The District 150 School Board Meeting started at 6:30 p.m. The District had been prepping their station on UStream for the last couple of weeks and tonight we had the opportunity to watch the Board of Education Meeting live. As the meeting progressed, a few shared their thoughts here in the comments section, with most agreeing that it was disappointing to see that the public comment section was cut.
Tonight's Agenda...
Tonight's Agenda...
19 comments:
Ooops, they cut the comments from the audience. Broadcast will resume at the conclusion of Item 7: Presentation by Audience.
What a joke! This BOE just gets sillier and sillier.
Let the show begin...
Cloyd & Crawford should watch the insurance enrollment period. Geri Hammer works her rear off, and to have to do that yearly would be looney tunjes.
Unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well they have never cared about public relations before why would they start now? Maybe after every last self-respecting family has left the district. On second thought- probably not even then. Pathetic.
Scott Donahue's public comments were great. He said he had planned to congratulate the board and administration for putting meetings on UStream, as he had suggested earlier. Then he said, "Oops, I just received a text message saying that public comments will not be included. So much for transparency. Anyway they all immediately had egg on their faces--probably smirks.
Anyone who feels that this act by the district of censoring public comments is against our democratic principles should forward the pjstar link to drudgereport.com.
From pjstar:
"Public comments are not considered part of official board business, said District 150 board Chairman Chris Crawford.
Superintendent Grenita Lathan's response to public comments occurs during the official meeting."
And how does this make any sense? Why show a response to public comments during the official meeting, when the people viewing won't know what the public comments were?
It's starting to appear that perhaps not showing BOE meetings, had more to do with censoring public comments than anything else.
While I am still out on the fence about public comments being 'censored' from the streaming,
I do know that in the City Council meeting minutes, public comments are part of the record. So I would have to respectfully disagree with Chris Crawford on his statement. But the City Council has their procedures, and the BOE has theirs.
At the same time, maybe the BOE is sooo tired of hearing the same public rhetoric from the same citizens meeting after meeting after meeting. Very few fresh faces with different issues to bring to them. Just saying.
Respect the customer? Just sayin.
Dennis, the SAME people speak, but they REPRESENT many people and not just their own opinions.
Dennis, they are retirees who can speak for the rest of us. So what...they have to be censored?
Respect the Taxpayer, BOE!
I'm not quite sure why public comments aren't considered part of the meeting--I believe that public comments cannot be eliminated--school boards must allow time for people to speak.
It is a shame that so few people take advantage of the opportunity to speak to the board.
Dennis, btw, the district does include a synopsis of public comments in the minutes of their previous meetings. They are on the district website on the BOE page.
Dennis get off the damn fence already.
I don't go to other blogs and put in my blog page and ask people to come to EmergePeoria.
I am not opposed to people putting a reference to other spots on my blog, however, most people who do leave such information here - send me an e-mail and ask first. Thank you.
My position is, anyone with a decent video camera/tripod should be able to videotape the entire Board Meetings from start to finish. (I'd advise a way to plug into their PA system to ensure good audio). Then transfer your footage to a DVD, sign up with Comcast Public Access for an air time, and now you have the BOE meetings back on the air, although not live. But you'd have the public comments. Problem solved.
Latham and the board are a bunch of buffoons. I am sick and tired of BAD decisions from this group. (I also will include Hinton and the buffoons he hired.) I'm selling my home and getting OUT!
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