School board may switch set-up for committees
BY DAVE BENJAMIN Staff Writer

JACKSON - The Board of Education may change from its present way of using individual committees to study a particular issue to a committee of the whole setup.

Board member Linda Lackay said a committee can examine a specific issue, i.e. buildings and grounds, finance or legislation. Only three of the seven board members may participate on a committee.

A committee's job is to gather information and recommendations from the central office and administration and to bring that information back to the entire board, discuss it and share it with the entire board so that a decision on whatever issue is being studied may be made, she said.

Lackay said the district's needs and the community's needs may warrant a change to a committee of the whole set-up.

"One of the biggest needs we have seen, time and time again, is that people want a better understanding of how we make our decisions and why we're making certain decisions," she said.

Lackay said people may become frustrated by the fact that when they come to a regular board meeting all they hear is board members voting on an issue without discussion.

She said that may be the result of a particular committee having already supplied the board members with the pertinent information on an issue. She said members of the public who attend a board meeting and hear the board members vote may not realize the board members have already received the information they need to make a decision.

"A big part is opening up the process to the community which will also involve the budget," Lackay said. "We are trying to find a workable system to have the public hear the facts, based on the information that is going to be the basis of our budget, that we are going to propose.

"We hope the committee of the whole will operate by having two officially advertised meetings a month," she said. "Every board member will get the information at the same time from the central office, staff or administration, so we can all ask questions and benefit from the questions and discussion by our fellow board members. The public will be able to attend and listen to the questions and the back and forth."

Lackay said the board will determine what, if any, input from the public will be taken at the committee of the whole meetings.

Starting in November, administrators will come before the board to discuss their budget needs for the next school year.

"We hope to get a budget passed and with the more information the public has the better off we all will be," said Lackay. "We hope to offer more transparency and more information."

The board is expected to make a determination this month on the change from the committee system to the committee as a whole set-up.