About Those Blue Cards...And the President's Power

A few speakers expressed some consternation after the last Capistrano Unified School District board meeting about who got to speak during the 20-minute public-comment section, and who didn't.

The issue has been a difficult one for the new board -- some of the members complained before they were elected about how the old board limited public speakers. But with the rancor surrounding the district, the new board has found itself in a similar position -- having to limit speakers' time to keep the public comments to 20 minutes.

Last Tuesday, facing an expected crush of public participation, trustees announced speakers would get three minutes each, but the time would be held to 20 minutes, so seven people would have the chance to address the board in the free-ranging public comments portion.

Sixteen people put in the requests to speak -- blue cards because of their color. That meant most -- nine -- were not going to be able to speak in the early part of the meeting. Therein lies the other power of the President of the Board -- picking who can speak.

Staff generally tries to turn in the cards in the order their received from the public. But there's nothing in the board's policies that requires the president to call on speakers in any given order.

So that leads to Tuesday's meeting, when the seven speakers included two PTA leaders and teachers union leader Vicki Soderberg (the standing ovation for her  three-minute speech led a majority of trustees to abandon the dais for several minutes) and then recall-board supporters Craig Alexander (who told of his connection to the Education Alliance), Jennifer Beall, Tony Beall and Teresa Farnan, who is Chad Farnan's mother.  They all voiced support for the board.

No wonder their message was similar. We'd posted earlier about an effort to get outside support to attend the meeting. (See that post here) and after the meeting (the Bealls and others left about 9), a white paper scripting what supporters should say was found on the floor. That's here:

Download 12-15 mtg handout

Later in the meeting, a couple of speakers noted they had turned in their blue cards before some of those who were actually chosen to speak. The gamesmanship also led to something I've never seen in 25 years of covering public meetings: Trustee Ken Lopez Maddox actually got new Board President Anna Bryson to shut down speakers who were not clearly addressing topics.

After the public-speaking portion where speakers can address any topic under jurisdiction of the board, speakers can address trustees on specific agenda items, and they're supposed to stay on track with that item. On Tuesday, a few speakers, including Erin Kutnick, stretched it a bit. Kutnick, for example, tried to use a high-school exit exam waiver as a reason to talk about a state waiver for a change in how trustees are elected. You know, waivers are good.

She had three minutes to speak, and half-way through, Maddox shut her down, urging Bryson to rule her out of order and make her stop. That ultimately happened, but it took more discussion among Bryson and Maddox than if they'd just let Kutnick finish.

Judi Heidel next tried -- when the trustees were to approve all of the district's warrants (check register) at once -- Heidel noted that one of the checks was going to Phil Greer, the attorney hired to fight the June election to consider how trustees are selected. She said the spending was unnecessary, that trustees should seek the waiver. She got shut down, too.

In other meetings, I've seen public officials point out that someone might be speaking on the wrong agenda item, but I've never really seen someone get completely rejected. There's just no gain in that -- the audience can see if someone is speaking off topic, and you generate ill will by denying the public a chance to speak.

The board next meets January 12. It will be interesting to see if the stricter rules for Tuesday's meeting carry over.

Comments

[CUSD Grad, Parent, Teacher, Donor, and Voter in Support of Public Education]

There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the decision-making under the oral communications umbrella -- cutting them to 1 minute, allowing fewer -- but FOUR out of seven speakers that night were pro-board? That's censuring the public! And if the trustees were facing an "unexpected crush of public participation," shame on them. Teachers had been standing on street corners for weeks inviting the public. District officials should have anticipated the public's awareness and interest. Four out of seven? Addonizzio picked them? Really?

[Lifelong CUEA Teacher]

It is appalling and disheartening to discover that the board solicited speakers on their behalf and then made sure those few got to speak at the meeting. The teachers and general public that were there had many more people there to speak, without solicitation, and yet the board did not allow them to make a statement. FOUL! A red flag should have been tossed to stop the blue card debacle! If, as the president of the board states, it is not our place to question them, then who is monitoring their behavior and practices? How can they continue to do what they are doing? Everything that this board does is appalling to me! STOP THEM NOW...SOMEBODY!

[Reality Check]

What a pathetic group of pansies who need to inform people what to say to "urge them,' "thank them," and "tell them you appreciate" .... Isn't that called "teaching to the test"?

[Used to like this place]

There seems to be an ugly misconception that the Board should be listening to the parents and public. They work for their constituents... Education Alliance, The Beals, The Russells, The OCGOP...you know, the people who pay the bills.
The Board does their bidding and ONLY their bidding. You're very lucky to be in the room. The do not want or need the public to do their work. It's a private club with a half billion dollar annual legal budget...What don't you understand?

[ELLEN IS GONE!]

Tony Beall and Jennifer Beall... both? Counted for two out of seven? They could only take seven and Addonizio took a husband and a wife and said, "Yes, those two, separately." What a sham! This board is so gone! Ellen, you have never stood out as anything but stupid and inconsequential until now. You are a tool. You are weak. You are evil. And you are out of your league. I will devote countless tireless hours to your recall. I will devote every spare dollar to CUCF. I will engage my family, neighbors, children and colleagues in the fight. RESIGN NOW. It's OVER.

[Local Control Now]

Nothing screams "puppet" as much as that flyer -- I see a new spot on the horizon and this one isn't a clown theme.

[Reality Check]

Or maybe a "monkey" theme -- hear no constituent's input, see no constituents lined up outside trying to be heard, do nothing to save the constituents' money by requesting a waiver.

Heck, both. I'm increasing my support for CapistranoUnifiedChildrenFirst.org today.

[val]

I'm still stunned that this board would dare to censor who speaks, then cut off only the ones who are critical to their agenda...and then script the rest with talking points. Unbelievable and incredibly stupid on the trustee's part....I don't know what else to say. Other than they obviously do not care, which is nothing new. Same old, same old.

I too am increasing my support for CapistranoUnifiedChildrenFirst.org!

[friend of the blog]

"I'm still stunned that this board would dare to censor who speaks, then cut off only the ones who are critical to their agenda."

As much as I dislike this board, I note that the Fleming trustees did the same thing.

Also, Ellen Addonizio is no longer the board President. Now it's Anna Bryson.

[Now is the time for all good men (and women) to come to the aid of CUSD!]

Problem is folks that the Bealls couldn't care less and they are convinced they DO control his district. Did you see that smug "smile" she wears around? They rule by fear and intimidation which I noticed was posted on another thread. If any readers out there have connections to the GOP now is the time to let them know how their OC wing is wortking the public. Please.