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Parent urges board to let community speak directly; district to schedule open forums
Summary
At the Waterloo Local school board meeting a parent said a district policy directing statements to the presiding officer discourages public engagement and asked the board to reinstate more direct access or schedule regular open forums; Superintendent Dr Clark said the district plans to schedule one or more open forums next year.
A member of the public told the Waterloo Local Board of Education that the district’s policy — which requires questions and statements to be directed to the presiding officer rather than to individual board members or administrators — discourages public engagement and creates poor optics.
“The Optics aren't great when we tell our community they cannot engage publicly with our elected Board of Education,” the public commenter said, and she respectfully asked the board to reconsider the policy or “at the very least consider scheduling open forums on a regular basis as a testament to your willingness to act transparently.”
The commenter, who said she began attending meetings in 2019, noted that while she understands the written policy, her experience had been that some board members were previously more open to questions during meetings.
Superintendent Dr Clark responded that the district is already planning to add open forums next year. “We are looking at scheduling a couple open forms per — like, you know, one, two, two a year, three a year — whatever, so that's something that we're plan on doing for next year … we will be doing that moving forward,” he said.
The exchange closed with no formal vote on policy change. The board did not take immediate action to amend its official policy at the meeting; the superintendent’s statement indicated staff will schedule public forums in the coming year and the board may consider policy updates at a later date.
