I previously posted information about an anticipated discussion by the BRSSD school board related to this November's election and the three open board seats.
My posting was based on a request to the school board to have an agenda item titled "Discussion regarding November 2013 BRSSD School Board election."
The upcoming June 6 board meeting has an item related to the election, but it is much more narrowly worded (see link below). Given the Brown Act restrictions that limit discussions at board meetings it is likely that the board will not have the kind of open discussion I had requested.
At this point, I am unsure whether or not the BRSSD board is planning a more open and general discussion about the school board and the election for a future meeting. I have requested that the board president and the co-superintendents clarify this issue and hopefully I can get a response before Thursday. To date I have not had any response to my board agenda item request dated May 20th.
At any rate, for people interested in the November election, and the governance of our school district, I would say - attend the Thursday board meeting if you are able.
http://belmont.csbaagendaonline.net/cgi-bin/WebObjects/belmont-eAgenda.woa/wa/displayMeeting?meetingID=1696
Note: Sorry the above link was messed up. It should work now.
Thursday - 3:30pm -- I just want to note that I have not gotten any kind of reply from board members or district personnel so I do not know what will happen in the meeting tonight with respect to information about the election and/or a discussion.
This is the relevant part of the request for an agenda item I made:
"As a representative of a group of concerned citizens, I would like to request that an item be placed on the agenda for a BRSSD School Board meeting at the earliest possibility. The topic we would like to see is "Discussion regarding November 2013 BRSSD School Board election." We would like to see information presented about the upcoming fall school board election, the number of board members to be elected, the requirements for candidates, relevant dates and timelines, etc. We also see this as an opportunity for concerned citizens to provide feedback concerning their desires for their elected school board representatives, what kinds of candidates they desire, the necessary skills for effective district governance, etc. It also seems to us that this agenda item would provide an ideal opportunity for current board members to help educate the public regarding board membership, the necessary time commitment, responsibilities, etc. based on their particular experiences."
" The goal of this item is to help foster a community discussion regarding our local schools, the school district, and governance issues. As you know, in recent years we seem to have fallen into a pattern of having few candidates for the school board, and consequently we have often ended up with appointed members more often than elected school board representatives. It also seems that board meetings are typically lightly attended with a general lack of interest from the community on most issues - until some hot issue comes up. At that point there is an explosion of activity, which often ends with frustration for many people. It seems that we should be able to do better. The hope of this agenda item is to make progress toward such improvement."
