School Board eliminates phone input from the public as of July 1, hears from teachers about contract and ICE concerns

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At their February 4 meeting, the School Board of Alachua County voted unanimously to discontinue taking public input by phone on July 1 and heard from teachers who want more pay and have concerns about ICE coming into schools.

ACEA update

During the union update, ACEA President Carmen Ward said the union had two town halls to discuss “what we will do if ICE comes into our schools, as professionals and as teachers.” She said she had asked the Superintendent and the board for guidance to all staff members and thanked Chair Sarah Rockwell for her response. Ward also said there will be a bargaining meeting on Monday.

Teachers speak during citizen input

During citizen input, eight teachers asked for a raise higher than the 1.6% increase (on top of a 1% step increase) proposed in a contract that was not ratified by teachers; they also asked for early-release Wednesdays to be restored in elementary schools. Several teachers said the district has not given them a new compensation proposal yet, although it’s been over two weeks since the ratification vote failed. 

Sadie Matteucci, who teaches Environmental Science at Gainesville High School (GHS), asked the board to “explicitly address the threat of ICE and deportation to our student population. Faculty members are afraid and confused of what the coming months will look like for us. The current immigration policy in this country needs to be addressed by the district immediately to ensure the safety of everyone. Specifically, what is the policy surrounding ICE intervention in schools? You could give us a quick guide.”

Rebecca Ragan, who teaches math at GHS, said she had “spent hours of my time at school making copies of ‘Knowing Your Rights’ in different languages for students. I have not received any directive from the district, so that would also be appreciated.”

Phone input from citizens

The board discussed removing the option for citizens to make public comment over the phone, which was added in 2020. Rockwell asked whether staff had information about how much it costs to provide that option, and they did not, but the staff member who runs the system said he had broken it down “a couple years ago,” and at that time, it came to about $7,000 a year, with each meeting costing “four or five hundred a night, based on the amount of phone calls.”

Rockwell said she remembered from a previous discussion that it was costing “well over $100 per phone call.” She said she had previously advocated for continuing the system “because I am a big proponent of accessibility and making sure that all of our citizens are heard, and I still believe that is important. But at the same time, our phone system is under-utilized. We haven’t had any phone calls this evening,… and the callers… tend to be the same couple of people who call a lot.” She also mentioned technical issues such as dropped calls and the lag that leads to delays while callers ask whether they can start talking.

Superintendent Kamela Patton said members of the public can email the board and board members are also receptive to phone calls or to conversations out in the community. She continued, “The point is that you’re accessible in many different ways.”

Certain: “I just think right now, it’s something that we really should sunset… Our colleagues from around the state aren’t doing it.”

Member Tina Certain said she thought the school board was the “only governmental agency in our county that still has phone calls,” but they are not. The Alachua County Commission takes general public comment by phone at noon during their regular meetings. Certain said, “I just think right now, it’s something that we really should sunset… Our colleagues from around the state aren’t doing it… There are a couple ways that folks can email us and get to us, as well as attend the meeting.”

Certain said she would also support changing the policy that reduces the comment time from three minutes to two minutes after 20 people have signed up; she said she preferred for everyone to have three minutes, with reductions at the discretion of the chair instead of being automatically applied. However, no motion was made, and the board did not vote on that.

Vu: “One of my issues with a lot of these phone calls was that there are folks who refuse to give their names, and I think that is an issue when you are making public comment.” 

Member Thomas Vu said, “One of my biggest issues with phone calls is, you know, everyone who comes here, they’re on camera, they state their name, they’re giving their speech, right? It’s identifiable speech. One of my issues with a lot of these phone calls was that there are folks who refuse to give their names, and I think that is an issue when you are making public comment.” 

However, Vu also didn’t want to make the change in the middle of the school year and suggested continuing the phone calls until June 30.

Member Leanetta McNealy said, “If this is money that can be saved to be allocated [to teachers], I’m fine with it.” She said, though, that she would be interested in a system “other than emails individually to us” for the public to provide comments that would be available to everyone at the meeting: “Unless the Superintendent and her team will make a decision how to get all of those letters that have come in and addressed to this board – until I can hear that, I will not be in accord with eliminating calls…  Is there a way to get the information that we would normally get from citizens who are present or people that call in?”

Motion to sunset phone calls

Certain said the board doesn’t typically respond to public comment, anyway, and if they receive emails that require a response or action from staff, they send them to Patton. She made a motion to “sunset our citizen participation at our meetings via phone calls.”

