School board creates new guidelines for public input

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

Aug. 13, 1997

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

The Bemidji School Board wants to be more amenable to the public. So, according to new public input guidelines, beginning in September, it will be easier to address the board at its monthly business meetings.

The board agreed to the experiment, temporarily replacing the 10-year-old policy governing public input at meetings, at a work session held Monday night.

According to board member Carolyn Jacobs, who along with Board Chairman Jim Smalley and Superintendent Rollie Morud, created the new policy, said the board decided at a recent retreat it wanted to make the process of public input less complicated. The three met shortly thereafter, and the fruits of their labor will be announced at the upcoming school board meeting to be held Monday.

The new rules allow a person wishing to address the board to submit a "public input application" to the board's secretary only 10 minutes prior to the beginning of a meeting. Previously, those wishing to address the board had to complete this same procedure the Friday before a board meeting, meaning they had to apply almost four days prior to a meeting.

The new guidelines also limit a person to three to five minutes of the board's time, which will be monitored by the board chairman. In addition, the policy states: "Patrons should not expect an immediate answer to their questions voiced during the public comment. It takes time for thoughtful research prior to responding. When appropriate, the school board chair will direct follow-up activities."

Those addressing the board will speak during the "Delegations, Petitions and Communications" section of the agenda unless what they are speaking about relates to another item already on the agenda. They then would speak when the board addressed that issue.

This being the second major change in the policy, Jacobs said, previously public comment was accepted only during the delegations segment, regardless of whether the board addressed the same topic elsewhere.

And finally, the new guidelines still do not allow for public criticism of a district employee at a school board meeting because of it being inappropriate. Anybody with a complaint about a district employee will still have to submit it in writing to the board's personnel committee.

"In general, the board wanted the meetings to be more open and conducive to public input," Jacobs said Tuesday in an interview. "It'll depend on who is the board chairman, but I still don't foresee a great free flow of information at first. But the process has been opened up."

The new guidelines will take effect at the board's September meeting and will be used through December. According to Jacobs, if the policy seems to be working, the board will then approve the new guidelines, making it official policy.