School board meetings are supposed to be held publicly. The law says that the board's business is supposed to open and transparent. It further states that time should be allowed for "public" questions. Our board (most boards) do not discuss anything at the open meeting. They must meet in secret. The meeting is usually over in 30 minutes. It only lasts that long because they take what should be "business time" to have a teacher report on a new method of dealing with report cards or for the kindergarten teacher to show the latest drawings of her five year old's. They whiz through the agenda spending millions of dollars without a any discussion at all. They are excellent at spending money. It is amazing how a board can vote to spend millions without asking questions and without allowing the public to have any input.
In our school district "public participation" is relegated to a few minutes at the beginning of the meeting. This is before the board addresses items on the agenda. There is a three minute time limit on all questions. (That is unless you are a friend of the people in charge.) Sometimes they have people sign in to speak very early so that there isn't time for the "public" to speak. They don't want to hear what you think. They definitely don't care what you think.
Another common trick is to fill up "the small room" with union members so that they can say that the "fire code" prohibits another person in the room. The latest trick is to have a 6'6" police officer standing and blocking the entrance to the board meeting room. I was told by this officer that if I tried to sign in to speak that I would be "taken in." At this meeting many taxpaying citizens had to stand outside. One of my friends was asked to remove her vehicle from the parking lot. The reason given was that the superintendent said her car was a "threat." What was the threat? She had a sign on her vehicle stating: "Just Say NO to the Levy." Three police cruisers circled the parking lot the entire time we stood there.
Another trick that is used by superintendents everywhere is to send out invitations to a question and answer meeting to state the reasons why the district needs more money. There are usually more union members attending than taxpayers. They place these employees throughout the room. You don't know who is sitting next to you.
The superintendent gives a little speech and passes out cards for you to write down your questions. Naturally, he only selects the cards that were completed earlier by his staff. Of course, he has answers ready for these questions. One lady stood up and tried to ask him a question and he refused to answer her. He became quite hostile when she persisted that he answer her simple question. I might add that police cruisers were sitting at all entrances to the building. Yes, this "open meeting" was held at OUR high school.
I am not surprised that the next step is to threaten and arrest anyone that tries to ask legitimate questions of the school board. The people in charge are not interested in what you think. They are only interested in your money.
