PSD: A public ‘information’ meeting is not a public ‘hearing’

Meeting notice labeled incorrectly; public hearing will be held in the fall

An administrative error in the Polk Board of Education’s notice announcing its June 9 meeting as a “public hearing” had many in the large crowd on hand asking what happened to the “hearing” part. The confusion came about when the board ended discussion on a new strategy for evaluating school performance without taking public comment.

The board is required to notice all meetings by posting announcements on their website, online and as advertisements in local newspapers.

The official notice posted by the district, according to Assistant Superintendent Laurie Atkins, should have been labeled a “public information meeting” instead of a “public hearing” on the district’s decision to pursue the “IE2” option.

The IE2 model allows administrators to retain local control over schools in Polk School District especially in instructional decisions, Hunter said, but keeps each school accountable for whether students are achieving progress on a yearly basis set out in a contract with the State Board of Education.

After Hunter and Atkins made their presentation on the IE2, someone from the audience asked to comment but was told by Hunter that the meeting was an “information session” required by the state as part of the application process.

According to Louis J. Erste, Associate Superintendent for Policy, Charter Schools, District Flexibility, and Governmental Affairs at the Georgia Department of Education, “The requirement for public comment is for when the actual IE2 application has been prepared and before the local BOE votes to approve it and submit it to the State.”

“An application has not been submitted at this time,” Atkins said, adding that she believes the deadline for submission of Polk’s application to the state is in November.

Once the application is complete, she said, the district board will hear public comment before the board’s final vote on the change. She said no date for the hearing has been set yet.

Also known as strategic waivers, IE2 requires Polk School District to enter into a seven-year contract with the state board.

Under the contract, each school in the system must show a 3 percent improvement yearly, as calculated from individual test scores, teacher performance and the College and Career Ready Performance Index, among other factors.

“If after seven years we don’t make any improvement at all, we’ll lose our contract with the state,” Atkins said.

The district’s decision to move to the IE2 program has to be approved by the local board of education and the state legislature before it can be implemented.

The contract between the state and the district will take effect in January 2017, Hunter said, giving the district time to resolve a number of outstanding issues.

Polk School District’s next combined session is scheduled for Tuesday, July 14 .