Public Comments, Board Materials, & Teen Voting

Welcome to The Effective School Board Member. You ask tough questions and twice per month we get nationally certified school board coaches to provide answers. We include resources to help school board members become more effective, like readings and school board meeting analysis.

QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES

• Question: There is one particular guy who comes to the board meeting during public comments and tries to make disparaging statements about school board members. The things he says are lies, they're demeaning, and they're disruptive to the board meeting. What can we do to prevent this from happening?   -- Board Member in Maine

• TESBM: First answer: nothing. Community members have a right to their opinions even if we disagree with them and don't want to hear them. As long as their speech isn't violating the law, our coaching is to treat them like any other speaker. We're opposed to silencing someone because you disagree with their message or delivery.

• Second answer: it depends. If their intention is to solve a problem, talk to them outside the board meeting, maybe over coffee. We assume public comments are either a "please" request or a "thank you" statement, and public officials need to listen for that, even when those aren’t the words being used. Their issue is likely a management issue, not a governance issue, so your role becomes that of a navigator, helping them identify the appropriate person in the organization to talk to. Rarely can their "please" be addressed by the board or at a board meeting.

• Question: How far in advance of the board meeting should the school board receive its materials?   -- Board Member in New York

• TESBM: We just covered this in detail during this month's 30-minute webinar. Email Greg for a make-up session. Most school boards get their materials 1 to 3 days in advance; we find this deeply problematic.

• We recommend school board members receive all materials -- agenda, board items, contracts, evaluations, staff presentations, etc -- 7 to 14 days before the meeting during which the items will be considered. This gives board members enough information and time to be fully prepared.

• Board members should prepare to be patient. For most school systems, it will take a full quarter (and sometimes longer) to make this adjustment and consistently implement it. While very doable, it's still a more complicated change than it might seem. 

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

• In the last newsletter, we shared about a state school board that cancelled their board meeting because the meeting agenda, while posted physically on time, was posted electronically 19 minutes late. You all largely agreed with the cancellation. So do we.

• In this district, the local newspaper — relying on unnamed sources — reported that the superintendent is being accused of being abusive. What would you do? Go here to share what you would do in this situation. In the next newsletter, we'll share your responses and our coaches' thoughts.

INTERESTING READS

• In New Jersey, 16 and 17 year olds have been allowed to vote in school board elections.

• Rick Maloney emphasizes that school boards must be ready to govern before they can truly fulfill their duties.

BOARD MEETING ANALYSIS

• A subscriber asked us to watch a March school board meeting in Texas. Here are the highlights from the board meeting:

  • Total Minutes: 426

  • Minutes Focused on Student Outcomes: 0

  • Key Topics: This meeting included wonderful student recognitions (only marked as "other" rather than "student outcomes focused" because they didn't appear to be directly aligned to the board's adopted goals for student outcomes), a powerful statement by the superintendent (3:08:30), and a fascinating conversation about evolution vs intelligent design (6:00:00).

  • What Coach Celebrates: We always enjoy student recognitions. The superintendent's statement 3hrs in about both process concerns and confronting reality was particularly compelling.

  • What Coach Recommends: Even if you remove the public comments and required hearings, this is a very long meeting (just over 7 hours). This is not conducive to effective decision making. We encourage this board to adopt a more robust process for Q&A prior to board meetings (we discussed strategies for this during this month's 30-minute webinar), invite staff to pre-record lengthy presentations so that board members can watch them before the board meeting, and consider addressing level 3 grievances separately.

UPCOMING OPPORTUNITY

• How Do Boards Effectively Manage Professional Services?

  • We are hosting a 30-minute webinar on best practices for using external legal, external auditing, search firms, coaching, and more.

  • 11am central on Friday, May 9th, 2025

  • RSVP Here

• Did you miss last month's 30-minute webinar? Email Greg for a make-up session.

BONUS MATERIAL

For paid subscribers, here are links to additional resources:

• Additional details about the analyzed meeting -- including a video link, tiem use evaluation, and more.

  • Board Meeting Video

  • Board Meeting Packet

  • Time Use Evaluation

• A guidance document regarding effective (and ineffective) use of consent agendas during school board meetings.

Question we can answer? Submit it to our coaches.

Want a school board meeting analyzed? Send us the video.

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