No in-person attendance will be allowed at the Dec.13, 6 p.m. public meeting of the Clover Park School District (CPSD) Board of Directors.
No reason is given for excluding the public in the announcement on the CPSD webpage.
Why “remote access only” introduces the momentous events of the evening – which include the swearing in of new board members, and the last opportunity to publicly in-person present comments on what has become a controversial proposal to eliminate the long-standing name and mascot of Clover Park High School – is unknown.
And perhaps illegal.
The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Washington State School Directors Association, and the Washington Legislature have been contacted.
How this decision came about, by whom this decision was made, whether the school board was involved or whether this was a unilateral decision – which would be in conflict with both the Policies of the School Board and the Revised Code of Washington – are questions deserving of answers by our elected representatives.
If the decision were to exclude the public for whatever reason from in-person attendance at a public meeting of the school board, CPSD Policy 1430 applies: “The board as a whole shall have the final decision in determining the appropriateness of all such rulings by the presiding officer.”
Did “the board as a whole” have the final decision?
Is it “aiding in the people’s business” to lock the doors preventing the public from attending the public meeting of a regularly scheduled public school board meeting?
RCW 42.30.010 declares the Open Public Meeting Act’s purpose in a strongly worded statement: “The legislature finds and declares that all public commissions, boards, councils, committees, subcommittees, departments, divisions, offices, and all other public agencies of this state and subdivisions thereof exist to aid in the conduct of the people’s business.”
But on Dec.13 the doors will be locked.
And you, the taxpaying, voting public, will not be allowed admittance.
For some reason not yet made public.
Contact information for your school board elected representatives:
jschafer@cloverpark.k12.wa.us, apearson@cloverpark.k12.wa.us, aveliz@cloverpark.k12.wa.us, cjacobs@cloverpark.k12.wa.us, wagemanp@cloverpark.k12.wa.us
CPSD Policy 1430: eConvene Website (eduportal.com)
The first plank on my platform for which I campaigned and a promise I intend to keep is the ‘A’ of what I called the A, B, C’s. The A stands for I will Advocate for listening sessions between school board directors and the parents, and teachers, of our school district.
As opposed to people coming to school board meetings and being able to speak only 3 minutes per month, the school board should be taking their ‘show on the road.’
Some excerpts from the Nov.19, 2021 article by Matt Zalaznick as found in DistrictAdministration.com:
“Administrators can host public forums and set a process for a respectful, evidence-based exchange of ideas.
“Superintendents and their administration teams should hold more town hall-style meetings to allow the public to speak out on contentious issues. Such gatherings would be a better forum than school board meetings.
“Superintendents and their teams should try to capitalize on this renewed interest in schools.
“Public schools are supposed to be sites where democracy is practiced and young people are learning democracy.
“District leaders need to support and encourage public engagement rather than see it as something to withdraw from – withdrawal is a losing strategy.”
Having the new board with David Anderson installed cannot cone soon enough. We need the board to come out of the shadows of the District’s leadership shadow and welcome every parent in the light of human to human, voice to voice, face to face and heart to heart communication. All real and pertinent issues will flow from there. Thank you to David Anderson for carrying the light towards the future of our kids.
I will wait to see if Mr. Anderson is an asset or a liability to the board. I will wait to see if he includes all members of the community and students of all backgrounds. I will also wait to see if he believes that a political agenda should guide his work or if it is the student who should drive his decisions. It is from his supporters that I draw my skepticism. They have argued against things that do not exist except on right wing entertainment channels and conspiracy sites.
Anyone with a modicum of intelligence would advise anyone to do the research before accusing others of wrongdoing. I do not blame the board for going to a virtual meeting. Watch the news to see examples of what is happening at these meetings across the country and even in this state. Perhaps the real concern is that the board has taken away an opportunity for this meeting to turn into a spectacle with nothing to do with the business of the board itself.
There will be opportunity for public comments at the December 13 meeting. Although the meeting announcement on the Clover Park School District website does not state if or how public comment will be allowed, the agenda which is on a different website page includes the regulations regarding public comment. When I inquired with Board Director Marty Shafer about the comment procedure for this meeting he said, “In the Zoom format, you will be given an opportunity to sign up while online and then given access to speak when it is your turn to address the Board.”
I’m assuming the decision maker(s) who moved to Zoom are the same people I see driving their cars alone wearing a mask, or wearing a mask outdoors. Incapable of reasonable risk analysis, fear-driven, authoritarianism. These bureaucrats simply want us to shut up and color.
Pendulum watcher,
I’m not a bureaucrat but I would certainly be pleased if you would just shut up and color.
Mr. Brown,
I’m sorry you felt the need to engage in such an ugly campaign along with David Anderson. You and David Anderson made a decision to allow your joint campaign team to engage in unethical behavior. As a result, Paul Wagemann was exposed for his role in racist emails and rightly censured by our school board. You and David Anderson demonstrated a lack of leadership and ethics in the “shadows ” of your own campaigns. As you doorbelled our city how many times did you share those emails?
Now, you claim that David Anderson is “carrying a light forward” for the future of our students. You speak of “heart to heart” exchanges with our community. Let’s start this new era of enlightenment with truth. Let’s have a town meeting held in the stadium where all are invited to hear the reading of the emails, the 3 part Marxist letters Anderson posted on his website written by Pad Finnigan, and a public reading of Anderson’s Monkey Mentality letter published in the Suburban Times. Then, there would be time given for questions by the citizens and a good “heart to heart” conversation would be enjoyed.
Correction:
Mr. Anderson’s letter is titled: Monkey Morality