I have very strong views on the issue of being open, honest, and transparent. I believe that students, parents, staff, and taxpayers have a right to ask questions, share their concerns, and even throw in some comments in regards to issues coming before the ECSD Board of Education. According to our school board's policy 4112 "All communications from staff members to the Board or its committees shall be submitted through the Superintendent This procedure is not intended to deny any staff member the right to appeal to the Board on important matters through established procedures."
The above quote from item A of policy 4112, in my view is contradictory in and of itself. I know that most of my fellow board members support this policy, so I have decided to post my views about this to you, in hopes that this will inspire a change of heart.
Below are parts of scanned documents (please click on them to enlarge) in which each of us as elected members of a public body, have sworn to uphold. The first is the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution; as well as Article 1 "Declaration of Rights" Section 5 of the Constitution of the State of Michigan of 1963.
U.S. Constitution: 1st Amendment
Michigan Constitution of 1963: Article 1-Section 5
Even though, some people that are elected to public office do not like to hear it, people have a right to the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as well as Article 1, Section 5 of the MI Constitution.
I am very much opposed to the current policy 4112 in regards to "Board-Staff Communication." In my view, I am not sure how we as a school board could be informed on the issues facing our district, without listening to the very people that are tasked with working with the students.
I can appreciate the opposing viewpoint that this is a "chain of command" issue, but I think this was and is more of a control issue. If you look at the date of when this policy was put in place, in 2001, that was when our last Superintendent was first hired-This was no coincidence.
Let me be clear: This was an issue of making sure that the least amount of information got to the board. This was to control information that we received, and this was to discourage input and communication.
You have a right to free speech and that is not reflected in our board policy. I would first like to propose that we not only eliminate this policy, but seriously consider creating another that will allow for an open door policy. We are elected to represent you, not the Superintendent. The Superintendent is the employee of the school board, not the other way around.
It has been suggested that this policy is in place to prevent a lapse in a "chain of command" or my personal favorite is to keep board members from "personally negotiating contracts."
If these are the arguments to keep this ridiculous policy, then let me indulge you with some questions that I posed at our June 10th board meeting:
Why is there no policy on board-parent communication? Board-student communication? Board-taxpayer communication? Board-resident communication? Board-superintendent communication?---Why the discrimination on our staff?
The first thing I would like to know is this: How can you be an informed board member if you do not allow communication from our staff?---The fact is you cannot. Just like Dr. Skalka said during his interview process-Ronald Reagan once said "trust, but verify." From my two and a half years of being on the board we, as a board, have put all of the trust in one person the Superintendent and do not verify a darn thing.
The basis of the argument to keep this policy is weak to say the least. My fellow board member Mr. Koenigbauer's reference to the chain of command and Mr. McNamee suggesting that an individual board member may go and try to negotiate with a union, are valid points, but if everyone dusted off their policy books and read sections 0-175, you will see that this is covered under board powers. Also, an individual board member attempting to do what I mentioned above would be a potential unfair labor practice, covered under MCL 423.210. I mean, if we are going to actually keep this policy, my suggestion would be that we make a policy that board members should not be sleeping during a meeting or under the influence of drugs, alcohol or any other illegal substances during a meeting, or at school functions.
Lastly, I do plan to make a motion at a regular board of education meeting to completely eliminate this policy in it's entirety, and would appreciate an up or down vote. The people of this district deserve to know who on this board wants to listen and who will not. For the sake of the 1st Amendment and staff's right to communicate with the board, I ask that you all seriously consider overturning policy 4112.
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