Parents expect a voice in LW School District growth issues

Board in "Work Session" Meeting
Though not advertised, the public may observe.

Second in series on 'open government' issues at LWSD.

OPINION:  Updated, 6/21/11  The 2010-2011 school year has been extremely challenging for Lake Washington School District and the community. State budget cuts are hurting. But, probably the biggest loss was failure by 3% of the Capital Bond measure.  Could the School Board have done more than Levy Committee volunteerism to help the district pass this critical measure?  Who can say?

In any event, failure of the Capital Bond measure created a sense of panic within the District and the community.  Where do we find the money we need to re-build the schools?  The District and Board scrambled to patch together a system of high school wing additions, portables and a modular Stem School with a levy measure. (The much smaller capital levy passed easily with simple majority.) But there is still no money to re-build Juanita High and now other school "modernizations" are delayed or trimmed back.

All these growth pains caused a festering within the community with many citizens wanting to be heard, but not knowing how to speak up.  For example, during the feeder program "input session" at A.G. Bell, parents made yellow buttons protesting, "Parents Expect A Voice"!

Despite some productive organizational changes within the Administration, the public still faces road-blocks to communication and engagement with the District.  As compared to the open governments of neighboring school districts, LWSD's shaky process of governance is a house of cards.  (below). Unfortunately, parent and community participation with district government continues to deteriorate as our leaders cloak themselves with new policies and procedures, as follows: 
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• Meeting times and the kinds of meetings change at the whim of the Board.  Meetings are subject to change for "emergencies", lack of quorum, illness, and vacations. There's no scheduling consistency for public planning to speak to the Board.  Eleven times in the last two school years, public comment times were altered or taken at 5 pm on Monday - not a practical time for most!  
• The Board was required for years to take comment at 7 pm regular meetings.  They changed their regulation at their last meeting and can hold public comment whenever they want, as long as they update the website.  Regular meeting no longer on the 1st and 3rd Monday of the month; they may also now be held on the 2nd and 4th Monday.
• The School website "About Us" has morphed into a slippery "living document" of governance, edited at will.    Administrative policy and changes are made by Sup. Kimball at the whim of the government without a vote.  If the Board or Kimball want to cut off public comment during "volatile" times they simply move the dates around on their website.  Significant governance policy changes by the Board are made by silent vote on the non-consent agenda (non transparent).  LWSD governance is a "squishy" and unpredictable at best.    
• Two critical meetings are held in the middle of summer recess.  The Budget Hearing is held on the first or second Monday of August and the Five-Year Capital Facilities Plan is usually reviewed a meeting later.  The information packets from these meetings hold valuable information.
• Jackie Pendergrass and members say they operate as "one Board" without individual decision-making.  The Administration sends out school surveys and changes policies (e.g. Pet) without privor review of the Board.
• Long award ceremonies and "host school" meetings are often held before the public comment period.   Public comment should be valued and encouraged, not put on the back-burner.  Sometimes, the wait is over 45 minutes.
• The School Board and Administration is fully aware of every point made.  I've written more than once.

If I observe other roadblocks to citizen feedback, participation, and board oversite, I'll report them here.  Unfortunately, Lake Washington School District government  is not open or accountable on issues of administrative and governance process. 

An example of open and accountable school governance is found in the North Shore District. Public comments are taken twice per month (on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month) and their regulations are documented by read-only PDF documents in an electronic reference library, independent of the website. 

Opinion By Bob Yoder
Photo by Yoder
Updated:  6/20/11

Board Meetig schedule, agenda, minutes, information packet
Governence process page