Something is happening at every LSC meeting that I find a little troubling. Every meeting a packet full of copies of letters the school department has received between meetings. Granted these are often boring housekeeping communications that not many people would be interested in, thank you letters and such.
But lumped with those frivolous letters are reports from Inspectional Services. This last meeting there were quite a few items from ISD, for example a report on a boiler failure at Abborn, an Indoor Air Quality Assessment at Pickering, an update on that same report, and a copy of an e mail from Covino Environmental Associates regarding the Sisson School portables thrown in for good measure.
I am not implying that anyone has anything to hide, I am just wondering why we can't have access to them. I know there are laws around confidentiality but I don't see how they apply here. Maybe so. I would think they ought to post redacted copies on line for everybody to see. This is the 21st century and any idiot can post stuff on line. Look at me.
There r no laws on confidentiality
ReplyDeleteIn the real world.
If you sign a confidentiality agreement the whistleblower protection act of mass will protect u if u share knowledge of illegal actions or wrong doings that affect public welfare, if u work 4 the gov or part of any organization .
Contact a lawyer 1st for advice.
Do the right thing.
Stan, I would imagine that any documents that are part of discussion at an open meeting are also as open as the minutes. I am not 100% sure but I can check. We do discuss the contents of all of these documents and the contents of some of these documents are read out loud in their entirety and these discussions are included in the minutes. My problem with all of this from my very first meeting is the amount of paper and labor that it takes to put all of this together. I inquired as to why we do not receive this electronically. I was told that some people feel the need to have the actual document in their hand, which I can understand. I am not one of these people. Mrs. Capano and I have discussed a trial where she and I would only receive documents electronically to see how it works. No offense to Apple, but I have been waiting for a good Windows based tablet to come out so that I can try this out as I think that a laptop is too cumbersome. I need to do this quick. All this stuff is taking up too much space.
ReplyDeleteRick, I know all the communications are listed on the agenda and they are at least summarized openly in the meeting. I agree we are all overwhelmed with paper. I would like to see all the letters, e mails, and other communication put on line. This is the 21st century. Look at this blog, a lot of people share a lot of information and it's not a budget buster especially since it's free.
ReplyDeleteAMEN
ReplyDelete