Budget advisory committee sets inbound public‑communications process and committee email

The Mountain View Whisman School District Budget Advisory Committee agreed on a protocol for inbound public communications and to establish a committee email address to centralize messages from the public.

Rebecca Westover, the district’s chief business officer, described practices used by the district board and proposed a committee-level alias that would forward messages to all members: “I’m gonna create an email for the budget advisory committee. I’ll put it on the website, so it’ll just come budget advisory, and it’ll get sent out to all of you,” she said. The committee agreed that co-chairs should acknowledge receipt of messages and, where appropriate, mark inquiries for committee review.

Members discussed whether individuals may reply privately as community members. The committee adopted a protocol that incoming public questions intended as requests for committee opinion should be shared with the group; the co-chairs will coordinate an official committee response when the committee decides to take action. Committee members may continue informal, personal conversations but should not represent such remarks as the committee’s formal position.

Committee members also discussed practical matters for an inbox: whether the alias should route through district infrastructure, masking of personal addresses, and whether district leadership should moderate or forward messages. Staff agreed to consult district IT about alias configuration so replies can avoid exposing individual personal emails.

The committee agreed to the following interim practices: establish the inbox and publish it on the district website; co-chairs to send acknowledgement replies when appropriate; committee to discuss substantive inbound requests as part of its work plan and prioritize them against the committee’s stated goals for the year.

No formal vote was taken; the group recorded the decision as a procedural direction to staff and co-chairs.