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Illinois School Board Journal
November/December 2004
Let the sun shine on your meetings
by Joanne W. Schochat
Joanne W. Schochat is an attorney and assistant superintendent in Troy Community Consolidated School District 30-C, Plainfield, Illinois, and a member of the Illinois Chapter of the National School Public Relations Association.
Public schools today face unprecedented challenges on many fronts: finances, high stakes testing, unfunded mandates, etc. To foster local support and commitment to public education to even begin to meet these challenges, good communication and excellent public relations are essential. The Illinois Open Meetings Act is consistent with fostering the public's trust and confidence in government officials and the work we do.
"Good Day, Sunshine!"
The basic philosophy of the Open Meetings Act, 5 ILCS 120/1 et seq., Illinois' "Sunshine Law," is that the business of government is to be conducted in the open, where everyone can see what is happening.
School boards need to pay attention to where meetings are conducted, making them "open" as well as "convenient" for the public. The room should accommodate the number of people expected to attend. If anticipated attendance exceeds the room's capacity where the meeting is usually scheduled, exercise reasonable effort to locate a venue likely to accommodate additional attendees.
Agenda importance
The agenda has never been more important than now! The board should only act on agenda items posted in accordance with the Open Meetings Act. This ensures the public is given notice as to what action the board will take at a meeting. For most meetings, the agenda must be posted 48 hours ahead of the meeting. Items added to the agenda after posting or at the board meeting may be discussed but cannot be subject to a vote.
The board can always choose to not take action, or "table" an agenda item. When preparing the agenda, if there is a question as to whether an action item ought to be included, you might do well to include it even if it is stricken from the agenda at the meeting or "tabled."
If an emergency arises, an emergency session could be conducted to consider an item omitted from the agenda at the regular meeting. For example, the regular meeting could be adjourned with an emergency meeting immediately convened to consider the action item not posted for the regular meeting. However, take care that the matter is a true emergency. Overuse of this approach will tend to undercut good public relations. Failure to include an item on the agenda because of failure to plan ahead probably will not be an emergency.
Closed sessions
The board cannot take any action or official votes in closed session. Only discussion on permitted topics may occur. Closed sessions are now required to be recorded to make sure that only permitted topics are discussed.
The board must vote to convene in closed session, citing the specific exception of the Act that authorizes the closing of the meeting to the public. You may want to consider reciting each and every relevant exception permitting a closed session on the meeting's agenda to support convening a closed session. Then, the board may discuss any one of the identified subjects while convened in closed session.
When it comes to recording the meetings, try to designate one person to be in charge. That person will learn how to operate the tape recorder or video equipment efficiently with minimal fumbling. Begin each recording with the date, time and the purpose of taping. This will greatly assist you if labels fall off the cassettes or if cassettes end up in incorrect boxes. Label the tapes, "Board meeting, closed session" with the full date and "Tape 1 of 3," "Tape 2 of 3," as the case may be.
Public comment
The School Code (105 ILCS 5/10-6, 10-16) provides that the public must have an opportunity to comment during regular and special board meetings that are open to the public. Remember, however, that this is the board's meeting conducted in public (i.e., the meeting is conducted among the board members with participation of administration and the public as witness). The public does not participate except for the segment during which the public may comment.
When public comment is established as the usual course of business, meetings can be conducted efficiently even when the issues are contentious or sensitive. In that vein, it is advisable to set ground rules for public comment by board policy. The board may set appropriate time, place and manner restrictions to that segment of the meeting. Some parameters to consider:
Identification of the speaker
Have members of the public who wish to address the board fill out a card identifying themselves by name, address and phone number, and the schools their children attend. This will permit easy follow-up on any concerns.
The board can require these cards be completed before the meeting begins, so that the board president will have an idea of how many people wish to speak and can call them forward, one by one.
When?
Consider carefully where this segment should be placed on the agenda. If the public comment segment is at the end of the agenda, people who wish to address the board must sit through the entire meeting before they can speak. If the comment segment is at the very beginning of the agenda, people will not have the opportunity to comment on board action or discussion taken on the agenda.
Some districts have two opportunities for comment: one at the beginning for any topic of concern and another at the end, limited to the agenda just completed. Identify the purpose of each comment segment on the agenda.
Comment segment duration
Some districts have ground rules on the amount of time each speaker may take and the total amount of time dedicated to public comment during a meeting. Such limits should appear in your policy, and can vary from district to district (e.g., 10 minutes per speaker).The courts have upheld limitations of as little as three minutes per speaker.
Etiquette
The comment segment allows the public an opportunity to address the board. It is not an opportunity to simply call out comments in the middle of a meeting. It also is not an opportunity for the speaker to interrogate board members. Consider the etiquette a board should practice:
1. Avoid engaging in arguments with the speaker. Just let the speaker speak and sit down. Avoid being dragged into an argument with someone who expects immediate discourse or answers to divisive questions.
2. Listen silently, without reaction. The board president or superintendent can make any necessary follow up comment and assure the speaker of further action, if any, to be taken.
Sensitive issues
One of the most sensitive issues school boards will consider is that of budget reductions. Before budget reductions, a special meeting with a single agenda item might be warranted: a meeting simply to conduct a public hearing. This will provide the public the opportunity to share ideas and provide input regarding the planned reductions before the board takes final action.
For this kind of meeting, set the ground rules early and publicize them widely. For example, the board may publicize that each person will have a maximum of 10 minutes to speak. Also, for something critically important to the community, the board may want to consider imposing no time limit on the total time committed to the hearing and personally commit to staying for the long haul - until everyone who wants to speak has spoken.
Remember, if people want to tell the board something, they will not be satisfied until they have had the chance to speak. Affirmatively acting to give your community the opportunity to express their concerns and opinions will go far in creating that necessary partnership to effectively run your schools.
The information in this article is not intended to provide legal advice for a particular situation. Please consult your school district's counsel for advice regarding the specific legal questions you may have.