Peters Township School Board discusses teleconference policy
Peters Township School Board plans to update its policy with regard to attendance at meetings via electronic communications.
The Nov. 19 board meeting focused on the wording of some of the components of the policy, which originally was adopted in 2005 and last updated in 2015.
One of the current stipulations is that a board member “who is present at a meeting through teleconferencing shall be permitted to vote only by roll call.”
“Our practice has not been to have a roll-call vote on every vote when someone calls in,” said Lisa Anderson, who chairs the board’s police committee. “We could interpret that to mean only that person is called out individually.”
Another board member, Jamison Hardy, requested that the last few words be deleted.
“That’s not appropriate, to have one person’s vote called out,” he said.
Another part the policy addresses appears to limit situations by which participating by telephone is to occur.
“A board member shall be able to attend a board meeting, and participate in board deliberations and voting, but only under extraordinary circumstances and having substantially participated in the agenda item discussion.”
Hardy, who travels frequently as president and bishop of the English District of The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, also asked for the “extraordinary circumstances” provision to be eliminated. Board member Daniel Taylor agreed, saying the modifier is open to interpretation.
“A lot of us have to travel for jobs. A lot of us have to do stuff that the only way we can be present is to call in,” he said.
Board member Rolf Briegel questioned the part of the sentence that addresses discussion participation.
“What exactly is ‘substantially’?” he asked. “That is also open to interpretation. That seems kind of vague.”
Such wording could apply to anyone who is present physically, according to board member Rebecca Bowman.
“From a practical standpoint, that’s true for all of us,” she said. “We don’t have the discussion in the general voting meeting. We have the discussion in the committee meetings, and there are many times we aren’t all at the committee meetings.”
The policy contains wording that pertains to reaching a quorum: “A majority of board members shall be physically present at a board meeting when a board member attends through electronic communications.”
“We should certainly take a look at that, too,” Hardy said. “If we have four members present and one on the phone, you should, according to Robert’s Rules, be able to carry that meeting as an effective, legal quorum-met meeting.”
Guidelines for attending a meeting through electronic communications include a provision that board members:
“Submit such request to the superintendent and board secretary at least three days prior to the meeting so that arrangements can be made for the provision of the necessary equipment.”
Bowman suggested that the wording be changed to “endeavor to submit,” as relevant situations could arise closer to meeting times.
A first reading of the revised policy will take place at the next voting meeting of the board, Anderson said. Adoption would occur with the second reading at a subsequent meeting.
The board is next scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 3 for its annual reorganization. A regular meeting will take place at 6:45, followed by a meeting of the education committee.