[Vision2020] Board of Trustee Minutes--reply to Phil

[Donovan Arnold]

Mr. Curley,

There was a meeting between March 10, 2005 and April
26, 2005. It was on April 11, 2005. So the minutes
should have been reviewed, edited, and approved at
that time. 

MSD has 400+ employees. There is no reason why the
minutes for the meeting should not have been written
up and posted.

I have never seen it take 60 days to print up minutes
and post them on a website. Even college and high
school student governments are faster. Now if 18 year
olds can do it, I would tend to think so could adults
with Masters degrees. If not, they have access to over
500 students that probably could.

I do not see any point in having minutes if you are
going to wait 8 weeks. It might as well be 8 years.
Minutes are so you can go back and look and see what
happened at a meeting.

As to whether the minutes actually had any value to
the public regarding their vote on April 26, that is
up to each voter. But they cannot make that judgment
if they do not have access to the information. 

Thanks for your input.

Take Care,

Donovan J Arnold






--- Michael Curley <curley at turbonet.com> wrote:
> Phil:
> Unfortuately for some reason unknown to me, I cannot
> retain the 
> string of your conversation with Keely about the
> March 10 school 
> board meeting minutes being posted on the website.
> (see 
>
www.sd281.k12.id.us/Board_of_Trustees/minutes/05-03-10Spec.pdf,
> if 
> you're interested).  You suggested that it was the
> "content" of the 
> meeting minutes that caused it to be posted in a
> less timely manner 
> than other minutes, but Keely said "no" and you
> asked "why then."
> 
> Not to answer for Keely, but let me review a couple
> of things before 
> she does so that you have some information from
> which to evaluate her 
> answer--and future postings.  
> 
> Minutes of meetings are pesky things.  They aren't
> really minutes 
> until they are approved at the NEXT meeting of the
> group.  They are 
> prepared and circulated for review and CORRECTION
> prior to the 
> meeting, and they MAY be approved in exactly the
> form in which they 
> are circulated, but they also may contain absolutely
> incorrect 
> information.  I'm sure you'd be very upset if you
> were a board, 
> commission or committee member and minutes were
> posted BEFORE you had 
> a chance at the next meeting to amend them that
> said:  "Phil Roderick 
> said he favored proposition x" if indeed you said
> you did NOT favor 
> proposition x and the secretary/minute-taker had
> erred.  
> 
> Perhaps the point is, thus, that "official" meeting
> minutes should 
> not be used as an informational tool when the public
> needs or wants 
> answers immediately.  Of course, concomitantly, the
> public should not 
> look for the answers there either.  Additionally,
> minutes are not 
> really supposed to contain DETAILS of discussion at
> a meeting.  They 
> should NOT for example say:  "Mr. Roderick said that
> he thought xyz 
> about resolution 05-123."  We may all THINK that's
> what minutes are 
> about, but they aren't (you want the cite to Roberts
> Rules of Order, 
> post me offline).  They SHOULD give the details of a
> motion or 
> resolution that is presented, that "discussion
> ensued," and then the 
> vote was taken--and the results.  
> 
> It is laudable the District posts its Board minutes
> on its website.  
> I doubt they intended the particular minutes to be
> the "information 
> sheet" on the bond or any other issue, and it isn't
> the place where 
> any of us should look for TIMELY information about
> them.  
> 
> And, then, there is the question about who has the
> technical 
> knowledge to post the minutes (yes, some students
> are quite capable, 
> but they require supervision, so in the past it has
> been an employee 
> who has needed to do it--who is also responsible for
> keeping the 
> computer system running for the entire district--and
> there are at 
> least EIGHT separate buildings in which the system
> operates.  Ah, 
> minutes, they seem sooo simple at first glance.
> 
> Hope this helps a bit, whatever the underlying issue
> might be.
> 
> Mike
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 29 Apr 2005 at 11:37, Shelly wrote:
> 
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> 
>
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