Open public speaking at school board meetings
As many of you know for the past few years I along with many other parents in the Jackson R2 School District have been disappointed with some of the policies and procedures being put in place. Most attempts to address the Board Of Education, the publicly elected ultimate authority, have fallen on blind eyes and deaf ears and as of late have even been denied the opportunity to speak at all at their monthly, open public meetings. Looking through the Jackson R2 Board Policies I found the term "parent involvement" mentioned twenty seven (27) times, yet five (5) different parents on three (3) separate occasions were denied the opportunity to speak just this past year alone. They were and have not been denied because they were unruly or because some sort of Federal or State law prohibits the public from addressing the Board, they were denied for various self imposed reasons in an attempt to silence the public and avoid having to acknowledge the fact that they have failed to perform their duties fully. This current Board has gone so far as to completely change the wording of a policy on one occasion to remove the term "parent" involvement from its content to avoid having parents on a self imposed committee to evaluate the curriculum on a yearly basis, this took place after having two parents submit letters volunteering to be on said committee. This does not say parents get involved this screams parents stay away!!
Being a publicly elected body a School Board has an inherent duty to allow the public to address them during their open meetings held monthly and is even required by State Law to set time aside during the meeting for public comment, not public that you agree with or public comment that only praises your actions but all public comment positive and negative. To hide yourself behind numerous hoops that you require the public to jump through in order to address you with issues they may have from time to time is unacceptable and borders on censorship. The time has come to get some new board members in place who will actually allow the public to use their voice and take to heart the feedback that they give.
I believe that a school board member should be open minded and listen intently to the wishes of the public which voted them into that position even if at times the feedback you receive is critical in nature. If elected to the Jackson R2 School Board I will ensure that the public, be it parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles or even a resident with no children in school, is given the opportunity that they deserve to address the R2 Board on issues they may have regarding the Jackson R2 School district. Furthermore I will do my due diligence in researching all items before giving my vote for or against.
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