Different Format for March 22nd School Board Meeting

Hmmmm…. where have I seen something like this before?

The third presentation of the 2010-11 proposed budget recommendations will be at the March 22 board meeting. District administrators and school board members have indicated they would like to see a large audience.

   The purpose of the School Board meeting, according to Ted Neitzke,, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, is to increase the community’s awareness of the school district’s budget — past, present and future — and to collect community feedback.

   Because the focus of the meeting is on collecting feedback, the format will be different than a typical board meeting, Neitzke said.

   The evening will begin with a budget presentation by Neitzke. After the presentation, community members will be split into large groups and put into classrooms. The size of the groups, Neitzke said, would depend upon attendance.

   If 300 people attended the meeting, for example, they would be divided into groups of 30 in 10 classrooms.

   Within the classrooms, people will be further divided into groups of five to six people Neitzke said.

   The small “focus” groups would be asked to provide feedback on a number of budget related issues. Feedback would then be collected by a facilitator and brought back to the school board.

   “The changed format will give the most people the most opportunities to have their voices heard,” Neitzke said. “Our district is very unique. There is no other school board in the state that is going out this early to ensure that the community understands the budget.”

Ah yes, I remember now.  It’s a variation of the Delphi Technique used by liberal activists for decades to build faux consensus.  I don’t like this format for a variety of reasons.  First, there is the opening for manipulation of the results.  If all of the groups are divided up and the administrator comes back and says “the majority did not want to cut X from the budget,” who can dispute it?  If your group was OK with cutting X, how do you know what the other groups thought about it?  How can you verify the administrator’s statement?  You can’t. 

Second, it is a process designed to exclude all but the most committed.  If it were a regular board meeting, then I could go and listen to the budget presentation, perhaps say my piece, and then leave if I have other commitments.  This format forces all attendees to commit to the evening.  That means that the passively interested won’t bother to attend because they don’t want to commit to the time and the folks with the most to lose or gain will dominate the process.  Who will be the most likely to take an entire evening to attend?  Take a guess. 

Third, this process filters the ideas that will boil up for the board to hear, and the filter will be applied by the school administration.  For example, if someone in Group #6 has a great idea that nobody else thought of, the board may never hear it because it didn’t develop into a “theme.”  Or if a theme develops of people saying “cut 10% of administration” and the administration considers that “unworkable,” then the input may be excluded from the final results. 

This method is a tried and true method to give the facilitators maximum control over the flow of information.  How they use that control should be of great concern to the citizens in this school district.

One more thing… the Superintendent is up for review this month.  Odds are about 20,000 to 1 that she will receive a raise.