Todd Grimes
Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp.’s initial subcommittee meetings began Monday, with sparse attendance and some public comment.
The two new subcommittees on public engagement and school board meeting agendas met for the first time on Monday night. About 15 community members attended the meeting on public engagement, with Superintendent Jim Roberts also sitting in. The group’s next meeting is tentatively set for March 20.
Board member Todd Grimes said that no members of the public attended the agenda subcommittee. While the group has not set a date for its next meeting, he said it might occur in mid-March.
Each committee is made up of three school board members, who are tasked with coming up with recommendations on how the board can improve in these two respective areas. The two meetings were held at the same time, with the public engagement group meeting in the boardroom and the agenda group meeting in the Terrace Room.
During the public engagement meeting, board members mostly gathered input from attendees. Some of these comments focused on past issues on communication and suggestions for future improvement. Other remarks focused on specific concerns that community members have about BCSC, such as curriculum, school libraries, policies related to gender identity and whether there should be more video cameras in schools in the interest of transparency.
In discussing public engagement, attendee Tami Watson said she wasn’t able to speak at a previous board meeting about her concerns with traffic issues at Clifty Creek Elementary because the topic wasn’t on the agenda.
“That’s why I’m here tonight, because meetings like tonight need to happen,” said Watson. “When you talk about public engagement and how do you engage the citizens, you have to let them speak. And not all of us know what all the protocols are for every meeting. And that was in what I thought was an emergency situation that needed to be handled.”
She also recommended that the school board use social media more to communicate with families and take advantage of technological options such as Zoom or Facebook live.
BCSC school board meetings are already broadcast live on the school corporation’s You Tube channel.
Eric Grow, who ran unsuccessfully for school board in the fall and has been critical of BCSC’s public engagement practices, commended the board for holding the subcommittee meeting.
The fact that there is so much proposed legislation at the state level centered on education indicates that problems in various Indiana communities are not getting solved at the local level, he said.
“This committee is a step in the right direction,” said Grow. “This could be the seed for our community that grows into that example of how a community can successfully self-govern. We don’t need to wait on the state to pass a law to solve one of our community’s issues. We could be proactive.”
In order for this to be done, he said, there must be engagement with the community’s “diverse perspectives” during the decision-making process.
Other feedback from attendees included requests for more transparency, more meetings centered on public feedback, better two-way communication from school officials, more information about agenda items to be available in advance and repeal of the 3-minute limit on public comments at board meetings.
“It’s disrespectful to the people who are paying your salaries,” said Mary Beth Clauss. “We own this building. We own all the schools. We paid for this. And to say, ‘I’m going to shut down your mic after 3 minutes’ is a slap in the face.”
Some individuals also expressed concerns that BCSC teachers might be afraid to attend board meetings or offer public comment.
In discussing the future, board member and subcommittee chair Rich Stenner noted that any potential changes could take some time to implement.
“Not to be a downer, but if there was a board meeting next Monday night, it would look very much like the board meetings that we’ve already this year,” he said. “We’re not going to work miracles, but we’ve started a process, and the board members and administration, I know, are committed to seeing that carried through.”
In regards to the subcommittee meeting on meeting agendas, Grimes said it was very productive, with members covering a wide range of topics.
Board member Jason Major, also a member of the subcommittee, said that the group examined board agendas from other school corporations and compared them to that of BCSC.
He discussed the possibility getting agendas out earlier and having an opportunity for members of the public to suggest future agenda items.
However, Grimes said that some of these suggestions are a bit premature and that the group is mostly pleased with the current agenda structure.
“We’re not looking to make any major changes,” he said. “I’d say we are just simply examining ways to make our meetings perhaps more efficient and while, at the same time, looking at any ways to maximize the amount of information, meaningful information, that we can get out to our stakeholders as well.”
Grimes said that some potential recommendations include dividing the consent agenda into old and new business, looking into how much information can be shared during human resources recommendations, rearranging certain agenda items and having more board input during meetings.
“I would say we just barely kind of scratched the surface, in terms of what public input might look like at future meetings,” he said.
