Partnership for Participation

By Arlene Marie Staich

How to bring the community together

"Partnership for Participation"

The People of California want their school districts governed by elected members of the public. These elected board members hold a sacred duty to protect the interests of the community that the schools serve. In order to best protect the interests of the community, public participation must be encouraged and public scrutiny must be facilitated. The Brown Act is the minimum level of government openness proscribed by the state legislature. We are the only candidates who favor the Redondo Beach school board expanding upon the public's right of participation found in the Brown Act. To do so, we will advocate implementing the following measures:

Facilitating involvement: We will move the public comment section of the meeting to start more closely to the beginning of the meeting in order to respect the busy schedules of the members of the public. We will encourage representatives of the teachers, school employees, parents and student government to provide the board with regular reports after the public comment section so that we may receive more diverse views on issues facing the district.

We will protect the public's right to comment on any item on the agenda when that item comes up for discussion.

We will allow members of the public, including employees, to place an item on the board's agenda if the item is submitted to the Board's clerk by 5 p.m. on the Tuesday one week before the school board meeting.

Forging partnerships: Reports by employee, parent and student representatives will be a regular part of the agenda. Representatives of these groups will have a seat at the dais and be available to answer questions.

A decision to hire a consultant or any other person not covered by a collective bargaining agreement must be preceded by a "Community Skills Statement" which outlines the steps administrative staff took to seek members of the community, parents and employees to provide the service.

Providing information: All school board meeting agendas, including closed sessions, will be finalized by the morning of the Wednesday before the school board meeting (with provisions made for emergencies). This should allow more members of the public to become aware of the business of the school board.

The agenda and any supporting materials for a school board meeting provided to board members will be posted on the district's web page in pdf format no later than noon on the Thursday before the meeting.

Critics of the current school board have charged that too many items are placed on the consent calendar where they are not subject to public discussion or scrutiny. Therefore, we will allow any member of the public to request an explanation as to why an item is placed on the Consent Calendar. If the request is made by noon on the Friday before the board meeting, an explanation and rationale of no less than 30 words for its placement on the consent calendar will be posted on the internet by noon on the Monday prior to the meeting.

If a member of the public requests that the school board take a matter off the consent calendar, it will be placed as an action item on the regular agenda.

All Public Records Act requests submitted by members of the public, and all documents provided in response to a Public Records Act request beginning May 2003 will be posted on the district's web page in pdf format unless already available to the public through the internet.

Increasing accountability: All minutes and documents attached to the minutes of all school board meetings will be posted on the internet by noon on the Thursday after the school board meeting with hard copies sent to all PTA presidents, representatives of the employee associations at each site, and to any member of the public who so requests.

If a decision is reached in closed session, it will be reported back before the end of the school board meeting along with an explanation and rationale to be included in the minutes, unless applicable laws restrict the board's ability to do so.

An interested party may submit a written request to receive a "Statement of Decision" in which each school board member provides a written rationale of no less than 30 words of his or her vote on a certain action item. The Statement of Decision will be provided no later than one week after the request is made. This provision may not be used to harass the school board members or cause undue work.