GILROY
– School board members overhauled their bimonthly meeting format
to focus on district priorities and limit meeting length. Board
members say the new format will also be user-friendly for the
public and prevent any more four-hour meetings.
By Lori Stuenkel
GILROY – School board members overhauled their bimonthly meeting format to focus on district priorities and limit meeting length. Board members say the new format will also be user-friendly for the public and prevent any more four-hour meetings.
Following several discussions at recent board meetings and study sessions, Gilroy Unified School District trustees decided to prioritize agenda items and set a tentative schedule for each meeting.
Agenda items are listed according to their corresponding district priority. For example, presentations or votes on instructional programs will be listed under the first priority, ‘instructional improvement.’ Other priorities include: parent/community engagement, resource alignment/customer service, secondary (6-12) reform, strategic planning and the 25-year facilities master plan.
“It kind of places a little more emphasis on things,” School Board President Jim Rogers said. “(The priorities) are all important, but I think it’s important to show student improvement is, has been, and always will be our first priority.”
Rogers and Superintendent Edwin Diaz meet weekly to set the agenda items.
Should a meeting run long, board members will be at their most attentive for higher-priority items, board member David McRae said.
“We will focus on the most important things first and then go down the list,” he said.
The board is also reinstating an overlooked policy that requires members to vote on whether to extend meetings past 10 p.m. At least four of the seven total board members must agree to keep working past that hour.
“A long meeting goes downhill,” Rogers said.
Rogers said meeting length most often becomes a problem when controversial topics are on the agenda .
“If anything extends the meetings, it’s our discussions,” McRae said. “We have a responsibility to the public to discuss important topics, but not excessively.”
Communication from the public is supposed to be limited to three minutes per speaker, for a maximum of half an hour spent on each subject.
Rogers said he would rather not be forced to cut short members of the public who choose to address the board.
“We’ll try to let the people know (about the time limits) ahead of time and let them police themselves, too,” he said. “I don’t enjoy limiting or want to limit public speech.”
The new format was unveiled at the board’s Sept. 18 meeting.
