My Experience at the West Elk USD#282 Special School Board Meeting

[farmgal67357]

that came from lookatme.   Sorry for the confusion...it came later after other comments.
ready

No prob. I should have quoted lookatme.
Lisa

[Ross]

Ross, I don't always agree with you by any means, but I do appreciate the fact that you care enough to go to meetings and give your observations on a public forum. IMHO, the general problems this county has is the reluctance of people to express their opion other than a secret ballot. Of course a ballot is the final say, but many things occur that are not subjected to the voting process, and this is a problem. After all it is difficult to stand and be responsible for an opinion that may not be the supposed popular one. That takes courage, and I salute that courage. Keep on keepin' on.  

I think it would be really nice if the school board minutes exceed doing the minimum required by law or what ever. Is it perhaps because the school board doesn't want but the minimum information provided to the public? I don't know!  

Does that perhaps reflect on the school? I'm sorry that's my bad. I have admitted to a lack of tact and diplomacy. But hey, I appreciate open honest dialog over what passes for tact and diplomacy. It's been proven that the best of foreign diplomats lie, like a rug.

I just think the  school board could put out a lot more information in those minutes, if they truly want as President Whetstone said, ""Be involved in the community." To be involved in the community they need to inform the community, right? Really lets tell it like it is, it is the taxpaying voters they should engage. Don't you think?

Just something similar to what I wrote on page one of this thread would be better than what they put in the minutes now.

Also with all the taxpayers monies paying for all that technology and high speed internet and a secretary (she is paid right) to take the minutes, don't you think they could provide better minutes info on the school web site and include the attachments that are listed on the minutes? Once again provided by the taxpayers.

If the secretary doesn't have time to do it, how about taperecording it and let the high school kids practice journalism, creative writing, english , keyboarding, etc. for grades typing the minutes for her. And grade them on the work. What great experience it would be for the kids and it would provide great information for the voters and concerned citizens and taxpayers of the school district. And then we would not have to rely on someone to provide occassional information.

It sounds like a win, win, win, win to me.

The secretary wins, someone else does the work.
The kids win by gaining valuable experience.
The teachers win with a built-in project for students.
The schools web site wins by increasing the value of the web site.
The citizens win with information they other wise would not recieve.

Just something to thinks about.

Have a great and enjoyable wet weekend. We need that rain.

[Diane Amberg]

In most organizations that I know of the minutes are not a transcript of the meeting. It is a legal document about what was done,not necessarily what all was said, which is why the secretary is sworn in.  Can't just turn the minutes over to just anyone.

[Ross]

Diane the school board meeting is an open meeting, meaning open to the public.

Our local county commissioners meetings are the same thing, open to the public and they provide a lot of information in their minutes and are posted in the paper. Sometimes I feel they leave out some stuff that could be considered to show them in a bad light and only for that reason. But at least they provide smoething.

Government is the people's business with the excepption of executive sessions.

Remember we are not talking about privately owned organizations.

[readyaimduck]

Consider this Ross:  read your local newspaper and read about the facts that were present at a crime scene.
That is a 'perhaps' slanted take, with lots of adjectives that may or may not describe the situation depending on the writer and the editor of the paper.

Therefore, at the meetings it would read:   it was held, this was the topic, and this was tabled or voted on.  No embellishment. No drama.

See the difference?  If you really want the really  detailed discussions then attend the meeting (of which you apparantely do), otherwise the minutes for the public are only a recap....Clifford's Notes, if you will of the meeting.

Fact is:  I just wrote this.
Fact is:  Someone else will spin it into something entirely different to meet their agenda.

not arguing with you, just not reading into something that happened.
one incident with 3 different witnesses = 3 different versions of the same story. 
Diane is correct:  Until it is approved, the minutes as is on paper at that time, or reported by someone else, is only a transcript until approved.
ready

[Janet Harrington]

On a side note:   It is good to know that Janet's education was spent well knowing Sedan was not part of the district!   
Janet, you're good people....just need to check your maps once in awhile. 

ready

Ready, It didn't take my education to know about the school districts. All it took was my many years in county government (25) and being in and out of the county clerk's office so much. I truly believed that the Sedan district came up into Elk county right on the SE corner. Oh well.

[flintauqua]

How many know the actual name of the district that Sedan is in?

[frawin]

Chautauqua County Community School District.- N0. 286

[Wilma]

Frank knows everything.

[srkruzich]

Actually, if you would go into the county clerk's office you can see a map that shows all the school districts that come into Elk County. On the west side you have Central of Burden and Bluestem. On the east side you have Fredonia and Elk Valley. On the south side you have Sedan. It comes up into the SE corner of Elk County. I'm not sure, but I think that the Eureka district comes just into Elk County around Piedmont. It is my belief that we have a total of 7 school districts whose boundaries lay in Elk County. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

Nope West elk picks up the piedmont kids.