Kudos to Sarah for the great notes. This has been an ongoing sore spot for me. I try to attend all meetings - though there are still meetings I am unable to make for various reasons. This is not an easy task, but I am fortunate to have some control over my schedule flexibility. Most people's schedules are not as flexible. They are not able to get work or kid coverage at 4pm, let alone for the discussion meetings before that.
I have sat on city-level commissions (City of Crystal) in the past and those meetings were run very well. This was largely due to keeping focus on why we were there to begin with and we also followed formal meeting agendas, reporting and Robert's Rules of Order. In my mind, we've gotten off track with the current School Board meetings. They should, among other things, be an opportunity for parents, teachers, and many others to interact with and communicate with the Directors (two-way communication). If someone makes the effort to arrange for child care or take off early from work or pass on another church/community meeting to attend the Board Meeting, then the opportunity to communicate with the Board should be high priority. I'm not one for pointing out flaws if I can't offer some suggestions. So in that vein and in no particular order, here are 10 easy ways to improve the meetings to serve that and other goals. Building on Sarah's comments, these include: * Formally record (notes, TV, radio) the meetings in whole (discussion meetings, regular meeting and audience comments). If there are/were legal reasons to not have the audience comments on TV or on the record, then address it with a 7 second time delay. These comments should be on record and are important for ongoing involvement. * Begin the discussion meetings at 6pm. I think the discussion and Board meetings should be combined. However, if there is some reason they need to be separate that I am unaware of, then this meeting should be at a time when more people could attend. * The regular Board meeting would start right afterwards. * Set a time for community involvement that is still at a reasonable hour. * Update the agenda to include timing for each topic (hence the need for the Chair or other appointed Director to keep the meeting on schedule) * Have at least seven (7) Board meetings per year at District schools, starting with the High Schools. $500 is a fair price for greater community involvement. If that were the only hurdle and the Board wasn't willing to fund it, I am sure many Site Councils would offer to cover that in return for getting the Board on site. * Encourage student involvement. At each of those meetings, student representatives should have an allotted time to speak to the Board and relay what is happening at their schools (successes/needs/etc...). One of our goals is to provide kids opportunity. This is a useful way to do so. I actually believe we should consider a couple students (elected by their peers in the district) to "sit" on the Board (without voting power) for many reasons - but that is another issue. * At each of those meetings held at a school site, that School's PTA and/or Site Council Lead should relay to the Board information they deem appropriate from their involvement. * Following Bill Engish's comments about greater Board involvement, the Board should invite being invited - invite groups to have Board members speak at their functions and meet with their members/attendees/etc... Whether this is a community organization, non profit group, local church or whatever, the Board members could take turns attending events they are invited to and report back (during the Board meetings) the discussions they had. While they cannot "represent" the Board at those meetings, the community will certainly feel more connected/heard by Board Directors in general. The Directors are currently "at large" so this will give their constituents another chance to be heard. * I really like Dir. Flanagan's Child Care suggestion and would love to see what would be involved to offer it. That could be a great driver for involvement. #11 - bonus point - I also really like Bill Kahn's point about having a KBEM Call-in show for the Board. Directors can rotate each week. This would be a great way learn more about what is going on as well as provide your ideas to the Board. These are only 10 (or 11) of the numerous ways to get greater community involvement. Respectfully submitted, Tom Madden On 10/19/05 4:33 PM, "Sarah Greenfield" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > At their discussion meeting yesterday afternoon the Minneapolis Public > Schools Board of Education considered changing board meeting times to be > more accessible for parents. > > From what I can tell, what was missing from the discussion yesterday is > what is missing from most board meetings: a transparent and predictable > process. From timekeeping (there is none, and Chair Joe Erickson > suggested yesterday that it was not his responsibility) to opportunities > for dialogue, to meeting times, little about school board meetings is > inviting to the people who live, work, and educate their children in the > district. > > Since few people were at the meeting yesterday, I'd like to share the > suggestions that came up: > > * Bill English of the Minneapolis Council of Black Churches, who > Erickson invited to speak, suggested the board dialogue with different > communities to get a sense of appropriate meetings times and other > engagement issues > * Allow 5, rather than 3, minutes per community comment > * Consider changing the meeting places as well as time > * Expand the methods of publicizing the board meetings beyond the > internet > * Director Judy Farmer informed the board that holding 3 meetings > per year at alternate locations would cost approximately $500 per > meeting > * Erickson suggested a town hall style board meeting in addition > to the current meetings > * Erickson suggested making digitized audio of school board > meetings available online > * Peggy Flanagan suggested providing childcare for board members > and attendees (for their children, that is) > * The board discussed rotating start times, but concluded that > would cause more confusion > > Since, there wasn't an opportunity for input last night and I am not > aware of the future of this discussion, I'll add a few ideas, and hope > others will do the same here or by calling their school board members. > > * Hear community delegations at a set time (currently they are no > later than 6:30, but often and unpredictably earlier) > * Get someone to take minutes, post them online and make them > available at meetings (On the website, only one set of minutes is > available since October of 2004 and I have heard board members question > whether a resolution was passed at a given meeting, because they had no > record.) > * Assign someone to keep time in discussion meetings and assign > enough time to actually discuss the topics scheduled, including the > inevitable pre-discussion meeting "closed session" that eats up half of > the agenda. Being unclear about the time your meeting will start and end > doesn't create an atmosphere conducive to community input and > participation. > * Keep the cameras on during the community comment section. I > understand there is history here, but people watching at home ought to > be able to get informed about community concerns. > * The board communicates meeting times and topics primarily > through it's website, which already alienates a good percentage of the > district. Digitized broadcasts are accessible to even fewer people. What > about radio broadcasts? > * Finally, I'm sure it's just a faux pas, but, on the district's > website, the link to "Community Engagement Process" leads to this: > "Inactive Section; This section (or one of this section's ancestors) has > been disabled by an administrator." Just for appearances sake, somebody > really oughta fix that. > > Sarah Greenfield > 9th ward/ MPS Alum/ SEIU Local 284 Community Organizer REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! 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