Letter: Stevens Point deserves better from school board

Editor’s note: All school board meetings in 2021 were available for public observation.

To the Editor-

There’s a primary election that’s coming up on February 15 with some very important races.

One of them is for the school board where there are three incumbents running for re-election. I think their record as school board members speak for themselves.

Let me tell you why.

1) Of the 12 monthly school board meetings in 2021, half were closed to the public. The reason given for this was “the Stevens Point Area Public School District School Board will hold a virtual regular board meeting through the use of Webex due to District COVID-19 mitigation strategies and other related health and safety factors.” Yet, school has been open throughout, no state or local health emergency has been declared since spring of 2020, and the rest of us in the community have been going to our workplaces regardless. What makes school board members so special that they get to go virtual and shut the public out, all in clear violation of Wisconsin Open Meetings law?

2) On October 25, 2021, the annual “Public Budget Hearing” was held virtually. How can they do a public hearing virtually where the public cannot attend and cannot ask questions “publically” but only by email. Was this even legal?

3) Ironically, amidst all the board meetings closed to the public, the board decided that while the public could not attend meetings and members had to attend virtually, they could meet with teachers in person to start the school year on August 23, 2021. Hypocritical virtue-signaling while shutting out public comment?

4) No committee meetings have been held for the past 22 months. The school board, as a whole, relies on the various committees to make recommendations regarding policies that the entire school board has to vote on. How can that happen if they’re not having committee meetings? (Are the policies really being made by just the superintendent and the board president?)

5) There is little, if any, input from school board members to the establishment of monthly meeting agendas. Instead, all board meeting agendas are prepared by the school administrator and approved/adjusted by the school board president. Why do we have committees and board members if they cannot participate in a productive way to decide what business is to be conducted in board meetings?

The children and the parents of the Stevens Point School District deserve better than what they have been forced to endure for the last two years. It’s time to elect people that will listen to parents and taxpayers, that have new and better ideas, and have the courage to enact them. Vote for Alex Sommers, Jennifer Bushman, Miguel Campos, and Kari Prokop for School Board on February 15.

Pamela Lloyd
Stevens Point

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