Being threaten with arrest by an official entity, or their appointed counsel, is not exactly the most effective way to show leadership. Below you can find the clause, embedded into BOE Policy 9326, that one is required to agree to if one tapes school board meetings. (See new proposed and revised language for Policy 9326 that was introduced at last night's BOE meeting)
Your consent to the board, at its own expense and upon request, to make a reproduction of your recording. You will also agree to hold the Board harmless and indemnify the Board against all damage or injury incurred by you personally, to other third parties, whether any damage to your equipment or injury to yourself or to others.
The school board's counsel insists that the "hold harmless..." part of the policy is just fine as it was crafted by NJSBA for the school board.
I stand on my ground that the language is too broad and is cause for concern since who is to tell me what actions are being considered under this clause, either at the time of the meeting or 3-5 years from now. Besides, there is already an established case on what the guidelines for taping public meetings have been ruled by the Supreme Court. This case, Wayne Tarus v. Borough of Pine Hill can be read HERE.
To make the story short, the school board's counsel insisted that my notification must include the above language (on red).
I learned, after doing my own research and verifying facts with transparency advocates and getting their opinions, that I could go ahead and tape the meeting so I decided to once again this week notify the school district about my intentions to tape the meeting, I provided the links to the court case and couple of other examples of similar cases with the hopes that the school board counsel would be able to see where I was coming from with my request to tape the meeting without having to add the above broad language.
Despite the fact that a Supreme Court decision was made available to the school board's counsel on which it shows that citizens have the right to tape public meetings (with certain physical guidelines) the counsel just decided, upon my response that I would tape the meeting without adding their language to my notification and that should the district deprived me of my legal rights I would seek not only legal advice but sue the district for violating my civil rights. The school board's counsel, who one would think represents the position of the school board, then responded:
Thanks, Ms. Pellum. Again, I appreciate your letter and your position on this issue. However, you must comply with the policy. The policy requires compliance. That is why the Board developed the policy. The policy is fair and reasonable. For your information, this policy was developed by the NJSBA for all school districts. The District is permitted to place certain restrictions on the taping of its meetings. If you continue to insist on taping the meeting tonight without complying with policy #9326, you will be escorted out of the meeting and possibly subject to arrest if you refuse to leave and continue to trespass on District property. Please comply with the policy and provide me with the corrected notice and request. Thank you for your kind consideration. Bob Pickett
When I received Mr. Pickett's response (which by the way was CC: to school board president, superintendent and my own transparency advisers) I replied:
Mr. Pickett,
Thanks for your response. I stand on my position and if I get arrested then let it be.
Thanks.
So, I was ready to be arrested for defending my rights (what can I say? I believe in this cause). That was until a bit past 6 PM I got a call from one of the people I sought advice from. The call was out of concern to see me getting arrested for such a thing. I was then told that there was a better way to make the needed changes, which basically is to challenge the policy on legal grounds.
To end this story, ACLU and NJFOG are now talking about this matter. What will come out of it is not know to me yet. We shall see.
I want to openly thank everyone that has shown their support here and elsewhere. I believe that we can improve the school district as long as we stand our ground that we want transparency and professional actions from our school board and its appointees. Our Plainfield public students and our community deserve no less.
And yes, I was scared to get arrested. Gee! What people do to keep us away. We must be willing to do a lot more to keep public officials and their appointees accountable to us, the people who elected them to power.
15 comments:
Maria, I must say, that after reading your blog for the past year without bias or judgment I seriously find you to be more of a problem than a solution. You have cost the district thousands of dollars that could have been used to educate our children. I am left to believe you have personal l issues with PPS and/ or the city and chose the board as your target. I also realize that your very own children do not attend PPS, but if you think the system is worth fighting for, why would you choose to not allow your children to attend the system you so passionately believe in.
I am sure that you believe you are doing what’s best for our district, but with all honesty, if you are not part of the solution then you are most certainly part of the problem.
We all want transparency with our elected officials but your constant negative post really doesn’t prove to be accomplishing very much. I understand that you consider yourself the ‘watchdog” for the board, but when you start costing PPS money that you put in your pocket, then I take issue with that. How much of the money you recently won in a law suit against PPS did you contribute to a local charity?
MLK wasn't afraid of being arrested. Since you invoked his name you should 'stand' by his principles. If you are passionate about the cause then be willing to go to the wire. Woman Up!
