August 2 Board Meeting Part II
Lack Of Transparency"?
Despite having 62,776 people living in the PVPUSD there were only 16 members of the public at the August 2nd meeting. Of these, a mere three addressed the board. They were Aaron Chan and Jeremy Vanderhal, candidates for the board last November, and Joan Davidson, a former board member. The three raised cogent points.
Examples of lack of transparency
The Califonia Public Request Act (CPRA) provides the public access to information from public organizations such as school districts, cities, and state government offices. Chan pointed out the inadequacies of the PVPUSD handling of the Public Records Act (PRA) requests, including how the district is not complying with state law. Chan quoted the number of PRA requests that were not responded to or not recorded in the district’s reports. These were significant discrepancies indicating a lack of checks and balances in the district’s process.
Vanderhal stressed the need for transparency between board members and their constituents, something the board members promised during their election campaigns. However, now that they are board members, for the most part, they have forgotten their platform pledges.
Davidson spoke of the conflict but also questioned how the board will meet the district’s rising costs and whether the board is discussing school closures.
Board members showed no interest in community concerns
These are important subjects to Palos Verdes Peninsula residents. Despite this, at the end of the meeting when the board discussed things to be placed on future agendas, none of these issues were mentioned. If board members had said something like, “The public speakers tonight raised interesting and important questions. Our community deserves answers. On our next agenda, we need an answer as to why PRA requests are not answered in a timely manner and what we can do to correct that. And the questions about how we plan to navigate through our fiscal challenges and whether we are discussing closing schools are legitimate and need to be answered if we are to have credibility with those we are elected to serve.” That would be refreshing. PVP Watch offers a piece of advice for the board…at least act interested in what community members say from the dais because you do not appear to. Respond to their comments to show transparency.
There were 11 people in attendance to begin and when it adjourned at 8:37 P.M. there were four. Perhaps if community concerns are taken seriously, more individuals will be drawn to school board meetings and interact with the board.
Julie Hamill - the exception
Finally, on the issue of lack of transparency, there is one exception. Julie Hamill was elected to the board last November. As mentioned in our last newsletter, she almost immediately began sending her own newsletter to constituents featuring subjects before the board and how she feels about them. Hamill has published more than 20 newsletters since her board appointment. Our readers are again urged to contact Hamill at julie@hamill4pv.com to obtain this source of information. PVP Watch is unaware of any other PVPUSD board member who has a method to communicate with the voters. If one does, she is urged to advise PVP Watch, and our newsletter will publicize it.
PVP Watch welcomes your comments
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