New London school board sets electronic meeting attendance policy
New London — The Board of Education has approved a policy allowing its members to attend and vote at meetings by phone or other electronic means, such as Skype or FaceTime.
The school board recently passed the measure by a 5-2 vote.
Two members — Mirna Martinez and Jason Catala — voted against and unsuccessfully lobbied for some restrictions.
Martinez made a motion that would limit the electronic attendance to committee meetings only.
Catala said he has argued for inclusion of language that would have limited electronic attendance to three meetings — wording originally included when adopted by the Policy Committee, which includes the school board and four members of the public.
“I’m of the belief that members need to be there. They were elected to those positions, and they ought to make the commitment to be at the meetings,” Catala said. “Some members are constantly going away.”
It’s possible for a board member to be elected to the board and never physically appear at a board meeting, Catala noted.
He said he has a perfect attendance in his time on the board.
He said the policy seemed to be tailored to benefit a few members, such as Scott Garbini, who has participated remotely during some meetings in the past.
Garbini called the policy “a very creative solution for unavoidable situations.”
“Conversations amongst members can actively be held, and the missing board member's voice and opinions can be heard and discussed,” Garbini said.
“To me, it is more advantageous and productive to have a board member participate via such a vehicle rather than have them absent and thereby providing no input,” he added.
According to the Freedom of Information Commission staff attorney Lisa Siegel, it’s perfectly legal — and has been for some time — to have members of municipal boards participate and vote by phone or Skype.
The only parameters, she said, are that the public must have access to the meeting and it must be aware of who is speaking remotely.
Siegel said the latter requirement could be met by having the remote people identify themselves when they begin speaking or by placing a nameplate next to the phone that’s being used.
She said, however, there hasn’t been a decision on whether to limit the number of people who can participate in any given meeting remotely.
School board member Zak Leavy, who voted in favor of the policy, said the entire board recognizes the importance of attending meetings.
On the other hand, Leavy said, if someone is away on vacation or out because of sickness and still wants to participate, they should not be denied the ability to do that.
“We live in a modern age,” he said. “This is a tool that allows people to participate and do what they were elected to do.”
Leavy and Garbini said someone who regularly does not attend meetings is subject to a vote by the electors every two years, he said.
Leavy said he did not vote on the three-meeting limit since there is no way to enforce or create penalties for such a rule.
Policy Committee member Jason Morris said he would have liked to have seen more restrictions included in the policy.
“If a City Council member wanted to Skype into a meeting, how much outrage would that cause? Why is it different for the Board of Education?” Morris said in written remarks to the board.
“We need reasonable limits on this, video communication is not yet the same as being physically present,” Morris said.
“You can't look around, you can't always hear the other board members, a member can't lean over and ask you a question, you can't see the audience reaction, and what you say will likely not be heard well by the public or cameras recording it,” he said.
Under the policy, a member can participate by electronic means when a quorum of the board is physically present at a meeting location but is not to be counted toward a quorum.
All votes must be taken by roll call when a person is attending remotely.
If he knows beforehand, the superintendent will arrange for the meeting to take place in a location “with the appropriate equipment,” so that the member can participate remotely and the public can observe or hear the comments made.
The superintendent also must take measures to verify the identity of the person attending remotely.
While the policy states that the meeting should be audible to the public, Morris said that in the past, Board President Margaret Mary “Peg” Curtin had attended via phone during her recovery from a surgery.
It made for some confusing interaction with other board members, Morris said.
Garbini said teleconferencing is an accepted and successful form of communication in governments and corporations.
“Let's allow the New London Public Schools board to continue to focus on developing and supporting our stellar school system and not be sidetracked into dealing with petty issues such as these,” he said.
Day Staff Writer Lindsay Boyle contributed to this report.
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