Mesa Public Schools board debates agenda power
School is out at Mesa Public Schools and there were more empty chairs than usual in the audience at last week’s school board meeting as a potentially consequential drama played MPS school board is debating who will have final say over who can place items on its meeting agendas, according to Arizona Open Meeting laws. The issue is crucial as public bodies only discuss and act on items placed on the agenda. The outcome could impact the ability of board members in the minority to force discussions. MPS Board member Rachel Walden has complained that requests to put items on agendas have been ignored. The current district policy allows individual board members to add items, but there is also language suggesting that the superintendent and board president set the agenda, which Walden believes is inconsistent. The district has responded by stating that all board members have the right to request an item be placed on a board agenda.
Veröffentlicht : vor 4 Wochen durch Scott Shumaker Tribune Staff Writer in
School is out at Mesa Public Schools and there were more empty chairs than usual in the audience at last week’s school board meeting as a potentially consequential drama played out on the dais.
The board is nearing the end of its months-long policy update and held the first of two readings on the final batch of policies – those dealing with the authority of the governing board and administration.
As part of the update, the board is poised to decide who gets to put items on its meeting agendas.
And that has generated disagreement over who has final say over the document.
Agendas are powerful because, according to Arizona Open Meeting laws, public bodies can only discuss and act on items placed on them.
At stake for MPS is whether an individual board member can place an item on an agenda, or whether the superintendent and board president have final say.
The outcome could have a large impact on the ability of board members in the minority to force discussions.
The power over agendas is especially significant for school boards in a time of heightened politicization. School boards nationally have become stages for battles over library books, dress codes and transgender accommodations, stoked at times by national media.
At Mesa Public Schools, the public can raise any concern in public comments, but for the board to respond, discuss or take action, the topic must be on the agenda.
MPS Board member Rachel Walden has complained in meetings this year that her requests to place items on agendas have been ignored.
The current district policy on whether an individual board member can place an item on the agenda is muddy.
Walden has claimed that the current wording allows individual board members to add items, but there’s also language that seems to imply the superintendent and board president set the agenda.
When the Tribune asked the district if board members other than the president could place items on meeting agendas currently, the response was carefully worded:
“All board members have the opportunity to request an item be placed on a board agenda,” a spokeswoman said in an email. “The board president and superintendent determine when the item would appear on a board agenda. Requests by board members have been honored this year.”
On multiple occasions, Board President Marcie Hutchinson has publicly pledged to agendize items of concern to Walden. Last week she followed through on one those promises as the board discussed Walden’s proposed amendment to the district’s flag policy.
Regarding the meeting agenda policy update that was also introduced, staff proposed language that would put ultimate control firmly in the hands of the superintendent and board president, who is elected by her fellow members.
“The Superintendent is authorized to develop the agenda for each Board meeting, in collaboration with the Board President. Board Members may also request that specific items be considered for placement on a Board meeting agenda,” the proposed language states.
The language comes from model policy developed by the Arizona Risk Retention Trust, which provides liability coverage to Arizona school districts.
Though the topic of agenda power would be significant for Walden, who has been outspoken in dissenting from the board majority, her colleague Dr. Joe O’Reilly took up the cause.
He criticized the proposed language and requested changes that allowed individual board members to place items on the agenda.
“I think board members should have the right to ask to have something put on the agenda and not to be considered by someone else who can say ‘yes’ or ‘no’,” he said. “The right … appears to exist now under current policy, and now it’s being, in a sense, taken away.”
He proposed new language that would reverse the draft language and instead specify that any board member could place an item on the agenda.
Two MPS staff members offered some resistance to O’Reilly’s proposed revision.
“I like the original language” in the draft, MPS General Counsel Kacey King said. “There’s a reason you have a board president, and that is to filter – with the superintendent – items that get placed on an agenda.”
“We disagree on that,” O’Reilly shot back. “I like the current policy that gives board members the right to put something on the agenda.”
Assistant Superintendent Scott Thompson said he didn’t object to O’Reilly’s proposal to allow single members to add items to the agenda, but he recommended that there be some qualifiers added.
“Let’s say you have a board member who brings a policy forward, and it’s voted down by the board, then this would mean they could bring it back the next meeting, and the next meeting, and the next meeting,” he said.
“Procedurally, that could be difficult,” he said.
O’Reilly was willing to revise his proposal to say any board member could place an item on the agenda one time.
After board members and administrators struggled with the exact language, they agreed to work on it and bring revised language to the second reading of the policy on June 11.