Bradley V. Balch, a former teacher, principal and superintendent in Indiana, is dean of the College of Education at Indiana State University and has served as president of the Covington Community School Corporation in Indiana for the past six years. James W. Hanna, also a former teacher, principal and assistant superintendent, is currently superintendent of schools for Rossville Consolidated School District in Rossville, Indiana.
Board members serve a wide array of school/community stakeholder needs and are frequently faced with difficult decisions. Informed board members rely on a variety of ways to get information before making a decision. One information source may be a town hall meeting.
However, before considering this type of meeting, be prepared to seek answers to two primary questions: Is this type of forum appropriate? Are we ready?
As a second-term board member (with prior superintendent experience) and a sitting superintendent, we realize that situations arise, whether personnel, program or facility related, that prompt requests from school/community stakeholders for town hall forums. The first time this type of public forum was considered, we found little guidance for planning.
Challenging issues can be highly divisive with many competing solutions, and we wanted to ensure a town hall forum did not escalate divisiveness. So we searched for a framework to organize this type of forum as well as information to assist in deciding whether a town hall forum was appropriate or not.
A framework to guide school boards in a town hall format is difficult to find and information to determine the appropriateness of this forum type is even harder to locate. We decided to frame our considerations around general Code of Ethics statements that are broadly defined enough so that any school board could use them to determine whether a town hall forum is appropriate for any issue.
The following is a template we term "Town Hall Guidelines for School Boards." It should be noted that this is for informational purposes and not intended to supplant legal advice.
Meeting mechanics
Town hall meetings are intended to be interactive forums between board members and attendees. Generally, this format is intended to provide a venue for attendees to ask questions, provide suggestions, share concerns/praise and go into more detail regarding particular issues.
A good length for a town hall meeting is 90 to 120 minutes.
As with other board meetings, public notice of a town hall meeting should be given in accordance with your established notification procedures. This venue constitutes a school board "meeting" given that "official action" includes receiving information and deliberating. Minutes should be taken.
The board should identify a moderator, who often is the board president, but this also could be someone other than a board member. After that, board members should listen actively, respond when appropriate and support open, healthy discussion.
Format
Informational papers should be handed out, whenever appropriate, as attendees enter to guide discussions. Remarks should include introductions, a clear purpose statement for the meeting and the length of the meeting. An introduction of special attendees might include elected or appointed officials who are present.
Meeting protocol (e.g., ground rules, length of speaking time) should be explained. Remind attendees that this meeting format should focus on overarching district issues and not attempt to resolve individual (i.e., personal) issues.
The board also might want to have three to five board-prepared questions for the facilitator to stimulate discussion if needed or redirect attention from attendees who monopolize the discussion.
Inappropriate topics
Some topics are just not appropriate for this discussion, including those not authorized by federal or state statute, such as parts of a student's educational record.
Other topics that should be off limits are:
In addition, a number of materials may not be appropriate for this town hall meeting, including attorney or individual work products in anticipation of litigation, materials that express opinion and are used for decision-making, and diaries, journals and other personal notes.
Additional considerations
Attorney representation at the meeting might be helpful. An attorney can provide legal counsel regarding appropriate discussion/dialogue topics for board members (if called on), and/or can serve as the moderator to keep the meeting running smoothly.
The overall "health" (i.e., a significant measure of overall identity or character) of the board should be considered before agreeing to participate in a town hall meeting. Board "health" might be found, in part, in statements of board ethics. Our general considerations are grounded in the Indiana School Boards Association's Code of Ethics. As individual board members, consider the following declarations based on ethics statements:
• I /We always place "children first."
• I/We function in a policy-making, not administrative role.
• I/We don't "play politics" in a petty sense.
• I/We represent the entire school community.
• I/We seek to improve education throughout the state.
• I/We recognize that authority rests only with the board in official meetings, and that individual members have no legal status to bind the board outside of such meetings.
• I/We recognize the merit of fellow board members.
• I/We refuse to make statements or promises as to how I/we will vote on any matter, which should come from the board as a whole.
• I/We respect the opinions of other board members and conform to the principle of "majority rule."
• I/We refuse to participate in irregular meetings (i.e., "secret" or "star chamber"), which are not official and which all members do not have the opportunity to attend.
• I/We give the superintendent full administrative authority to properly discharge professional duties and hold the superintendent responsible for results.
• I/We act upon the recommendation of the superintendent in matters of employment or dismissal of school personnel.
• I/We want the superintendent present at all meetings of the board except for contract and salary consideration.
• I/We refer all complaints to the proper administrative authority and only discuss them at regular meetings when administrative solutions have failed.
• I/We provide adequate safeguards for the superintendent and others so they may live happily and comfortably in the community and discharge their educational functions on a professional basis.
• I/We present personal criticisms of an employee directly to the superintendent.
• I/We insist that school business transactions be open, ethical and above-board.
• I/We refuse to use my/our board position for personal gain.
• I/We refuse to discuss personnel matters or any other confidential business of the board at home, work or in the community.
• The community is confident that my/our board service evidences that all is being done in the best interests of school children.
We suggest framing your responses to the preceding 20 statements in two ways: as an individual board member and as a school board in general. As you reflect on the statements, determine whether your initial responses evidence you and the board currently, or where you and the board aspire to be in the future.
If the current character/identity of the board and its members is not reflected in the preceding ethical statements in sound and healthy ways, an immediate town hall meeting may not advance its intended purposes. Having a town hall meeting when board members are not collectively responding to the preceding statements in similar ways indicates the board's identity may not be strong and this type of forum could lead to unintended consequences, such as escalated problems.
Boards that follow these general guidelines and determine the "health" of their identity and character should be able to appropriately determine whether a town hall forum is the best choice to receive and share information.