Todd Grimes
The Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. board has decided to change some of the practices and structure for its meetings.
The board voted Monday to adopt a set of recommendations from its school board agenda subcommittee.
Subcommittee chair Todd Grimes noted that perhaps the “biggest change” is that members of the public who wish to comment at board meetings will be allowed to speak on any topic, not just items that are on the meeting agenda.
Per the approved list of recommendations, comments are still limited to 3 minutes each, with a total 45-minute limit, and priority will be given to those speaking about agenda items. Extensions are granted at the discretion of the board president.
The other recommendations include:
- Changing the frequency of certain school cabinet member reports to have elementary, secondary, title services and special education officials present at least quarterly and have the superintendent give an annual “State of the Corporation” report not long after the end of each school year.
- Dividing the consent agenda between old/unfinished business and new business.
- Having the assistant superintendent of human resources provide a brief summary of the HR recommendations that are up for approval and an update on the number of open positions in BCSC.
- Eliminating the “Board Commendations” section of the agenda, with members voicing any commendations they may have during the time for “Board Input and Review” at the meeting’s end.
- Having a maximum of two presentations per meeting, with these being no longer than 12 minutes each, during the time for public hearings, special approvals, recognitions and presentations
The school board discussed the public comment recommendations during a work session prior to the regular board meeting, as they are currently considering a docket of NEOLA policy updates that includes changes to the board policy on public participation at board meetings.
Superintendent Jim Roberts said that the board can begin implementing the approved recommendations from the subcommittee starting at the board’s Aug. 7 meeting. However, Monday’s vote was not an official change of policy, as school officials are still working to incorporate the subcommittee’s recommendations into the update.
“We’re not voting on this policy tonight, we’re voting on this practice, and then we’ll adopt it as a policy,” said board president Nicole Wheeldon.
During the work session, board members noticed a couple of differences between the agenda subcommittee’s recommendations and those being drafted by the public engagement subcommittee, in regards to time limits for public comment.
The approved recommendations state that priority is given to comments dealing with agenda items, and extensions are given at the discretion of the board president.
On the other hand, the public engagement group’s draft recommendations stated that public comments are “first come, first served,” said board member Logan Schulz, who is a part of the group.
The group also recommended having a majority of the quorum of board members approve extensions of the 45-minute limit. However, they indicated they would be fine with shifting both of these recommendations to match those of the agenda subcommittee.
The approved recommendations from the agenda subcommittee also state that the board president will ask speakers which BCSC officials, if any, they previously contacted regarding their topic, and remind speakers at the beginning of the session “not to expect answers/engagement from the board that evening.”
There will also be a new column on the sign-up sheet for public comment so that speakers can indicate whether their topic is on the agenda or not.
The public engagement subcommittee will have its next meeting on July 31 at 6 p.m. in the Terrace Room of the BCSC administration building, said subcommittee chair Rich Stenner.
“We’re nearing the end of our work and have found some great ways to improve public engagement at BCSC,” he said.
