The school board candidate workshop

I left the workshop disturbed by page 13 in our handout. It had to do with the dos and don’ts of handling “pressure groups” at board meetings.

Under the do’s were; do tell stakeholders that they can not ask questions, and do remind stakeholders that there is a rule that prevents them from asking even legitimate questions.

Under the don’ts were; don’t answer questions, and don’t take questions from stakeholders, even legitimate questions about the manner in which you are exercising the power which they have entrusted to you; power which is fundamentally theirs.

By way of justification; “There just isn’t time at board meetings, to answer questions that require detailed explanations.”

OK, what about a simple question that requires only a yes or a no, like; are you willing to hold yourself honestly accountable to any standard of conduct at all?

The public forum is the only place where that question can be asked on the record.

If the public forum is moved off the record, then the question and the response are moot.

At what point did it become OK for public servants to dictate the terms of their public service?

And for how much longer will that arrangement be tolerated?

There is no ethical justification for removing the public forum from the public record.

They have deliberately and dishonestly edited the public records of public forums in order to hide the truth. They have deliberately deceived stakeholders.

The evidence is incontrovertible. It is a matter of public record.

The right to ask a legitimate question and to expect a good faith response, on the public record, is worth defending.

A just resolution will not be the result of justice; it will come after the fight.

Sacrifice is the currency of commitment.