Democracy Flourishing With Elwood Board of Education

One would think, based upon a (very) few reactions to last Thursday's BOE Budget Work Session, that the nearly five hour meeting was a reason for concern, rather than celebration.

First of all, it was terrific to see so many people attend that meeting whom I had NEVER seen at any BOE meeting before. There were also a lot of attendees who are rarely seen at BOE meetings or work sessions, so this was a wonderful exercise in the best elements of American democracy. Even if some came with not fully-understood concepts, they came to speak and to learn.

In fact, there were 26 residents who rose to ask questions or make comments, among which were some who rarely (if ever) did so before, and the dialogue was spirited, and the meeting went on until about 12:20 AM.

Now, some people may feel that a spirited discussion is a sign of discord, but nothing could be further from the truth, as long as people are being honest and candid. No one agrees with someone else 100% of the time, and an exchange of views is helpful to making the best choices for our students and our staff and our taxpayers.

But, how many of you remember that it was not that many years ago that Elwood residents were not even permitted to speak at Budget Work Sessions, much less engage in dialogue for nearly two hours. To be precise, Thursday's Residents Remarks, relating to the budget, began at 9:57 PM and ended at 11:40 PM.

No, in contrast, it was not until a few years ago that any Elwood resident who wanted to pose a question during Budget Work Sessions would have to submit a written question, on a 3x5 index card.

Dialogue? Not really; and the revelation by the BOE and by the District Administration was then paltry and tightly controlled, as well.

Some people don't realize just how far this District has come, with democratizing steps by our Board of Education (yes, by the BOE, and rarely by any of our Superintendents over the past six years), included among which are the following:

(1) Created a second Residents Remarks period at BOE Regular Meetings, to provide for one period toward the beginning of the meeting, and one at the end, thereby increasing the dialogue between Board and residents or staff;

(2) Created, for the first time in Elwood, a monthly BOE Work Session where residents or staff could listen to detailed discussions by BOE members about various subjects to be covered, and possibly voted upon, at future Regular Meetings;

(3) Created, subsequently, also for the first time in Elwood, a Residents Remarks period at the new BOE Work Sessions, so residents or staff could present questions or comments pertaining to discussion items;

(4) Created, for the first time in Elwood, a Board of Education collective E-mail address to be able to send E-mails to all BOE members; until then, residents or staff could only send E-mails to Board Trustees if they happened to know a Trustee's personal E-mail address, which were not officially published;

(5) Created, for the first time, three “Board Books,” containing the detailed action items which the Board sees, but which were previously unknown to Residents, and those Books are placed at the back of the auditorium before every BOE Regular Meeting for review by any resident or visitor;

(6) Created five new subcommittees of the Board, plus the Citizens Finance/Budget Advisory Committee, which are comprised mainly of residents of the District who apply for these subcommittees and committee, and these bring community expertise to advise the Board, and review, in depth, and with transparency, items which the Board may later act upon.

And now we have a budget process which, at least from a BOE perspective and intent, is designed to allow residents to follow the steps in the creation of a draft budget, and to participate in the public discussion regarding alternative choices to be made.

This is indeed democracy in action in Elwood, and we have our Board of Education to thank for continuing to take steps to make Elwood one of the most open districts when it comes to such dialogue.

Jerry Hannon