MUSD SCHOOL BOARD WILL TURN MCN LISTSERVS OVER
MENDOCINO, CA >> At the Mendocino Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting held on Thursday, February 15, board members voted unanimously to accept a proposal from the Mendocino Listserv Project to manage the MCN listservs.
The MUSD school board owns and operates the Mendocino Community Network (MCN), a local internet service established in 1994.
Due to complaints last summer of persistent misuse by some posters, particularly on the discussion listserv, and after much discussion by board members and the public, the school board determined that, as public educators, their best interests were served by ending their legal responsibilities to the announce and discussion listservs.
This led to multiple grave concerns from community members who regularly used the services and viewed these posts as hate speech. However, some protested that the listservs should continue unmoderated as an open format for free speech.
In December of 2023, the board set up a subcommittee to compile a list of interested parties with proposals to take over and moderate the listservs. The remaining option had been to end the listservs entirely since misusers continued to increase the level of their vitriol.
The subcommittee of two board members, Board President Emily Griffen and Trustee Lisa James, received two proposals. One from Marco Mcclean expressed an interest in only managing the announce listserv. Mcclean is a well-known community member with considerable related experience in various media.
The second proposal from the Mendocino Listserv Project, a group of six community members, offered to manage both listservs. The group explained how the listservs would be moderated, focusing on free speech rights.
The group's founding members are Daney Dawson, John Gallo, Frank and Linda Hartzel, and two private individuals. All expressed commitment to free speech and the value of an active, supportive community online network.
Frank Hartzel has years of print journalism experience, and at least one of the private members has tech knowledge applicable to listservs. All are active community members in the public arena.
In her report to the board, Trustee James and Trustee Griffen recommended accepting the proposal of the Mendocino Listserv Project. James noted their proposal is “incredibly thorough and well thought out.”
She added that “the subcommittee recommends them “because they are a team, the proposal is so detailed, and they're applying for both listservs.”
Griffen remarked that the group was “really thoughtful and thorough in their thoughts around moderation while retaining free speech. I appreciated their balancing of those two things.” She noted that the group had also contacted listserv members to inquire about their preferences.
She added, “They're much more thoughtful about many of these issues than I have been. They also seem to have the technical expertise and an understanding of how things work.”
The public's board meeting commentaries in person and via Zoom were few and were mainly offered by members of the Listserv Project. They thanked the board and the community for providing them with communication opportunities to help develop healthy listservs with an acceptable moderation system.
A spokesperson explained, “We want to recruit modera
tors from the membership. We don't intend to pre-censor anything. The listserv membership will flag it.”
She added, “We want to keep the harassment and bullying off the listserv so that it is a safe space for everyone who can communicate in a respectful way that will serve as a community builder.”
In response to a question from Trustee Schaeffer, she assured him that the group had the technological skills to identify a suspended poster who attempted to resubscribe under a new email address.
Board discussion on the motion to accept Mendocino Listserv Project as the new manager of the MCN listservs addressed individual board members' positions before the vote.
Trustee Aum noted that since it was now clear that the board did have the authority to remove members from the listserv, “maybe none of this would need to happen.” He also thanked Marco Mcclean for his application and added that Mcclean's management would have been notable.
Trustee Morton said, “Becoming an internet service provider was a good choice. At times, it's taken too much of our energy, but in many ways, it has been incredibly healthy for the community.”
He then countered, “For the school district to continue, it would have continued to take energy that should go to people who are four to eighteen. That's our main charge.” He also thanked Marco Mcclean.
Trustee Schaeffer said, “I still believe that the simplest solution is to keep it the way it was simply because if you don't want to hear those voices, it's easy to tune them out.” He added that he was skeptical that moderation would “change anything.”
The board then voted to accept the proposal from the Mendocino Listserv Project. It directed Superintendent Jason Morse to work with MCN management and the group to develop a formal service provider agreement such that MCN'S terms of service take precedence over the Mendocino Listserv Project's terms of service.
To view the Mendocino Listserv Project's full proposal, go to the MUSD website and click on District Staff to find a link to the February 15 school board meeting agenda. The agenda item is 8.6B.