RTM citizens deserve more transparency & info

To the Times: Like many of my neighbors, I attended the Rose Tree Media School District Community Budget Forums. The district’s first attempt at public engagement with more depth than the restrictive three-minute public comment period at Legislative Meetings was eye-opening. The over 160 members of our community that attended had one common rant at the end of the day – this school board’s lack of information transparency to the community is a travesty, and a surprise $9.8 million dollar budget deficit is unacceptable.

In the first School Board Legislative Meeting after the Forums, where the project results were presented, parents spoke during the open comment period about the lack of communication from the Board to the community at large regarding developing budget issues, before it was too late. One Board member defensively asked the crowd of 300 parents and community members, “Well, has anyone told us how you’d like us to communicate to the community?”

Dr. Harris Sokoloff, who headed the civic engagement project for the University of Pennsylvania, interrupted to say, “Transparency isn’t just about putting information on a website, it’s about being responsive to your constituents, and listening.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. During the rest of the School Board meeting, I listened to different staff and Board members make cases for items to be voted on by comparing RTMSD’s standing to every other school district in Delaware County.

Let me offer a transparency comparison:

RTMSD is the only district in the county where the superintendent receives all emails from the public for screening and school directors can’t be contacted directly by phone or email from information readily available on the district’s website. It is the only district with no clear calendar for committee and legislative meetings, and the only district in the county where more than 5 clicks on the website are required to find the proposed 2017 budget.

Half of all school districts in Delaware County broadcast their meetings on a local cable channel, or archive them on YouTube and their district websites. If you like, you can file an information request to access to an audio recording of RTMSD legislative meetings – the bare minimum necessary to comply with our state’s Sunshine Laws. Rose Tree Media parents and community members deserve better access to the meetings that decide the fate of their property taxes and community safety issues.

As a communications professional for nonprofit organizations for over a decade, I know what it means to be accountable to all of an organization’s membership, and to provide consistent, responsible dissemination of all of the organization’s information to various audiences and stakeholders.

As a Master of Public Administration, you have my firm commitment that I will work to create ethical, two-way communication between the school district and this community if elected – the kind of communication that includes active listening and respectful responsiveness. You deserve that at a minimum.

“RTMSD is the only district in the county where the superintendent receives all emails from the public for screening.”

— Kristin

Seale