Keeping the Public in the Info Loop

As in most things political, it has been an evolutionary process. But transparency is coming to City Council’s selection of School Board members. That keeps the public informed about who is seeking appointment to the board, which sets policies for and oversees operation of the public school system.

In the fairly recent past, the public was told whose terms on the board were expiring and whose were up for reappointment. And that was about it. The public was kept in the dark about who had applied for new three-year terms on the board until the council had interviewed the candidates behind closed doors and announced its decision sometime in late June.

School Board members are eligible to serve three three-year terms.

The council changed the appointment process last year to make the names of board applications available to the public. It also decided to hold a public hearing or several public hearings to give those seeking seats on the School Board a chance to present themselves to the council and to the public.

That provides for good government. The better informed the public is about its government, the better it is able to understand what that government is doing and how it is operating. That’s transparency.

Three School Board terms expire this June, with one of the members not eligible for reappointment. That’s because Chairwoman Julie Doyle, who represents District I on the board, has served three terms. Board member Leslie Faircloth is completing his second term from District III, but has decided not to seek reappointment. And board member Keith Anderson’s current term expires, but he is seeking reappointment to his District II seat.

As of last week, five candidates had filed their names with City Council for the District I seat. And two, in addition to Anderson, have said they would like to serve in the District II seat. Only one candidate has emerged for the District III seat.

At a public hearing last week, most of those candidates spoke to the council on their own behalf. Others also appeared to speak for one candidate or another. Their comments were limited to three minutes and they talked about important issues facing the city schools and why they wanted to be on the School Board.

The council has agreed to extend the hearing until May 26 to seek additional candidates for the vacancies.

Once the hearing is closed, council will go behind closed doors to decide which candidates they will interview for their final choice. Those interviews will be done in closed session, but they will be taped and made available to the public once the council has made its decision.

The council could interview the candidates in public, but is permitted to do that in closed session under personnel provisions of the state Freedom of Information Act.

Appointments will be made in June and the new School Board members will begin their terms on July 1.

City Council has made significant strides toward keeping the public informed about its appointments to a board as important as the one that oversees the city’s public schools. Let’s hope it continues to follow that course.