Comments on: Why won’t the school board deliberate in public? http://ppsequity.org/2008/08/29/why-wont-the-school-board-deliberate-in-public/ Covering the beat of Portland Public Schools Sat, 27 Mar 2010 00:00:36 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Steve Rawley http://ppsequity.org/2008/08/29/why-wont-the-school-board-deliberate-in-public/comment-page-1/#comment-7925 Steve Rawley Tue, 02 Sep 2008 03:02:03 +0000 http://ppsequity.org/?p=149#comment-7925 A reader who wishes to remain anonymous points out that in the charter schools processes, much public debate was had in committee meetings (and, I would add, much was said in full board meetings, too, even if the decisions were already made coming in). A valid point. I should have highlighted this as something where they've had pretty good public deliberation, but instead I included it with decisions that were made with very little or no public deliberation. A reader who wishes to remain anonymous points out that in the charter schools processes, much public debate was had in committee meetings (and, I would add, much was said in full board meetings, too, even if the decisions were already made coming in).

A valid point. I should have highlighted this as something where they’ve had pretty good public deliberation, but instead I included it with decisions that were made with very little or no public deliberation.

]]> By: Terry http://ppsequity.org/2008/08/29/why-wont-the-school-board-deliberate-in-public/comment-page-1/#comment-7467 Terry Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:29:11 +0000 http://ppsequity.org/?p=149#comment-7467 That's precisely what I was thinking as I watched the twenty minute rush to unanimously anoint Martin Gonzales as the new and congenial board member. Much of what the board was actually thinking was left unsaid. Ruth Adkins came closest to saying anything of substance when she acknowledged that she would probably differ with Gonzales on certain issues. Problem is, she didn't say which issues. I didn't know that Sonja Henning was a holdout on procedure. As a publicly elected representative of the district, it seems to me that she has an obligation to speak her mind in front of the cameras. When I taught in Hillsboro, the faculty of our school used consensus decision making, too, on contentious issues involving school reform and team teaching. None of the consensus building, however, took place behind closed doors. Great post, Steve. That’s precisely what I was thinking as I watched the twenty minute rush to unanimously anoint Martin Gonzales as the new and congenial board member. Much of what the board was actually thinking was left unsaid.

Ruth Adkins came closest to saying anything of substance when she acknowledged that she would probably differ with Gonzales on certain issues. Problem is, she didn’t say which issues.

I didn’t know that Sonja Henning was a holdout on procedure. As a publicly elected representative of the district, it seems to me that she has an obligation to speak her mind in front of the cameras.

When I taught in Hillsboro, the faculty of our school used consensus decision making, too, on contentious issues involving school reform and team teaching.

None of the consensus building, however, took place behind closed doors.

Great post, Steve.

]]>