School board committee discusses "Open Forum' policy, EpiPens

Rule changes ahead?

Three Jefferson City School Board members spent more than an hour Wednesday morning talking about whether the "Open Forum" portion of board meetings needs to be changed.

The board's Policy Review Committee did endorse changing the current policy on EpiPens. When classes resume in August for the 2015-16 school year, nurses can have the pens in their offices to quickly treat students who are having allergic reactions.

"When the state first authorized it (last year), nurses didn't see a huge need," explained Penney Rector, the district's assistant to the superintendent for human resources and legal counsel.

But this spring, the nurses came back to administrators saying there was an increasing need.

The full board must approve all policy changes.

Both issues were discussed Wednesday as part of the policy committee's meeting that was called to begin looking at nearly 300 pages of proposals to change existing district policies.

Board President John Ruth raised the open forums issue.

"I'm hoping we can look at the intent of our policy," he explained, "why we're doing it the way we are currently and looking at our overall communication strategies and any policies that relate to communications.

"Ultimately, just to see if we can do it better - we may find some areas we don't need to change and we may find others that we need to tweak."

The open forum is a chance for people to tell board members what they think about issues.

Under the Jefferson City forum policy "any parent/guardian whose child attends the district, any district employee or any member of the public who resides in the district may address the Board concerning items on the agenda."

The district's policy does not allow people to make wide-ranging comments on any subject they choose - although, Rector said, some school districts and other public bodies do accept those comments.

New board member Pam Murray, who served on Holts Summit's board of aldermen from 2005-12, thinks the open forum should be more open.

"I think, especially at the local level, there really needs to be an opportunity for the public to participate," Murray said, adding the public has the right to their concerns and to have board members hear those concerns.

Board Vice President Doug Whitehead favors the current rule, where people comment only on an agenda item for that meeting. People who have other issues with district operations should start with building or central office administrators, he said.

"There is an education process with patrons as to what are the opportunities to engage the superintendent, HR director (and) CFO," Whitehead said. "It's not about stifling. People will think it's about stifling ... if they want to distrust what we're doing.

"It does not bode well in today's age of social media and twisting information, to allow people to air dirty laundry without us being prepared - and them being prepared" before they speak at an open forum.

Rector was asked to draft possible changes to the policy for the committee to consider in July.

With a few exceptions, the Jefferson City district uses policies supplied by the Missouri School Boards Association.

"MSBA regularly provides us with policy recommendations for consideration by this committee and, ultimately, by the board," Rector said. "Most of (these) are not going to be controversial for our staff, and are necessitated by either clarifying language or statutory changes."

Although some districts try to handle their own policies, she noted, it's better for the district to subscribe to a service.

"We would have great difficulty without the service - it would be an impossible task," Rector said. "(MSBA) does an outstanding job. They have a staff that really works through federal and state issues.

"They stay very current - and help us, then, stay current on our practices."