Regarding the article, “School board meets, no action on Cascade’s Bertrand”: I would like to express how disappointed I am in the school board’s approach to hearing public comment regarding the school teacher whose coaching contract was not renewed. I have no position on the matter. However, when the public chooses to engage in an issue that is important to them, the right approach is to welcome comments and accommodate hearing from the public on the issue, even if it’s not a matter the board cares to discuss.
I read that the board tried to manipulate and limit public comment on the matter by splitting the comment time into two periods, one period before the meeting and then a follow-up comment period after hours of school board business was handled. Even if the board didn’t intentionally intend to limit the amount of comments, public perception of how this situation was handled is very negative.
The right thing to do when the public has something to say and there is not enough time on the agenda would be to do whatever it take to accommodate hearing the public voice when there is a significant issue many people care about. Table the normal agenda items perhaps? Or have a condensed agenda of regular business? Or hold a special session welcoming the public to air their thoughts on the matter.
Either way, the school board is doing a poor job of handling/managing and accepting feedback from the very population of people it serves. If anything, this motivates people to organize and vote members out of their roles, when the board could be doing their actual job of having a positive impact and encouraging engagement and transparency with the people they serve.
Stephanie Ruiz
Parent of two students attending the Everett School District
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