Ann Arbor school board president to propose policies to curtail lengthy meetings
Ann Arbor Board of Education President Deb Mexicotte will present two new policies Wednesday that could prevent trustees from meeting until 3 a.m.
School board president Deb Mexicotte
Long-winded and in-depth board discussions; lengthy data presentations from administration; and increasing input from public commenters and associations such as the Ann Arbor Education Association, the Parent Advisory Committee for Special Education and others have contributed to the early morning end times. The board's committee of the whole structure also has been targeted in the past as a possible reason.
The school board's Feb. 27 meeting adjourned at nearly 3:15 a.m. And often, the board does not get to the action items on its agenda until approximately the last two hours of the meeting.
Mexicotte announced at Wednesday's committee meeting her plans to bring forward for consideration at least two policies pertaining to board and time management and "how to go about best accomplishing our work."
She said her hope is the board can talk about ways to proceed with future board discussions, prioritizing issues and topics at the board table and the board's committee structure.
In the fall of 2011, the board changed its committee structure from two standing committees to a singular committee of the whole.
Mexicotte also plans to bring back the idea of passing a code of conduct or expectations, which she is calling an "affirmation of boardsmanship." This was last discussed in January as members talked about how to address its No. 1 board goal for the 2012-13 academic year: trust and relationship building among trustees.
Trustees decided in January not to hire a facilitator to conduct team-building or trust-building exercises with the board, which could have cost $8,000 or more, and Mexicotte suggested a code of conduct as an inexpensive option.
The board has discussed a variety of time management options in the past, such as limiting the number of minutes per agenda item, limiting the number of minutes or times a trustee can talk and limiting public comment. None of these options appealed to the majority of the board.
The meeting length issue was last raised in January 2012, following a 1:45 a.m. decision to grant raises to two of the district's top administrators. Questions had come up publically about the board's ability to function at that time. The board rejected infringing time limits during the 2012 discussion. But Mexicotte and other board members recently have expressed a renewed desire to consider some time management options.
Superintendent Patricia Green and her executive cabinet members usually also are required to stay through the end of the Board of Education meetings.
Danielle Arndt covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleArndt or email her at daniellearndt@annarbor.com.
Comments
Chester Drawers
Tue, Mar 26, 2013 : 3:02 p.m.
Let's see how much time these people will waste talking about how much time they waste talking!!!!!!!
Chris Blackstone
Tue, Mar 26, 2013 : 1:17 p.m.
There is a National School Boards Association (http://www.nsba.org) and a Michigan Association of School Boards (http://www.masb.org). Has the AAPS Board contacted either of them as to best practices for school board meetings?
AMOC
Tue, Mar 26, 2013 : 1:12 a.m.
Danielle - I take exception to the statement ". . . increasing input from public commenters and associations such as the Ann Arbor Education Association, the Parent Advisory Committee for Special Education and others have contributed to the early morning end times." In particular, the parent groups who are invited to report at each meeting have been very respectful of the Board's request to keep reports to under 5 minutes. The AAAA and AAES (administrator and teacher unions) reports run long, when they make one. The union reports are often much more about the political positioning of the two unions than relevant to the School Board agenda or in-district activities. Public commentary is supposed to be limited to a total of 40 minutes at the beginning of each Board meeting, but a reluctance to cut people off and the delay caused by calling for a speaker and having 6 or 8 or 15 additional people arrange themselves around that speaker to demonstrate support for their position takes a great deal of time. I'd like to see an end to that practice of allowing clusters of people behind the lectern and stricter enforcement of the time limits, so that the public commentary is completed within an hour or less of clock time. But while we should have limits, there does need to be a time set aside for the public to weigh in on issues.
Danielle Arndt
Tue, Mar 26, 2013 : 7:34 p.m.
AMOC, that statement is referring to how as the district's financial situation has become increasingly more challenging, more people from the public and the associations show up at the meetings to speak or present. I'm not passing judgment in any way on this, but rather I am simply stating a fact that more people showing up tends to contribute to the longer meetings. Personally, I don't disagree that there should be a time for the public to weigh in and I think some of your observations are accurate about the enforcement of the time limits and the transition period between speakers.
Basic Bob
Tue, Mar 26, 2013 : 12:12 a.m.
this sounds like an opportunity for another long-winded and interminable discussion. public meetings should be a simple process. present a motion, allow limited time for discussion, consider amendments, and take a vote. next item. i don't think deb mexicotte is comfortable being the president. running the board meeting efficiently is a critical part of her job, and working until 0-dark-30 is not efficient or necessary.
