Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Warsaw school board's policy on answering questions from the public may get a closer look after Monday's meeting.
Board member Mark Minatel, in response to a question from patron and former board president Gordon Vanator, said that since the board is named in a lawsuit by the Concerned Citizens for Quality Education, Minatel objects to CCQE members asking questions at board meetings and expecting immediate answers.
"There is a board policy that new items won't be asked until they submit them in writing" before the meeting, Min aatel said.
"I'm not saying you don't have a right to speak," he said, "I'm saying you should submit in advance so we can prepare an answer."
He said later, "My objection is not in any way to discourage the public from having comments. I meant to address grandstanding, harassment and embarrassment that is used, not intimidation, because I feel it's not intimidating."
Board president Craig Allebach polled the board on their opinions on Minatel's objections. Gene England, Larry Chamberlain, Ron Yeiter and Allebach said they did not mind the public asking questions at board meetings, but Allebach said the policy needs to be reviewed.
"Public comments is not a question-and-answer period - it's always good to get questions prior to the meeting to the superintendent," he said.
Board member Cathy Folk agreed with Minatel.
"When some of these questions are pretty much one-sided," she said, "we need to be asked in advance so we can be better prepared to answer."
Later in the meeting, Chamberlain said sometimes the questions asked in a board meeting are better addressed outside the meeting, but the guidelines of submitting questions ahead of time allow the board to study the issue and "have educated answers available."
England asked superintendent Dr. David McGuire if all questions would be placed on the agenda and answered at a meeting. McGuire said, "I think there's some discretion."
Minatel and Allebach added that three-minute time limits on public comments should be enforced.
Some of Monday's comments and questions concerned the issue of teachers transferring from the closed schools - Atwood, Claypool and Silver Lake - next year to Eisenhower, Madison and Washington.
McGuire said the administration is trying to accommodate the teachers' preferences, but that it isn't always possible.
Angela Fulton, of the CCQE, asked if any of the portable classrooms at Washington Elementary would be used for students or if they were being used now to store items from the administration building during construction of the technology addition to the administration building.
McGuire said one portable classroom would be used at Washington.
Vanator asked what would happen to the Atwood, Claypool and Silver Lake school buildings when the schools were closed.
"We don't know," Allebach said. "We may close schools, we may build more schools, we don't know."
Vanator charged the board with putting the school closing issue to a referendum vote and letting the voters decide whether or not the schools should be closed. If the voters chose not to close the schools, he said, "then charge the community to come up with ways to keep them open."
England asked McGuire if the library at Silver Lake Elementary, which has been open weekly for more than 30 years, would be open this summer, and McGuire said it would not because of packing and moving books to Washington Elementary.
Minatel said he would like to see an alternative to Silver Lake not having a library all summer, and McGuire said, "We know that it will be open at Washington, I'm not sure what else we can do. ... I don't want to say tonight that we can or can't do something. Our priority is to move as quickly as possible. We may be able to leave the library (open) till last."
Board members are Craig Allebach, Larry Chamberlain, Gene England, Cathy Folk, Jim Folk, Mark Minatel and Ron Yeiter.
