Off the calendar

Board raises suspicions with unannounced meeting

T

ravis Riggs, president of the always-in-the-news Bentonville School Board, says he’s “bothered” when the board does things differently than normal. So are we, especially when that difference leads to an improper meeting to discuss an item of intense public interest.

In fact, bothered doesn’t quite capture it. How about disappointed? Or angry? Or suspicious? Or all of the above?

Dave Perozek’s outstanding reporting in the Northwest Arkansas

Democrat-Gazette revealed that, back in May, every member of the school board, Superintendent Michael Poore and the district’s elementary school principals met to discuss whether the schools should all go to the same calendar (eight schools are on a traditional calendar and two are on an extended schedule). However, the usual protocol for notifying the public and the media of meetings was not followed, nor was an agenda for the meeting prepared or circulated. There’s more: No minutes of the meeting were taken and no audio or video recordings made — again, such records are routine practices for the board, under “normal” circumstances.

The only public reference to the gathering was an item buried in a three-page report that included Poore’s schedule for that week. And even that was presented in abbreviations that could have easily been misunderstood.

And, guess what? No member of the public attended the meeting. No media members made it either. No one, other than the participants, know what was said or done.

All that could make folks think someone didn’t want us regular people to know about the meeting or the deliberations it involved. Count us among them. The topic on the table was and is of wide public interest. It is something that could affect every family with an elementary school-age child in the district. That does seem like an issue that deserves a full and frank public debate. But it is also a discussion that is guaranteed to create disagreement, discord and perhaps political repercussions, no matter what decision is made.

Currently, two of the district’s 10 elementary schools operate on a “year-round” calendar rather than the traditional summers-off schedule. To be clear, “year-round” is a misnomer: Students on that schedule go to school the same number of days as their counterparts at traditional schools, but the breaks are spaced out throughout the year. Some parents and educators swear by the non-traditional approach as a way to help kids retain more of what they learn. Others prefer the tried-and-true June-July-August vacation approach. For several years, Bentonville has offered both options, but operating schools in the same district on different calendars presents some challenges.

Elementary school principals contend one is particularly daunting: finding the best places for students whose neighborhood school is already full. Because a number of schools are overcrowded, some kids get shuffled around a lot because there are not as many school options operating on the same schedule. The principals argue a uniform calendar across all 10 elementary schools will ease the burden on both families and teachers. They claim not to care which calendar is adopted, just that it be the same for all.

The rub, of course, is that families who are on the non-traditional calendar want to stay on it, while families whose lives are built around the traditional schedule don’t want to change either. Hence the conflict and the need for a public debate.

It’s too bad a substantive discussion — perhaps THE substantive discussion — among the district’s decision-makers was held in secret last May, or at least as far out of the public eye as it could get.

One might — might — argue the cryptic calendar entry “May 14, P-4 Prin. Mtg with Board, 11:30-1” meets the state sunshine law’s requirement of prior notification of all public meetings. But that would be a cynical, cover-your-butt excuse, at best. The fact that notifications of all other school board meetings — that we know of — are individually circulated clearly demonstrates that this meeting was not “normal.”

It may have stayed in the shadows forever had the issue not bubbled back up in recent weeks. The elementary school principals made a presentation to the board in a “normal” meeting regarding the single-calendar approach. They clearly expected the school board to agree and move forward with the change. But the board balked, creating a bit of consternation and prompting some involved to reference the May meeting in which many believed a consensus had been reached to place all schools on the same calendar.

Some participants in the meeting disagree, saying there had been no resolution.

It is ironic — and somewhat humorous — that the argument over what happened at the May meeting can’t be verified, since no records were kept. If only there were a newspaper story or a media report to which to refer. Oops. So, the school board and the superintendent hoisted themselves on their own petard by holding an exclusive meeting — either through negligence or nefarious design. Now a complicated and emotional issue will play out in a much more difficult environment, exacerbated by the distrust the board members and administration so richly earned.

Poore, ever the good soldier, claimed responsibility for the lapse in notification and apologized. Riggs explained it as a case of “people simply not thinking.”

That’s pretty hard to believe given both the context and subject matter.

Certainly, Poore bears significant responsibility here. But we hold the elected school board members — all of them — equally to blame. This is a group accustomed to controversy. They knew their constituents would want to be part of the discussion of elementary school schedules. They knew the importance of the issue, given the fact that all seven of them showed up for a special meeting at 11:30 a.m. during a work day. (By the way, just how did they all find out what this meeting was going to be about?)

The justified suspicion this incident arouses in the community not only makes it harder for the district to move forward on a difficult yet important decision, it makes all of us wonder, is this the first time we’ve been fooled?

We’ll do all in our power to make sure it’s the last.