"Minutes Seem Like Hours, Hours Seem Like Days"
The minutes of School Board meetings are at best an imperfect rendition of what actually occurs there. This will probably always be the case; nothing really comes close to being there -- maybe that's why so many choose to stay away! Minutes, of course, will never capture high drama or low squalor; they're not meant to.
Minutes should at least attempt to capture the most important parts of the meeting. They have first, a basic role as the legal document representing Board action on motions brought before it. In this aspect, Board minutes are records that represent the District -- to the State and Federal Departments of Education upon occasion, and to the public. They're important both in the present and as an historical record of if, when, and how the public's representatives dealt with an issue.
As well, the minutes of Board meetings serve as a record of other aspects of the meeting. These should include who was present - at least from the Board and from the District administration, what reports were given, what meetings and workshops are coming up, and so forth.
A troubling aspect of the minutes of Board meetings over the last year and a half is the disproportionate emphasis on administrative reports. Take a look at any recent minutes, for instance those for September (whoops! better make that August), and you'll see all kinds of room given over to administrative reports. However, committee reports -- reports from your representatives and to you, as a member of the public - zilch. Educational reports? The same -- nothing!
Curious. What does this mean? You'll interpret it as you wish. I suggest it might mean something in terms of the importance the meeting's secretary assigns to these different aspects of the meeting.
When ad-hoc committees, Board sub-committees, or committees report, the public should be at least as informed as it is informed of Administrators' reports. And if a school system professes to be "student first" in its philosophy, then is it asking too much for educational reports made by staff members and students to be given equal consideration?
While there is no doubt that the Administrators have valuable information to share, we feel that there is at least equally valuable information that is being withheld from the record, by the secretary.
Minutes should at least attempt to capture the most important parts of the meeting. They have first, a basic role as the legal document representing Board action on motions brought before it. In this aspect, Board minutes are records that represent the District -- to the State and Federal Departments of Education upon occasion, and to the public. They're important both in the present and as an historical record of if, when, and how the public's representatives dealt with an issue.
As well, the minutes of Board meetings serve as a record of other aspects of the meeting. These should include who was present - at least from the Board and from the District administration, what reports were given, what meetings and workshops are coming up, and so forth.
A troubling aspect of the minutes of Board meetings over the last year and a half is the disproportionate emphasis on administrative reports. Take a look at any recent minutes, for instance those for September (whoops! better make that August), and you'll see all kinds of room given over to administrative reports. However, committee reports -- reports from your representatives and to you, as a member of the public - zilch. Educational reports? The same -- nothing!
Curious. What does this mean? You'll interpret it as you wish. I suggest it might mean something in terms of the importance the meeting's secretary assigns to these different aspects of the meeting.
When ad-hoc committees, Board sub-committees, or committees report, the public should be at least as informed as it is informed of Administrators' reports. And if a school system professes to be "student first" in its philosophy, then is it asking too much for educational reports made by staff members and students to be given equal consideration?
While there is no doubt that the Administrators have valuable information to share, we feel that there is at least equally valuable information that is being withheld from the record, by the secretary.
posted by PP | 10/19/2006 06:00:00 AM
1 Comments:
blah blah blah.
If it's not one thing, it's another.
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