SCHOOL BOARD MEETING HONORS ORLANDO, LIMITS SPEAKERS

A very interesting school board meeting Monday night.

The board called the special meeting to do its annual evaluation of the superintendent, which was the lone agenda item. 

First, the board asked for a moment of silence to remember the 49 victims of the Orlando nightclub attack.

See that below:




Then, prior to going into closed session to evaluate Superintendent John Ramos, the board held a required public comment portion.

But instead of giving each speaker the usual three minutes to speak, they cut it to two minutes each. Only about five people spoke, including one teacher who was discussing concerns about the access and equity policy. He was cut off after two minutes.

Another speaker offered concerns about Ramos' work and several Columbia High School students indicated concerns about student input to the CHS policies and practices.

At the end of the short public comment portion, Board member Johanna Wright criticized the limited speaking time, which drew some disagreement from Board President Elizabeth Baker.




Wright, whose daughter is a district teacher, was not allowed to be involved in the evaluation as she was also not allowed to vote when Ramos was hired. The evaluation is also not expected to be made public as it relates to a personnel matter.

The board will meet again on June 20 for its next regularly scheduled meeting.