Mike
Tue, Mar 26, 2013 : 12:01 a.m.
Back to basics............lock out the special interests and listen to the taxpayers
DonBee
Mon, Mar 25, 2013 : 4:18 p.m.
One way many communities deal with things is via the "first reading" method. A topic is opened for discussion in one meeting and a vote is taken after a pre-determined amount of time if the topic is worth a second reading. Any topic that is not worth the second reading does not get returned to the agenda. Any topic that is worth a second reading is scheduled for a later meeting giving the people time to read and think on the topic. Most boards get their packages a week or more ahead to review and ask questions on prior to the meeting. I many cases the board packages are made public at the same time, allowing everyone to review the material and comment prior to the meeting. In AAPS, in many cases, I think the topics are almost new (and in some cases based on reactions - surprises) to the board members. Pre-work can make shorter meetings if people are willing to do it.
DonBee
Wed, Mar 27, 2013 : 12:48 p.m.
Danielle - It is the board initiated discussions that many times seem to wander and take forever to put to bed in meeting. In most boards I work with there are a simple set of rules: 1) The board agenda is set at least 7 days in advance (there are good reasons to do this), 2) The board is given any written or presentation materials at least 5 days in advance 3) The board discusses the materials for a maximum of 15 minutes 4) A vote is taken as to whether the issue should get a second reading, if so it is scheduled for between 1 and 4 meetings in the future - depending on the complexity of the issue and the amount of material that needs to be reviewed. 5) Discussion on that topic from the public is encouraged in writing between the 1st and 2nd reading 6) If there is public input, public input is of a defined length with a defined time limit for each speaker, the limits are observed (which AAPS does poorly if at all). 7) Board discussion is typically on issues that there is contention on - one round of the table with each board member given a chance to speak, then any follow up, only after everyone has gotten to state a position. If it is clear that the board has a consensus, a vote is called for, if not, then the board will take another round or two, the situation in the AAPS BOE now is that time is typically divided unequally with some BOE members talking a lot more than others, and in some cases, it is clear that there is a majority or even a super majority that agree, yet the discussion drags out and watching the faces of board members - thank you freeze frame, you can see that some are clearly unhappy with this when it happens. All items need to follow the rules or there is chaos. Right now it is chaos. There are limits for speaking times and for individual speakers, I timed 1 presentation that ran twice the allotted time. The public comment ran more than twice the allotted time too. Public input is good, but it should be focused.
Danielle Arndt
Tue, Mar 26, 2013 : 7:26 p.m.
Hi DonBee, I'll look into some of the points you've stated. I'm honestly unsure about many of the things you're referencing. I cover all of the board meetings and the board rarely votes on anything the first time. The distinction here is whether it's a board-initiated action item or an administration-initiated action item. With the items the board brings forth, they will vote on the first occasion. However, with the items the administration brings forth, they vote after a second reading. So, which items are you talking about and which, in your opinion, should require a second reading? I agree that it is unfortunate the detailed packet materials are not made available to the public prior to the meeting. AAPS is one of only a few districts in the county that does not upload its packets to its website before regular meetings.
DonBee
Tue, Mar 26, 2013 : 5:11 p.m.
Danielle - LOL, they say they are using a "first reading" method... Normally in a First Reading situation there are time limits. AAPS BOE does not use them. In many cases they vote on things the first time up. The rules are non-existent, even if they claim to use them. This is a huge part of the problem. Rumors are another, many people get up to speak based on rumors of what will be discussed. Getting the information out to the public sooner would stop many of these discussions. The board packets may be available to the board, but when I watch CCTV in many cases I see hand outs going around that must have missed the packet. The fact that the packet is "secret" until the meeting means that many taxpayers don't get a chance to see what is going to be discussed and only get rumors. Some of the board members seem surprised over and over about the materials, which indicates either they did not get them, or they did not have time to read them. I use the boarddocs site routinely, but there are pieces missing in what is posted many times, some of the pieces handed out seem to never make the boardddocs site. Finally have you seen the "checkbook" posted regularly as the BOE direct the Administration to do? I have not. I appreciate what you are doing, but sometimes I feel like we are getting only the visible part of the iceberg. Right now there are a lot of rumors on what is already happening to special education placements for next year - no one is being forth right about it in the administration and I think they will hide it until it is too late, if the rumors are true. I have to wonder why they mess with special education since the reimbursement rate is close to 100% for the district, when you take all the sources of money they tap into consideration.
