School Board: Let The People Speak

photo District 3 board member Greg Martin makes a point in this file photo.

Can we talk?

The late comedian Joan Rivers often used that line to set up a story or joke.

In order to do that with the Hamilton County school board, though, you have to provide a written request 72 hours (three days) before a meeting to get on the agenda.

In that time, you could forget what you wanted to talk about.

District 3 school board member Greg Martin said at Thursday night's meeting he'd like for the board to review its policy in order to offer a more impromptu time for public comment and made a motion as such. He just wanted to start a conversation. The motion also included the suggestion of moving comments by various delegations to the end of the meeting.

The motion died for a lack of support.

During meetings with the Times Free Press editorial board prior to August's election and at community meetings sponsored by UnifiEd, a new Chattanooga nonprofit that wants people to have more involvement in the schools, a number of School Board candidates voiced support for just such dialogue and better communication in general.

Communication is "big," one said. "The lines are not open."

"Intensify community involvement," another said.

"You can't have enough transparency," one said.

Another talked about the importance of the board to engage parents -- that without an open-comment time, parents go away "disheartened."

There also were suggestions of an email commentary site, communication through Facebook, for School Board members to be in school PTA meetings and for students also to have their say.

Some of those comments were made by present school board members, members who at Thursday's meeting -- according to UnifiEd executive director Elizabeth Crews -- "kind of all sat there. Nobody said anything."

Since the city and county schools merged in the late 1990s, there has never been a time set aside for public comment, according to Ann Bates, the board's longtime executive assistant. Prior to that, she told Martin, public comment had occasionally kept meetings going until 3 or 4 in the morning.

It doesn't have to be that way, though.

A variety of ways could be worked out for people to comment. Bates said some districts meet one day to set the agenda and hear public comment and meet a second day to vote on agenda items.

Or public comment could be held to an hour, with each speaker receiving five minutes worth of time.

Or, if speakers had questions for specific board members, they could provide the member a contact number and have the member call them the day after the meeting.

An opportunity for public comment is one of the specific goals of UnifiEd, so Crews said she was "disappointed [that Martin's motion] didn't get a second."

"I don't know what happened," she said. "A couple of them campaigned on transparency."

Without such transparency, people wonder what the board is hiding, if they could ever get a straight answer, if their concerns would be taken seriously.

Eventually, they don't think about coming to a School Board meeting, attending a PTA meeting, helping out at their local school. They don't believe it will make a difference.

Candidates for school board repeatedly said in August they didn't want it to be that way. Parents and community members at UnifiEd-sponsored events prior to the election echoed them.

Fortunately, said Crews, at least one member at Thursday's meeting didn't quite want to leave the matter alone.

District 5 member George Ricks, she said, suggested the matter be brought up at the board's November retreat.

The county 40,000-plus students, their parents and the community deserve at least that much.

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