South City school board reviews minutes

The discussion followed a previous examination of the system during a meeting in April, when Trustee Mina Richardson first said she felt the existing minutes were incomplete and inaccurate.

“I want to do the people’s business the way they expect me to do it, and the way we are doing it needs a little improvement,” said Richardson during the May discussion.

Richardson, who has a hearing impairment, said she relies heavily on written transcripts of meetings to fill the voids in portions of conversations she may have missed in real time. To that end, summarized segments of meetings in the existing minutes inadequately capture detailed discussions, she said.

Furthermore, Richardson said she often finds errors or omissions in the meeting minutes, which raised concerns regarding accuracy. She also requested more time to be able to review the transcripts, claiming the roughly five days granted in advance of each meeting is insufficient to thoroughly examine each packet of minutes alongside the rest of the agenda material.

And overall, she feared an imperfect record undermined the district’s ability to be transparent and accountable to its community.

“I want to be a better informed public servant and I think my ability is shackled,” said Richardson, regarding the meeting minutes currently kept.

Richardson struggled to build consensus around many of her concerns though, as most other officials indicated they felt the minutes were sufficiently thorough.

“I personally think the minutes are perfect,” said board President Pat Murray. “I am getting what I need.”

To address Richardson’s concerns, Murray recommended her colleague review audio or video recordings of past meetings to better familiarize herself with the previous discussions.

And Trustee Daina Lujan said she opposed granting more time to review minutes, fearing lag time in approving the documents could present difficulties for students and teachers who rely on recorded board actions to apply for grants or support programs.

Trustees further noted that minutes are not intended to be comprehensive documents reflecting each detail of a conversation, but rather a fair review of the discussion and action at a meeting.

Officials were not unanimously opposed to addressing Richardson’s concerns though.

For his part, Trustee John Baker said he would favor looking into potential transcription services which could record meetings verbatim for Richardson. Such a service could cost a couple hundred dollars per meeting, according to estimations from officials.

Richardson supported such a proposal, and also suggested those services might be able to produce minutes more rapidly, which would address her concerns regarding timeliness.

Murray indicated she may be amenable to such a proposal, in recognition of the challenges faced by her colleague.

“Maybe we can try to meet your needs,” she said. Looking ahead, Murray, Richardson and Superintendent Shawnterra Moore are expected to examine the issue more comprehensively before bringing it back to the board at a later date.

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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