I'm Back! To talk about the Open Meetings Act

Actually, I never left.  But I've spent the last few months working on settling my mom into her new digs, and working on some projects that I promise to write about soon.  But tonight I'm writing to comment on the School Board's new initiative called "The Exchange".  I went to the first one tonight, and I have some comments:

• It was exciting to see a fairly large number of people there for the first time.  The usual folks who follow the Board were there, but also a number of people I didn't know, and that's a good thing.  The Board needs to hear from lots of people.
• It was hard to hear in that particular setting, primarily because of the size of the crowd.  Easy to fix.
• Some people were frustrated, because they thought this would be a chance for them to bring THEIR issue to the Board and get an answer.  This was not going to happen because of the Open Meetings Act ("OMA"), but perhaps we'll get closer as The Exchange initiative progresses.  As I listened at my table, I realized some of the people there didn't understand what the OMA is, so here is an explanation, and a request that you hang in there:  

The Open Meeting Act is NOT a district policy or a marketing name for these meetings.  It is a state law that dictates how a governmental body can talk to "the people".   The intent behind the law is to make sure that if a quorum of a governmental body is present and talking about something, that topic is disclosed to the rest of the world so that anyone else interested in hearing the conversation can show up and listen to it.  That's why the Board had to frustrate some folks this evening-- they came to hear what the Board had to say, but the Board could not comment on specifics that had not been posted.  For instance, one of the ladies at my table wanted to talk about specific books used in 12th grade at a particular high school.  The Board could listen to her concerns (everyone has Free Speech rights) but could not comment on them because it wasn't posted so that my absent friend Jan, who is VERY passionate about books, could be there to hear what the Board has to say about the topic.  

That disclosure happens by "posting" 72 hours ahead of the meeting, meaning the topics to be discussed are literally tacked up in a public place so that people can plan to attend and listen to any discussion that interests them.  Nowadays, the posting also appears on the website, so you don't actually have to drive down to the ESC to check out the bulletin board outside, to see the topics to be discussed.  Of course, there are exceptions, but this is the general intent of the law.  

Speaking of the topics, they have to be posted with some specificity.  Since the entire Board was expected to be present, tonight's discussion had to be posted, so the Board chose the topic "Governance and The Role of The Board."  The Trustees were able to talk about how they decide policy, the difference between oversight and management (this is their role under the Texas Education Code), etc.  That was frustrating because people wanted to talk about lots of specific topics.  The Board handled this by telling people to write the topic they wanted to discuss on a piece of paper, all those papers were gathered and posted on the wall, and then everyone was given three dots to "vote" for topics they want to discuss next time.  This way, the School Board can post some specific topics to discuss at the next Exchange meeting.  It's a compromise, but it is does prioritize the topics that those present want to hear about from the Board in upcoming meetings, and then gives those who were unable to attend tonight a chance to be sure to be present when topics they are passionate about come up for discussion.  Hopefully, those who were frustrated tonight will hang in there until their topics gets to come up for discussion.  The really GREAT news is that even when the Board was unable to comment on something, they were LISTENING to what people were saying.  

Thank you for hanging in there with me.  I look forward to "musing" some more with you...

"Covert Proceedings" is a Bunch of Hooey

Katy school board has two types of meetings each month, a "Work Study" and a "Regular" meeting.  Basically the same issues are discussed at both meetings.  The "work study" is usually 1-2 weeks ahead of the "regular" meeting and is a meeting for the board to ask questions and discuss the issues so that the administration can figure out where a consensus is likely to be.  Once that is discovered, the superintendent and administration can make a recommendation at the regular meeting where the issue will be voted on, hopefully 7-0 or close to that, so that the direction from the board is clear. Frequent 5-2 or 4-3 votes indicate a dysfunctional board. For more on that, see here.  


