July 25 Board Meeting -- Q&A

I’ve spent too much time working on this one, mostly because Patrick Garmoe did such an excellent job of writing about this in the July 27 edition of the Daily Herald.

At the Q&A portion of the July meeting, I used my five minutes to ask once again for the Board to consider making available some means of contact; e-mail addresses, phone numbers, something, that residents can use to contact the members of the Board outside of monthly Board meetings. When I brought this up to the Board at a previous meeting, I was told that the Board members have no individual authority outside of the Board, so it wouldn’t do any good for residents to contact members of the Board individually.

I brought with me printed copies of web pages of various elected officials: Rep. Donald Manzullo, Sen. Dick Durbin, Sen. Barack Obama, State Sen. Pamela Althoff, and State Rep. Mark Beaubien. Each official was elected to a body to represent the people. I made the point that none of these officials have any more individual authority with the entities to which they were elected than do the members of our School Board. Yet, on each website, residents can find full contact information to communicate with them. Addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses; they are all there.

Of course, it is possible that the relationship these elected officials have with the government bodies to which they were elected that school board members don’t have with the body to which they were elected. Sure, they are all elected by the people to serve in a legislative body to represent the people. But maybe there is some reason that was not apparent to me why School Board members should not publish contact information for the benefit of those they represent. So, did some random searches of School Boards, and found several school district websites, from across the country and from right here in the Chicagoland area, that publish not only names of School Board members, but addresses, phone numbers, voice mailbox numbers, and e-mail addresses for each member of the board. Some of the websites had pictures of the Board members, and one even had a short biography of each Board member. I gave printouts of these websites to the District 3 Board as well.

Board President Paula Zasadil started the discussion by saying that the Board may have sounded aloof with its previous answer. She said that Board Members often hear from residents when they shop or do other business around town. She added that all of the Board Members’ phone numbers are listed in the PTO phone books issued each year. She also reiterated that the Board would prefer that parents of students work through issues first with teachers, then the school administrators before coming to the School Board.

I responded that, yes, that was all true, but that residents shouldn’t feel as though they have to dig up the home phone number of a Board Member in order to voice a concern or ask a question. I also noted that residents without children in either school do not receive a PTO phone book. If a resident had a concern about the district, about taxes or spending, for example, and had to work on Monday nights, they would be effectively shut out of the representative process under current conditions.

District 3 Board Member Steve Knar suggested that the District open and publish an e-mail address that would be common to all of the Board Members. E-mail sent to this address would be printed, read, and discussed at Board Meetings.

Board Member Bob Nunamaker said he didn’t feel that the Board should be starting a dialogue. He said that he has sympathy for people unable to make it to Board Meetings, but if the Board got into phone numbers and dialogues, where would the Board be? He did agree with Steve Knar’s idea of having an e-mail address that would be shared by the Board.

Board Member Tom Mollet asked if such an e-mail address might be redundant, since the school administration has e-mail addresses that are published on the District 3 website. But the administration is not the same as the School Board – School Board members are elected by the voters, while school administration is hired by the School Board.

Board President Zasadil suggested that a common e-mail address might be able to be used for all questions for the district, not just for the Board.

Board Member Nunamaker said that he liked the idea of e-mails that would be presented unfiltered at Board Meetings.

The school superintendent, Dr. Jackie Krause, said that the administration has worked hard to get people to see the progression of concerns and come to Board Meetings. Dr. Tim Mahaffy suggested that the website should include text near the common e-mail address stating that parents should first direct questions and comments to teachers or administrators, as would be appropriate by the situation.

Board Member Mollet said he was afraid that Board Members might interpret questions or comments differently when they are presented by e-mail, ,and may incur long discussions without knowing exactly what the e-mailer meant. Board Member Knar didn’t see this as a concern, noting that having this kind of additional communication avenue might involve retirees in the school district.

Board Member Nunamaker said that he didn’t think that the Board will get many e-mails. I think he may well be right, but volume isn’t really the point. The reason the Board should have contact information published is so that residents know that the Board is there to represent them, that they are open to being contacted when residents need to. Board Members shouldn’t have to be worried about confrontations at the grocery store or cleaners, and residents shouldn’t have to feel that this is the only way to be heard.

Dr. Mahaffy said that he will be looking into setting up a common e-mail address for the Board to use and publishing the address on the District 3 website.