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Perhaps I’ve lowered my expectations, but I’m not surprised that in today’s Column, the Sun ignited a few sparks from the recent school personnel subcommittee meeting and left out the substance; after all, inflating controversy to sell papers is their bread and butter, and they only have so many column inches. My take on the personnel subcommittee meeting is that it was constructive and absolutely necessary to remind the entire board of its roles, rules, and responsibilities under law. For instance, we will not tolerate another breach in the confidentiality of executive session, self-reporting to the Attorney General if necessary. Also, while it is okay to “make inquiry” such as ask questions about an outside agency’s effectiveness, it is not acceptable to “instruct or engage in” the operations of any school, such as coordinating an event, assigning staff, or telling a principal what to do. Also, concerns brought to an individual school committee member should be investigated through the superintendent. Asking for reports, forming a task force, or directing any school activity or expense must be done by board consensus, which requires a majority vote of the school committee. As usual, the newspaper chose to focus on the negative—minor disagreements—rather than the positive outcome of the school committee asking for and receiving guidelines for future behavior that will allow it to be a more effective elected body.

On another note, as fellow bloggers have mentioned, televising the personnel subcommittee meeting would have eliminated the public’s reliance on the newspaper and given folks a clear view of what happened. (It’s called 20/20 hindsight for a reason.) That said, it would be great to see support for televised school subcommittee meetings not only from bloggers, but from the City, and from Lowell Telecommunications Corporation itself (board members paying attention?). One major step to get more school subcommittees televised is to wire the Mayor’s Reception Room for live telecast and provide the staff to broadcast the meetings. A few months ago, four school committee members re-affirmed a motion from last fall to broadcast LHS subcommittee meetings live from the high school studio, but it is a limited solution that only impacts one subcommittee and relies on student volunteers, as well as a communications club with no paid faculty advisor. It will also cost the school department about $2K over a year (the reason stated for the three dissenting votes) and still, it’s only one subcommittee. Clearly, more transparency in school governance will provide more informed, engaged citizens—something we must all work toward.