2:47,
I would like to ask where are you getting your numbers from, this is not the first time this kind of statement is made and am just wondering where I can find such informatio. Please share.
As for my child not longer attending PPS, unfortunately when I asked questions about the programs and the restructuring I was ignored, with that on mind and having read the pages and pages about all the issues the middle schools have, then I was left with no choice but to exercise my choices on the education my child gets and from he gets from.
Regarding your "our district" phrase, the district happens to Plainfield's public system supported by us. Besides, the value of our city, Plainfield, is also based in "our district". I don't need to be an employee, parent or elected official to feel the Plainfield public school system is a part of our city and thus the welfare and improvement of it and its students is on the best interest of the all of us here in Plainfield, our city.
As for the negative posts, it is ironic that you only pick the negativity on my post, how about demanding that the school fix up its act so we don't continue to look like fools and bullies around here in our city of Plainfield? Besides, where do you think all the negative stuff comes from?
As for how much money I made on my lawsuit? Not one single penny. My lawyer's fees were less than $3,000 and they had to be paid by the BOE because that was the price they paid for withholding public information. Did you check last week's agenda where over $700,000 were paid on settlements? Check it out, I would love to hear the questions on those settlements. Thanks.
3:42,
MLK stood for peaceful confrontation didn't him? He also didn't use anonymous names to speak up. Thanks.
OMG! I just re-read my own post and noticed all the typos, where is spell check where you need it? So, below is the, I think, corrected version. Sorry to all blue pencil readers!
2:47,
I would like to ask you where are you getting your numbers from, this is not the first time this kind of statement is made and am just wondering where I can find such information. Please share.
As for my child not longer attending PPS, unfortunately when I asked questions about the programs and the restructuring I was ignored, with that on mind and having read the pages and pages about all the issues the middle schools have, then I was left with no choice but to exercise my choices on the education my child gets and where he gets it from.
Regarding your "our district" phrase, the district happens to be Plainfield's public schools system which is supported by all of us. Besides, the value of our city, Plainfield, is also based in "our school district". I don't need to be an employee, parent or elected official to feel that the Plainfield public school system is a part of our city and thus the welfare and improvement of it and its students is on the best interest of all of us here in Plainfield, our city.
As for the negative posts, it is ironic that you only pick the negativity on my posts, how about demanding that the school fix up its act so we don't continue to look like fools and bullies around here in our city of Plainfield? Besides, where do you think all the negative stuff comes from?
As for how much money I made on my lawsuit? Not one single penny. My lawyer's fees were less than $3,000 and they had to be paid by the BOE because that was the price they paid for withholding public information. Did you check last week's agenda where over $700,000 were paid on settlements? Check it out, I would love to hear the questions on those settlements. Thanks.
3:42,
MLK stood for peaceful confrontation didn't him? He also didn't use anonymous names to speak up. Thanks.
Are you implying that you protest are peaceful. Dear Lady you cannot be serious. Your tone and obvious hate (which MLK had no part in) is so overbearing and obvious. And certainly we knew who he was but we did not know the names of all those who fought the good fight that he so courageously lead. If you have a problem with anonymous commenters then remove that option as part of your blog. that is within you power. But then who would send you supportive messages and eggon you tirade. take it easy this cannot be good for your blood pressure and overall well-being. I'd like to take your pulse one day while you are writing your post. I'm willing to bet it would be well out of the healthy range. I hope that when you are done you feel accomplished. That you actually make a difference in the lives of our children.
I don't understand the "hold harmless" argument. We all should be accountable for our decisions and actions. People put in politically-appointed positions are supposed to be making the best decisions for us.
That being said, I believe in any non-profit or other organization commissioners and board members are covered by insurance by the entity from being sued.
Now, if they break the law -- no one will hold them harmless.
So, this language amd the demand seems unreasonable and questionable.
School mattes appear to be convoluted and complex. I appreciate Maria, you taking the time to sort through all this information and present it to all of us for our consideration.
It doesn't matter whether you have a child in school or not (as I do not), but I am interested in how the school board is spending my tax dollars. If they are being inefficient, getting sued because of laxity in policy enforcement, children not getting basic needs met because of bloat or inefficiency -- that concerns all me and of us, whether we have children or not, because these are dollars taken out of our pockets being wasted.
