The shouts and emotion traded among school board and audience members during the July 17 meeting dismayed but didn’t surprise Gary Colley. A regular board meeting attendant, he’s seen similar exchanges many times. He’d like to see it end.
Colley and several other county residents penned a public comment policy they’ve submitted to the board for consideration. Colley gave the proposal to Douglas County School Board Member Kevin Larsen in March, but the board has yet to consider it.
Colley and other long-time board meeting attendees say the meetings got more heated after the district introduced its voucher program, now suspended and waiting for a ruling by the Colorado Court of Appeals. The program used state funds to help send students to private schools.
“We’re a sophisticated community,” said Colley, a retired Weld County teacher and county resident who’s attended meetings since 2010. “We’ve got a much more involved and engaged community than has been in this district for a long time. These are people that aren’t going to let other people run away with taxpayers’ money without having a chance to express their views.
“I’ve been pushing for the school board to effectively engage the community, not a core group that supports their ideal.”
The proposed public comment policy calls for the board to adopt a code of conduct “to promote a spirit of cooperation, facilitate dissemination of information,” and “ascertain the community’s opinions and desires with respect to the operation of the school system.”
It charges the board president with maintaining order during meetings, asking him to “respectfully discourage” disruptive behavior. It also directs board members to “avoid the appearance of bias,” and either answer questions immediately or follow up as soon as possible.
Colley said the policy applies to the entire meeting, but it’s most needed during the public comment section. That’s when audience members, generally composed of teachers and parents, offer both criticism and praise of the board, school policies, programs and a wide-ranging, unpredictable swath of other issues.
Many address the 7-member board with trembling voices, teary eyes and clenched jaws, some respectful and some indifferent to the board’s two-minute public comment limit and the video timer that ticks away those seconds. Board members respond to them sometimes with silence, at other times with gratitude or questions and occasionally, in anger.
During the July 17 meeting, questions from the representative of one of the groups involved in the voucher lawsuit triggered angry responses from board members. Other audience members chimed in, and one school board member suggested calling the sheriff’s office.
School board member Meghann Silverthorn, who tried to restore calm at the meeting’s end, hasn’t seen Colley’s proposal, but said, “I believe we need to put a better set of rules in place.”
The board’s policies state that unless otherwise directed by state law or board policy, its meetings are governed by Robert’s Rules of Order. Those rules state speakers must first be recognized by the meeting’s chairperson. The rules prohibit references to personalities or individuals and emphasize courtesy.
“There are a lot of folks who don’t understand the protocol for meetings,” Silverthorn said. “We need to make the public aware of those guidelines so everybody knows what’s expected.”
But she added, board members “speaking back and forth with the audience is not necessarily correct.”
Larsen said other, more pressing issues have consumed the board’s time since Colley proposed the new language. He admits exchanges have sometimes been “downright rude, on both sides.”
“I would like to see us get the discourse to a better level,” he said.
Larsen is among the quieter board members, often falling silent when emotions run high.
“Sitting up there and taking the heat, I think that’s part of life,” he said. “A lot of it is keeping your eye on the ball.”
Karin Piper, founder of Parent Led Reform, has attended meetings since 2008. Early in 2011, she noticed “a lot more passion on both sides.”
She isn’t sure restrictions are needed.
“Where do you stop saying, ‘this is permitted, this is not’?” she said. “I would worry about the potential violation of the First Amendment and free speech.
“In the end, we all want what’s best for our district, our teachers and our kids. We just disagree on how to deliver the education. If we set that aside, this really does not have to drive such a big wedge between us.”
Several among the board maintain they have a mandate from voters who elected them to enact the voucher program, expand school choice options and carry out other directives on which they campaigned.
“We got elected to be the leadership for the district,” Larsen said. “Obviously, if we’re not attuned to the community or persuasive, there’s a time down the road where people can make their opinions really matter.”
JAL posted at 12:17 pm on Fri, Jul 27, 2012.
It truly should be a goal to attempt to keep discussion of issues at School Board Meetings open, frequent, and civil, with people being able to share views even those that differ with the board's direction and agenda without rancor. The public should be able to share views without interruption of others in the audience or from the Board members themselves. Unfortunately this does not always occur. At the last BoE meeting, President Larsen, as the leader of this body, did not express civility in his exchange with Cindy Barnard. You can watch an excerpt of the exchange for yourself. You can see Mr Larsen attacking the speaker ! It is truly astounding. Then you can see another BoE member, Mr. Benevento also attacking the speaker. Cindy is asking, on behalf of the community, for transparency and accountability.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOnPeWniIVE
When the Board made it public that they were going to institute a voucher program, it resulted in strong feelings on both sides. That is to be expected, and as Gary Colley has said, people in the community have a right to express their feelings, on both sides. But it should be done in a respectful way, and it is the responsibility of the leaders to insure their own speech is dignified, and insure that public comments are held to a standard. This BoE as seen in the video above, is questionable in terms of their own behavior.
Why has Meghann Silverthorn and other BoE members not read Colley's proposal on public comments? Why has President Larsen not discussed this proposal publicly? His reason as stated seems weak. Why has this BoE not been transparent about public expenditures?
The BoE indeed needs to realize they represent all of the community, not just the 10% of the population that voted in the election! Yes, around 10% of the voters in Douglas County actually voted in the BoE election. There is no reason to assume then, that this BoE has a mandate. They are public servants, who serve the whole community, who do so as volunteers which is highly commendable and their time commitment is truly appreciated and noteworthy. But they should hold everyone's opinions in high regard and listen, despite the fact that they have their own agenda which seems questionable to many residents. And they need to act responsibly and ethically in all matters pertaining to the schools.
Margo posted at 12:14 am on Thu, Jul 26, 2012.
My neighbors and I have been at the board meetings and the behavior speaks for itself. Accurately depicting what goes on at the board meetings is not biased. The reporter is calling it like it is.
LAD posted at 1:57 pm on Wed, Jul 25, 2012.
Jane...your basis against the district is amazing. Every story seems to be slanted! I thought responsible journalists were to REPORT accurate and balanced stores. You clearly have an agenda other than that. Maybe you sould move to writing an opinion column.