Comments on Public Comments

I remember when I wasn't on the Board of Ed and I would sometimes watch the meetings...occasionally a member of the community would step up to the microphone during the public comment portion of the meeting and ask a question. The Board members would listen to the question and then the person would sit down. Nobody answered the question. Now, many times, the question posed wasn't really a question at all, but rather a comment or criticism disguised as a question. That's ok...that's one way to make a point. But in some cases, the question was really a question. And from the "audience," it looks like the question was never answered.

Now that I'm "on the inside," I can clarify what's happening with regard to public comments at Board meetings. First of all, the purpose of the public comment section is intended to be for comments. Anyone and everyone is welcome to come make a comment, and the comment process is "managed" by the presiding officer, normally the Board president. It has been the Board's practice to not answer questions during meetings, in order to keep meetings moving and avoid a situation of back-and-forth. In addition, frequently the questions answered require some level of research or reference, and the Board or Superintendent don't have the pertinent background info at hand. I can assure you, however, that whenever someone asks a question at the microphone, the Board President or Superintendent does follow-up with an answer directly to the person who asked. This could be in the form of an email, letter, phone call or face-to-face meeting.

Is this good enough? I'm not sure. I totally understand the need to keep the meetings moving and to avoid public differences that could detract from the real work that must be accomplished at these meetings. And I do understand that it could be unfair to answer some questions but not others. But the open-endedness of the unanswered questions somehow bothers me. What if the question is a good one, with broad interest among the community? Wouldn't we want that question to be answered for everyone? I'm not sure how to do it yet. Maybe any questions posed at Board meetings could be listed, along with answers, on the district website at a later date (and after the person who asked has received their answer directly.). I don't know...just thinking out loud here. I'll see if we can't come up with some ideas in an upcoming meeting of the Communications Committee. If you have any ideas, please let me know.