Amended motion to delay the sunset to July 1

Before anybody seconded the motion, Vu asked to amend the motion to sunset the calls on July 1. Certain responded, “I actually think we should stop it now.”

McNealy seconded Vu’s amended motion and said she would “like to continue [phone input] unless the Superintendent and her team can come up with a wonderful opportunity to make sure” that all public input is “addressed in some manner on an agenda somewhere… It’s important we serve the families, the children, and citizenry of this community, period.”

“Please, please, do not vote to cut off the call-in.”

Rockwell asked if there was any public comment on Vu’s motion, and Tina Days, a frequent caller, called in to say that as a single parent of four children, including two toddlers, she can’t come to meetings. She said the ability to call in is “an absolute necessity with some of us” and that she would “bring my two young kids to the meeting, and I don’t know how they going to act, I’m gonna be honest, because I want to be involved… Please, please, do not vote to cut off the call-in.”

A second caller said that parents are often busy making dinner, supervising homework, and driving students to school activities and sports during the meetings, “so basically, you want to silence those who cannot come down there and make the meeting… When have you ever cared about being the only one doing anything when other schools were wanting to reopen and return? You wanted to stay closed, but now all of a sudden, it’s, ‘Oh, well, everybody has stopped and so why are we still doing this?’ Not a good look, again.”

When she was done, Vu said, “I’d just like to mention the caller did not mention their name.”

Vote

Vu’s motion passed, 4-0. 

McNealy’s request to put emails and other communications into the public record

After some discussion about McNealy’s desire to have a procedure to “allow the voices of people who cannot come in person to be heard in the public record,” Board Attorney David Delaney said that would be challenging because some topics in emails to board members could be “outside the bounds for the board to address in response to public comment.” He said the Superintendent would have a hard time developing such a system, and “how it’s typically addressed is, there’s trust in the Superintendent” to address issues or put them on the agenda for board discussion. He said any individual board member has the ability to read an email from the dais if they want to bring that comment to the attention of those at the meeting. 

Patton said she agreed with Delaney that McNealy’s request was “something that I don’t think can be done.” She said she follows up on issues once she becomes aware of them. 

McNealy withdrew her motion, and Rockwell suggested that members of the public email boardmembers@gm.sbac.edu to reach all board members, along with the Superintendent. Another email address that can be used for general questions or concerns is issues@gm.sbac.edu.

Second citizen input period

During the final citizen input period, a caller said he was “appalled by the manner in which our teachers are being treated… in this negotiation… The fact that the school board negotiation team was unable to provide a new offer within the time frame is laughable.”

Tina Days also called again to ask whether childcare would be provided for parents who want to attend the meeting, once phone calls are no longer accepted. She concluded, “I’m just so disgusted and outraged at y’all’s decisions.”

A teacher who had spoken earlier said that since meetings are scheduled ahead of time, “we have time to amend our schedules, and if you really want to prioritize being in here to have your voice heard, you’re going to do everything in your power to try to be here.”

Another speaker offered some inexpensive solutions for accepting phone calls. He added, “I also need to remind everybody in this room – teachers, parents, and everything, there’s a big reason why things haven’t changed. That’s because you all have not changed your votes. That’s what needs to change. If we keep voting the exact same way for everything – I’m not just talking about the school board; I’m talking about across the board. There’s a reason why Alachua people are fleeing Alachua County – because of the way you all vote. And honestly, I’m saddened by this, because this is a great county and there’s no reason that this school district couldn’t be number one, not only in the state, but in the country. But it’s you all that are failing the students – the board, the teachers, the parents – every single person in this county is failing these students because you refuse to see reason.”

Board member comments

After public comment, Rockwell said she had seen a step-by-step guide from Lee County on what to do if ICE comes to a school. Patton said her staff didn’t agree with everything in that guide, and they would “talk through about how we can get that message out… We want to do it in the way that we know is right.”

Certain also asked for a date for a workshop “to discuss our financial priorities and our budget,” and Patton said the district has been waiting for the third calculation from the state; she said that was also the reason why they hadn’t given a new proposal to the teachers. Patton said they could do it at their March 12 workshop. She said, “We know we already have less number of students next year. We already know that. We already know that we’re not getting money from the state that even equals what the cost of living is, the cost of gas increase.”

Vu said he had heard from people about the compassionate leave system not working well, and he said the district is working on fixing it.