Maria, I too love reading your posts-really I do. I think you have done so much and have given a voice to many. However, I would have to agree that it does seem you keep finding fault with it seems almost everything in the district from SE to hiring practices to building restructuring-it's all over the place. Your posts just seem to constantly attack at random targets.
I see very little positivity coming out. I know your mission is to improve the status quo but I don't see a clear focus-just random attacks. Maybe I am wrong?
6:36,
Thanks for your comments. As for my blood pressure, sure, come along and take it, but that will mean that you will have to come out. Let me know when you are ready. And, yes, my hope is that eventually the school district will catch up with its own policies and starts following them up as this will make it better for our city's kids. Thanks.
Olive,
Thanks. Non-anonymous support is always welcome! Thanks again.
8:10,
Thanks for liking my posts even though you say you see them as attacks. It is always good to hear how others view one's work. I'll try my best to re-read my posts and see what you see. With this said, could it be that being all over means that the district has a lot more issues that we can appreciate? It also means that I am overextending myself and that I am alone doing all this hard work. If anyone wants to join me so we can set up a plan of action and see how best to advocate for improvement of the school district, please, by all means, let me know. The issues won't go away just because we are silent about them, the district needs to move away from trying to silence people and keeping meaningful information from the community. Changing the status quo is not easy, it never has been. Thanks!
8:10,
I forgot to tell you, the points you made about me finding faults? Wrong. I am not sure what SE, but I'll take a risk and say SE is Special Education. So let's see your points:
SE-- it was not me who found it wrong, it was the State. I just brought out the letter from the state. Parents and concern (??) were trying to get this problem resolve for a good while, had we had known before we could had joined their voices and request a solution to the situation, that is what united communities do.
Hiring Practices--again, it was not me who raised the concerns, it was a staff member who applied and was/is concerned about hiring procedures and practices. After the hiring fiascos we have seen in the district in the past few years, again, we can join and demand that the district provides employees with a clear and transparent hiring process, this in turn will create a better working environment for the district's employees. As a community we will benefit from having a place where employees feel valued and appreciated. All of them, not just a few.
Restructuring--look at the state documents. See who found a faulty plan and who had to review it more than once. One of the issues was that there was no parent and/or community members on the restructuring plans. Why? Again, we, as a community, should know that schools need community members to join their School Leadership Teams.
So, the issues I blog about are originated on school district practices. We need to find out why the district keeps getting stuck on the same issues, unfortunately it seems the district and the board would rather just talk about the "happy times". A united community takes the good and deals with the bad so improvement can be made.
Well, I hope this helps you see where the "all over issues" come from. Thanks.
1) One does not to have children in the school to be concerned. In fact NOT to have children in the school and to be involved is to be applauded.
2)Every concerned and ACTIVE citizen speaking out will attract bold criticism, especially when they are close to finding a PROBLEM in the system.
3) For all of you who don't participate in our schools or local government. YOU are the problem. You don't have to agree with Maria or whomever, but why not participate!
Thanks Maria for all the work and unrewarded effort you put into making Plainfield a better place.
Maria: I have no child in the PSS; many of us do not. Yet all of us - PSS parents and guardians, and residents who are not - have the right, nay, the obligation, to demand that all youngsters in the City receive a thorough and efficient education (NJ Constitution). Reading your blog daily I say, HURRAH for MARIA - she seems to be the only one who cares about the kids.
Maria-
Stakeholders hold stakes. Some of your readers feel you have an obligation to be uncritical. I have read your blog for nearly five years. Your blogging has consistently supported the goal of transparency as a public good for the District. I would characterize this as active stakeholding, not negativity.
10:30, Pat and Colleen,
Thanks for the kind words.
Pat and Colleen never saw either of you at a Board meeting, planning an event to engage these students; so if stakeholder means you get to criticize without investing in the solution is pure rubbish.
I applaud people who speak up, step up and stake up but the constant berrating without lifting a finger is well quite frankly the status quo of this community.
9:51,
First of all, your idea that the only way to be involved is that one of attending BOE meetings and/or planning events for students is misguided, I am sorry. There are many ways to be involved.
Second of all, what does the school district do to engage citizens? BTW, Pat is quite involved in the community and Colleen is quite involved in her child's own educational setting.
And berrating citizens' involvement, any kind of involvement, is what makes people stay away from the district. Berrating and bullying through anonymous sources is quite the norm for those who resent change at the school district and that is a shame. We can all do much better than this. Thanks.
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