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Reading an agenda printed in advance of a Wilkes-Barre Area School Board meeting can be a (___) experience because of all the (___).
Oops.
What we meant to tell you is this: Reading an agenda printed in advance of a Wilkes-Barre Area School Board meeting can be a frustrating experience because of all the blanks.
For example, the agenda supplied to attendees at Monday’s meeting in Kistler Elementary School included a detailed accounting of bids to be awarded (including the purchase of two measuring spoons at 76 cents apiece) but not the names of certain people to be hired as teachers, teachers’ associates, secretaries and crossing guards.
Consequently, sections of the agenda looked like this:
5. That ___ be appointed an elementary education long term substitute for the first semester of the 2015-16 school year.
6. That ___ be appointed an elementary education long term substitute for the first semester of the 2015-16 school year.
7. That ___ be appointed as a speech and language pathologist long term substitute for the 2015-16 school year.
Only after the board meeting was underway did the public learn those spots were to be filled by Veronica Tobin, Tammy Latinski and Jenny Wilczak, respectively.
We’re told these omissions happen routinely. That shouldn’t be the case. Especially in a public school district with an abysmal record of nepotism and, worse, a history of bribery among particular ex-board members who pocketed cash in exchange for doling out lucrative school jobs and contracts.
An agenda so full of holes it looks like a National Security Agency-redacted document only serves to raise suspicions. Moreover, it potentially denies meeting goers a chance to review information ahead of time and then participate in democratic fashion. Suppose, for instance, an audience member learns only after the meeting has begun the name of a person to be appointed that night to a teaching job and wishes to offer a comment or raise a concern. Too late. Individuals who want to address the board are required to sign up at least five minutes before a meeting’s expected start time – presumably by providing their real names, not space-fillers.
Granted, there might be rare instances when a hiring recommendation happens too late to be included in the prepared material. That should be the exception, however, not standard practice.
The district’s custom of distributing fill-in-the-blank agendas should no longer be considered acceptable.
It (___).
Stinks.
It’s (___).
Unfair.
End this (___).
Nonsense.