Now, within each type of meeting, there are two "sub-meetings": a "Closed Session" and an "Open Session."  The Closed (sometimes called "executive") Session is exactly as it sounds: closed to the public.  Everything that the school board discusses must be done in open session, unless the topic is one of the exceptions listed in the Open Meetings Act.  For school districts, the exceptions include discussions involving personnel matters, matters involving specific students, consultation with an attorney, employee complaints, purchase or lease of real property and security measures.  These matters are set aside for logical reasons, like protecting the privacy of individual employees and students or not wanting to give away a negotiating position.  The board discusses the items in closed session, but all votes must later be made in an open meeting.

Proctor and Huckaby walked out of that meeting to kill the quorum and avoid voting on individual employment contracts. Blackman and Majors say there should have been public input before vote was taken.  They are wrong.  Discussion about employment contracts is  never appropriate for open discussion or public input.  Therefore, there was no reason NOT to vote on contracts in a work study meeting.  The exception to this would be the new hiring of someone whose job is of wide public interest, like a principal, where the vote should be taken after the public has had an opportunity to speak at the Open Forum part of the regular meeting.  The district is a BIG BUSINESS, one of the largest employers in west Houston, and needs to move forward in a timely matter.  


So, why are Blackman and Majors (and Proctor and Huckaby) talking about "covert proceedings"?  It is a catch phrase with no merit but lots of emotional weight.  When you vote, don't be swayed by rhetoric that is not backed up with solid information and common sense.  


Early voting continues this week through May 8; 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Taylor and Cinco Ranch High Schools, Wolfe Elementary, and the Education Support Complex.  

A Most Misunderstood Creature: The School Board

Having served on the school board, thought I'd spend some time here answering questions and talking about how the board works.  It is a phenomenon that people who are happy with their schools don't bother to follow the doings of the board and don't bother to vote.  Now that the district is at a crossroads, it is critical that people know how it works so they can see that a school board that doesn't function efficiently will impact classrooms eventually, and they need to understand how important it is that they vote in school board elections.

Comment I heard yesterday:  "It's a 'rubber stamp' board!"  What makes you think that, I asked, and was told it's because the votes are always 7-0.  That doesn't mean a rubber stamp at all.  The board is a 7-headed creature, and each "head" should bring individual values, concerns, ideas, etc to the discussion.

First of all, about 90% of what the board votes on is very mundane matters that don't require a long discussion because the path is obvious, or it's something where the path is very narrow due to State or Federal law.  On the other matters where there is a real issue and direction to be given, the DISCUSSION should be lively and should indicate where a consensus can be reached.  Then, a 7-0 vote gives the administration clear direction on the issue.  When a 4-3 vote comes down, it leaves administration (and parents, taxpayers and everyone else) wondering how long that decision will hold, and no one will move forward on the decision without wondering if they are doing something that will be a big waste of time.  It's a bit like Mom and Dad giving Junior directions on cleaning his room.  Dad might want clothes up and vacuuming, and Mom wants all that and linens changed and dusting.  If Mom and Dad don't get a unified direction out there on the things they can agree on, Junior is going to blow off cleaning his room at all or will play Mom against Dad!

One big difference is that Mom and Dad usually hash out their differences in private, while state law requires that the school board discuss it in a public meeting.  Fortunately, in order to make the meeting more efficient, the school board has information about the item that is sent to every member ahead of time from the Superintendent.  If they talk to more than 2 other members about it, it will violate the Open Meetings Act, so KISD has a practice where if a board member has a question about the materials, he is to send that question in an e-mail to the administration.  Then, the question and answer will be sent to every board member.  That way, everyone arrives at the meeting with the same knowledge, ready to discuss the topic.  If Mom has read Dr. Spock and Dad has not, time will be needed to get Dad up to speed on the topic and what the experts say.  If Mom and Dad have both come to the discussion with the same information, they can efficiently get to the meat of the matter.

In the weeks leading up to the election, I'll try to talk about other aspects of board service.  Knowing what a board does will help people figure out who the best person for the job is.  Send in questions about board service in a comment and I'll tackle the topics as best I can.