Seems when someone has something to hide is when you get this nonsense. Young needs to be replaced . Also its been over two weeks and nothing has been updated or responded to.
Glenn Koocher seems to say they can do what they want and the people don't matter.
NORTHFIELD — While some members of the public have been frustrated by
lack of answers from the Pioneer Valley Regional School Committee about
recent staffing concerns, the leader of the state association of school
boards says the lack of communication is not uncommon or without
reason.
Executive Director of the Massachusetts Association of
School Committees Glenn Koocher, who has been in the role for 16 years
and served on the Cambridge School Committee for 12 years, said the
majority of Massachusetts school boards do not respond to public
comments.
“If it’s public comment period, individual committees
have their own rules about whether or not they will interact with the
public,” Koocher explained. “Usually, school committees do not respond
to public comment (but) if it’s appropriate, they can change that.”
Koocher said “it is up to the chair to try to manage what happens” during board meetings.
During
a recent Pioneer board meeting, residents sought answers to whether
exit interviews had been conducted with recently resigned staff members —
an idea that was proposed during the May meeting — and whether a
$477,487 budget shortfall, which was reported last September, was
resolved.
Initially, Committee Chairwoman Patricia Shearer said that
residents would be invited to express their concerns and, after all of
the concerns had been voiced, the board would provide answers to each
question. But, a few complaints later, Shearer retracted her statement
in favor of not responding to the public’s questions, saying, “I think
that I misspoke.”
“There’s no manual to deal with the situation
you have here right now,” said Jack Killeen of Bernardston during June’s
meeting. “I think that there is a communication problem within this
community.”
According to the board’s 882-page book of policies
and operational procedures, “citizen complaints shall be referred to the
superintendent for follow-up action.” In the book’s Code of Ethics, it
also states that all board members agree to “discuss (complaints) at
committee meetings only if administrative solutions fail and/or require
joint resolution.”
Occasionally, Koocher said, an interactive hearing is called, particularly when budgeting issues are to be decided.
However,
board members are responsible for policy making and monitoring the
budget, as well as hiring and evaluating the superintendent. Day-to-day
oversight of schools, Koocher said, “is done by the superintendent with
some measure of autonomy.”
As the board’s role isn’t
administrative, members are removed from decisions concerning school
personnel. And, as Superintendent Ruth Miller stated during May’s
meeting, she cannot publicly discuss personnel issues due to privacy
laws, leaving a lot of questions concerning recent staff changes that
are likely to go unanswered.
“Statewide, these are issues that take place,” Koocher said of the public’s frustrations.
At
June’s meeting, the board decided that answers to citizens’ questions
that can be addressed publicly should be put on the Pioneer Valley
Regional School District website within the next two weeks.
“It is
time to use the website to document some facts,” said board member
David Young. He added that, due to the privacy laws, why an employee
left will not be addressed.
Young said that he has also led
discussions concerning either moving citizens’ concerns to the end of
each board meeting, as opposed to the start, or eliminating public
comment from the formal meeting altogether. Eliminating public comment
would still adhere to the board’s policy, which is consistent with the
open meeting law, Young said. He said nothing has been decided with
respect to change.
