Board of education to debate policies

PALMER — Freedom of speech is in the Bill of Rights, but whether or not it stays in the school board’s standing rules for its president will be debated Wednesday.

Matanuska-Susitna School District Board President Sarah Welton said current policy allows her to run meetings and participate in debate during board meetings, which is a big reason she agreed to assume the presidency. Board member Jim Colver wants the policy revisited and said he believes the rules need to be changed so the president must hand off the gavel to another board officer before participating in debate or discussion.

Colver says allowing a board president to actively participate in discussion and at the same time have the power to direct or end that discussion may conflict with Robert’s Rules of Order, the nation’s accepted rule book for running fair public meetings. For the local school board, all members are elected and those elected members choose officers amongst themselves.

“It was something that needed to be cleaned up,” Colver said.

School board policy states that the board president shall run the meetings and rule on parliamentary procedures, among other duties. “The president shall have all the rights of any member of the board, including the right to move, second, discuss and vote on all questions before the board,” it reads.

The board president wants the policy to remain the way it is.

“Mr. Colver wants to make changes and I don’t think they’ll go any place,” Welton said. “I’m willing to listen.”

Welton said participating in debate on issues of importance is a vital part of serving on the board, and the policy as changed by the previous school board allows her to fully participate in meetings. Previous policy barred the president for such participation as president, but was changed in the board’s standing rules, a set of rules that can amend the Robert’s Rules standards. Many boards, especially small boards, make their own set of amendments to standard meeting rules to fit local structure and circumstances.

“We can go back to that,” Welton said of the old policy.

If she knew being board president would limit her participation during meetings, “I might not have wanted the job,” Welton said.

Welton said also board rules can also be quite flexible, and rules of procedure can even be suspended in special circumstances to allow for different types of informal discussion. “We don’t have to have strict formality,” she said.

Also before the board on a policy-heavy agenda is the revival of a policy committee to help the board streamline policies and evaluations.

Trustee Sandra White proposed she and Board member Pat Purcell serve on a policy advisory panel. The new panel would help align board policies and prepare drafts of annual board evaluations and annual superintendent evaluations.

White said she proposed the idea because there are many policy matters that come before the board. “You only have so much time for conversation at the meeting.”

Welton said a similar committee existed a couple of years ago but she found that even after the panel did its work there was no time savings involved.

The last time a policy committee was in place, “It spent as much time doing it as a formal board work session,” Welton said. When the policies then came to the board the whole board was involved in discussions about revisions anyway.

The board may also make minor changes to district travel policies and consider approval of a trip by some Wasilla High students to Costa Rica.

The school board meets at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Upper Library of Palmer High School.

Contact John R. Moses at john.moses@-frontiersman.com or call 352-2270.