Danielle Arndt
Mon, Mar 25, 2013 : 6:13 p.m.
DonBee, the AAPS board does employ a first reading/second reading method for action items and as you outlined, the majority of the discussion does occur during the item's first reading. The AAPS board receives its packet the Friday before the Wednesday meeting. However, the agenda typically is not made public until the Monday before. And most usually, the actual information or the materials detailing the proposed action item are not made available to the public until after the board meeting on the district's BoardDocs website, which can be found here: http://www.boarddocs.com/mi/aaps/Board.nsf/Public.
SonnyDog09
Mon, Mar 25, 2013 : 3:36 p.m.
One of the best things I ever learned to say while chairing meetings goes like this: "Well, I think we have flogged this one sufficiently. We are at time, so if no-one has a suggestion that will bring this to resolution in the next minute, we'll table this and move on to the next item on our agenda." Setting time boxes around agenda items (15 minutes for this item), and sticking to it, is essential to running an effective meeting.
Paula Gardner
Mon, Mar 25, 2013 : 2:19 p.m.
Happy to see this. We've been concerned about the duration of meetings, since the late hour of many discussions means that the vast majority of the public is excluded.
Sonoflela
Mon, Mar 25, 2013 : 2:07 p.m.
Just another way of censoring those members of the board that ask real questions and those that are seeking solutions to real problems. They signed up for the job, do the job. Do the right thing and stop letting Dr. Green hoodwink the system.
Indymama
Mon, Mar 25, 2013 : 1:51 p.m.
Maybe we just need to vote in new members of the School Board...a turn-over really needs to be done. Get people on the school board who know how to run a meeting and facilitate all the issues!! Let's get back to School needs and people who REALLY want to help our students...not just glorify themselves!
Jim Mulchay
Mon, Mar 25, 2013 : 1:31 p.m.
This seems like a tough item to accomplish if you are going to allow significant discussion - unless you end up scheduling special "follow-up" meetings for topics with a lot of input and discussion. One thing that might be done is that any presentations by students could be done earlier - still part of the formal meeting; A second thing is to do a lot of "pre-meeting" groundwork with fellow board members to determine if particular item is a no-brainer or likely to require extensive discussion and public input - and consider if special meeting is warranted. Of course this is the "good 'ol boys / smoke-filled room" idea, but sometimes the old ways aren't bad for actually getting things accomplished.
Claude Kershner
Mon, Mar 25, 2013 : 12:55 p.m.
I've watched several of the board meetings on Channel 19. Sometimes I get the feeling that members talk just to hear their own voice. 3:15 AM is insane!
Chris Blackstone
Mon, Mar 25, 2013 : 12:18 p.m.
Long school board meetings are a fact of life with school districts. There are a lot of items that need to be discussed publicly and thoroughly. The Board might consider * Starting Earlier * Meeting more frequently with less items on each agenda If the option is more back-room dealing/discussion and less transparency, I'll vote for longer meetings every time. Don't forget, this is a volunteer position, so long meetings shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone.
Sarah Rigg
Mon, Mar 25, 2013 : 12:28 p.m.
Long meetings are a part of the deal, yes, but this isn't just a matter of board members having to be up late - how many parents want to be out until 2 a.m. on a weeknight to wait until the board gets to the agenda item that they are most interested in? I covered school board meetings in a nearby community for five years and they never went past maybe 10:30 p.m. even when there were controversial items on the agenda. The AAPS board needs better time management, absolutely.
Salbolal
Mon, Mar 25, 2013 : 11:55 a.m.
Thank the heavens! In the "real world," people have agendas, aka rules and respect for others' time. Congress has filibusters (and hot air and look how that's going), but back here on Main Street, we need to actually run this joint.
Usual Suspect
Mon, Mar 25, 2013 : 10:44 a.m.
One way to start would be to focus on business that is within your domain, and stay away from wasting time things that are not, such as resolutions addressing addressing the prosecutor's office.
Bob W
Mon, Mar 25, 2013 : 10:11 a.m.
"Mexicotte also plans to bring back the idea of passing a code of conduct or expectations, which she is calling an "affirmation of boardsmanship." I think the rest of us call these "rules." Meetings running to 2:00 or 3:00 A.M. is ludicrous. Publish topics and agendas in advance but then stick to it and limit discussion. Get home and get some sleep folks.