’t the school district?
I cannot think of a positive reason not to switch to a 72-hour notice. If you have solid reasons, please share them with your stakeholders. If you folks choose not to talk about it, it will send a powerful message to the community.
Either Dr. Hartzell works for the community, and the Board represents us, or you don’t!
Enjoy the great weather expected this week.
Regards,
Jeffery Buchholz
.
jeffery L Buchholz says
As a follow-up, I sent the following to each board member, Dr. Hartzell and business manager, Mr. Jeff Fox.
Hello,
Perhaps you each are aware that I recently emailed Dr. Hartzell a couple of times requesting that the board consider changing the time frame for the community to have access to the agenda/and supporting materials for board meetings from the current 24 hours to 72 hours.
Mr. Crowe, “northeastpaonline.com,” has the same issue on his website. I request you read it as it details his/my concerns on the time frame notice.
Dr. Hartzell responded to me offering three reasons for keeping the time frame 24 hours. In the spirit of compromise, at least from my point of view, I suggested 48 hours instead of 72 hours. I suggested that would show the community that she and the board value the community’s input. She did not respond, so I took that as a rejection. I assume Dr. Hartzell shared this issue with the entire board. If you folks have no idea what I’m writing about, you have significant communication problems with your Superintendent.
I felt her reasons did not trump the language, spirit/intent of both the district’s policy #900 and the Open Meetings Law. However, since I’ve never been a superintendent, board member or business manager, I took a survey to see what the other school districts similar to North East do.
The following are the districts I surveyed and the results. I hope the community can hear the board discuss this issue by putting it the next meeting agenda. Moving the meetings to Monday would eliminate Dr. Hartzell’s most significant concerns, plus it would give the community the opportunity for the majority of community members to review both the agenda and supporting materials during their weekend non-working hours.
24-HOUR MEETING NOTICE
North East
Iroquois
General McLane
Fort Lebouf
LONGER NOTICES
Corry-Thursday afternoon for a Monday meeting
Fairview-Friday for a Monday meeting
Girard-Thursday for a Monday meeting
Harborcreek-1:00 on Monday for a Thursday meeting
Millcreek-Always at least 48 hours online. Sooner (up to 72 hours) if available, they can be
picked up at the main office
Northwestern-Friday for a Monday meeting
Seneca-Friday for a Monday meeting
Thus 70% of the other county schools give at least a 48-hour notice with most giving a 72 or more hours’ notice. They all face the same hurdles Dr. Hartzell offered as reasons for staying with 24-hours, yet most have not found those reasons compelling enough to do as NE does.
It is my understanding any board member can ask Dr. Hartzell to place this issue on the agenda. I request that Board resident Mobilia do so.
If this is not, at least, discussed at the next board meeting, it may send a very clear message to the community.
The message, in my opinion, will be you folks represent the administration and yourselves instead of the community. You folks don’t want a big crowd when dealing with controversial issues.
Regards,
BUCK