Region One Board Of Education Meeting November 3
Just an observation. No public comment was to be allowed EXCEPT for agenda items..and it appeared that the board tried to stifle Julie Lang from reading her letter as well….I hope this is not a return back to the previous board.
Second observation…no minutes for the special meeting on October 30 were available. Guess who took those meeting minutes? Yes, you are
correct…Superintendent Patricia Chamberlain! Surprise.
Actually the minutes for the October 30th special meeting were available for last night’s meeting. Presumably they were not in the Board members’ packets as that was likely sent out prior to this special meeting, but they could have been distributed and acted upon. A number of people in the audience had a copy of those very minutes! I’ve seen them and they are neither lengthy or complicated in terms of addressing them for action. It appears that the only reason for not including them was to avoid any questioning in public regarding the Board’s action regarding Ms Goncalves’ “retirement” package. If they had been included, that would have “opened the door” for comments/questions on the actions of that special meeting, since those minutes would have then technically been on the agenda. If the superintendent took the minutes, there was no need for that to happen as the Board has a secretary who attended that meeting and should have taken care of that chore. Apparently the Board does not want to discuss in public the action it took . That document has to be made public and we will see soon enough exactly when it was signed. That would determine if it could have been a topic for public comment on the agenda last night if those special meeting minutes had been addressed. According to Freedom of Information law an agreement of that sort becomes public at the signing by all parties and since Ms Goncalves’ “retirement” was effective as of November 1, 2014 ( her last day being announced as October 31, 2014) that seems only logical. The Board should take care to not put restrictions on reasonable comments and/or questions at their meetings. If the public feels there is a lack of transparency that does not put the Board in a positive position.
This meeting was NOT a special meeting…it was the regular monthly meeting of the board…the meeting on the 30th of October was a special meeting…and who had a copy of those minutes? Dare tell.
My reference to the special meeting was the October 30th meeting. Yesterday’s meeting of course was the regular meeting and as I stated the minutes of the October 30th meeting could have been addressed last night, thus allowing for questions/comments in relationship to the “retirement”. People who were provided packets of information last night e.g. the press and others requesting packets had those minutes included, as I understand it.
I received one of those press packets and the minutes for the 30th meeting minuteswere not there
Wonder if it was left out by design! I know others had that set of minutes – saw them personally! I think we both agree, though that the subject of the “retirement” could have been raised if those October 30th minutes were addressed. MIght not have been able to get any answers, but at least questions could have been asked.