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Letter: School board’s public comment process actively discourages engagement 

letter to the editor

To the editor,

Change public comment to elicit meaningful community engagement

–Over the last few years I have had multiple conversations, emails and meetings with Paso Robles School District administrators and trustees. The issue of engaging the public comes up all the time.

In my experience, the public comment process actively discourages engagement. Here are just some possible reasons:

  • Most people are nervous to speak in public and public comment is very public.
  • The time limit is three minutes. This can feel like a long time but if you speak off the cuff it goes very quickly. So speakers either have to write out their thoughts and read them or run out of time.
  • There is no opportunity for clarification by Board members or speakers so misunderstandings are impossible to avoid.
  • Public comment is before the agenda item is presented or discussed by the board so speakers have to keep comments general and they may not pertain to the actual specifics being discussed.
  • There is no process for the public to ask questions after public comment and there are no responses or answers given to questions raised by the public.
  • The boundaries are unclear because board members and district administrators can speak throughout the meeting and during public comment

 

Set up as it is, public comment seems to be an item to be checked off, not actual opportunity for public contribution or discussion. There are better options!

There are other models to pursue that could elicit meaningful input from families and other community members. One option is focus groups with people listing their input and ideas and sharing a summary back to the whole group. Usually, there are common threads among the groups.

Another option are surveys or brief questionnaires using software and cell phones to tabulate responses in real-time with bar charts displayed as responses come in. This would be a way to get input from people watching on line and in person. Software with translation would allow more people to participate.

If we explore what other districts do and get creative I am sure we could find some more engaging and effective ways to include input from the public in the decision-making process.

I respectfully request that public engagement be made a priority for the board and district administration and that changes to public comment implementation are made very soon!

Laura Parker
Paso Robles

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