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WEA president urges Woodburn board to drop advance-script requirement for public comment as bargaining looms
Summary
Tony Psalm, president of the Woodburn Education Association, told the Woodburn School District board it should end the rule requiring speakers to submit comments in advance and adhere word-for-word to scripts and urged the board to direct bargaining in good faith; the board adopted the agenda 5-0 and recessed into executive session on labor negotiations under ORS.
Tony Psalm, president of the Woodburn Education Association, urged the Woodburn School District Board of Directors to revise the district’s public-comment policy and to direct collective bargaining in good faith during public comment at the board’s August regular meeting.
“We’d like to give a warm welcome to returning both returning and and newly elected school board members,” Psalm said, and asked the board to consider removing a requirement that “all comments be submitted in advance and that those statements adhere word for word to those scripts.” He said the rule creates “an unnecessary obstacle for many members of this community to freely speak their minds.”
Psalm told the board that, under district policy BBA, the school board is tasked with directing the bargaining process and asked members to take educators’ proposals seriously and seek common ground. “When educators feel valued and heard, so do students,” he said, noting the hours the bargaining team had spent drafting language responsive to working conditions facing teachers and staff.
Earlier in the meeting, the board approved its agenda after a motion from the floor. "I move to adopt the agenda as presented," the speaker identified as Tony Psalm said; the presiding officer announced the motion carried 5-0.
Shortly after public comment, the presiding officer recessed the regular meeting into two executive sessions "pursuant to ORS 192.660(2)(d) to conduct deliberations with persons designated by the governing body to carry on labor negotiations" and "ORS 192.660(2)(f) to consider information or records that are exempt by law from public inspection." The board did not announce further public action before recessing.
The comments and the planned executive sessions come as the district begins the 2026 academic-year cycle of bargaining; Psalm urged the board to approach bargaining with a tone of good faith and to avoid dismissing proposed contract language without explanation.
The board did not take further public votes on bargaining in the recorded portions of the meeting and provided no additional timeline for future public deliberations on those topics.
