For the public

While we applaud the efforts of the Chico Unified School District to streamline its board of trustees meetings, one of the changes just doesn’t sit well: the board’s 4-1 vote to move public comment to the end of the meeting.

We also have mixed feelings about the move from two regular meetings a month to one.

Both changes, however well-intentioned, could serve to limit public comment.

It’s unlikely that many parents, teachers and other community members will sit through hours of discussion of budgets and program reviews—or monitor meetings from home via cable or the Internet—only to get three minutes in late in the evening.

Certainly, the public comment period (designed for items not on the agenda) draws its share of gadflies and dead horse-beaters, but it’s also the only part of the meeting that is solely the domain of the citizens, and it’s a sign of respect to let the people have their say early on. These changes seem to make things more convenient to district staff and trustees than the community at large.

We agree with teachers’ union rep George Young, who suggested that if the board would just stick to its rules on how long speakers may address trustees on each topic, the public comment session would not drag on for an hour or more. This is how the Chico City Council does it.

It’s also hard not to imagine that cramming everything into one monthly meeting will result in very late nights for everyone involved.

Trustee Rick Anderson said at the meeting, “It’s risky. It’s difficult in that people don’t like change. The reality is, we can change it back if we don’t like it.”

We’re willing to give it a chance.