Time to let the public back into meetings

By: 
Lee Pulaski
City Editor

Things are getting back to normal as the threat of the coronavirus has gone from a deafening roar to almost a faint whisper. Events are coming back in at least a partial form, if not at full strength. The requirements that we hide from anyone not living in our homes and avoid public places like the plague — pardon the poor comparison — have been scaled way back. Not only that, it was just announced that those who are vaccinated can shed the masks and show their pearly whites again.

With precautions becoming less necessary, the city of Shawano has even returned to having meetings in the council chambers again. Previously, meetings were held in the larger community room at City Hall to allow the necessary social distancing, and while that was happening, the city renovated the council chambers with a fresh coat of paint, new desks for the council members and state-of-the-art equipment to allow livestreaming for those who can’t make it to the meetings.

The increased efforts by the city to increase public transparency are commendable. Then there’s the Shawano School District.

I looked in the email the other day and saw that the next meeting for the school board was once again a virtual meeting. In other words, the board was meeting together, but no one else from the public is allowed to go in.

It’s rather ironic that the district is continuing to stick with virtual meetings instead of allowing them to happen face-to-face. Several months before the pandemic, a proposal by a local resident to allow livestreaming of the school board meetings was being met with awkward glances and a large dose of skepticism.

“Sometimes that stymies the conversation.” “The dialogue isn’t as real.” Those were statements in a committee meeting in January 2020 by school board members who questioned whether the effort to expand public access to the board meetings was prudent or even necessary. Despite resident Shelby Kaveinga saying that other school districts were doing it successfully, the collective opinion was that it didn’t seem like a good idea.

Then the pandemic hit, and with it edicts from the governor to close down the schools and avoid having any type of gathering where there was more than 10 people. That left the district with little choice but to get with the times and start livestreaming the board meetings so as to avoid violating the open meetings law.

That’s the way it has been ever since with the school board. Since then, other school boards and government entities have reopened their doors, allowing anyone who has wished to attend meetings in person to do so while still providing livestreaming options for those not yet ready to face the world again. Not so with the Shawano School District. The livestream option allows the board to continue its work but keeping members of the public 600 feet or more away.

I’ve heard of social distancing, but that seems a little ridiculous at this point in time.

It’s not the first time the district has dragged its feet on getting back to normalcy. After months of being in full virtual learning mode, the board approved a plan that brought students back into school, but only after parents expressed their frustration at having to deal with virtual learning in an area where internet infrastructure is poor or nonexistent.

Interestingly, that raises the question on whether livestreaming only really allows for public meetings to be truly public. There was one instance where my home internet went kerplop right in the middle of a school board meeting, so I had to drive back to the office — where the internet was working fine — to view the rest of the meeting. I was lucky to have another option; many folks in our rural areas don’t have that choice.

Recently, the Bonduel School Board made the decision to lift its mask mandate, and it did so with members of the public in attendance and advocating for it. When news spread about the decision, Shawano residents were taking to social media and asking if our schools would follow suit. Then came word that the district’s mandate went away when the Supreme Court overturned Gov. Tony Evers’ extended public health emergency more than a month prior.

That left some people scratching their heads and others taking to social media asking why no one in the public knew about it when it supposedly happened. Communications with the school district are clearly in need of improvement. Allowing in-person access to school board meetings would be a good step in fixing those lines of communication.

The district winced at the idea of livestreaming public meetings, treating it like an unwanted mistress. Now it’s fine shacking up with the livestreaming concept and doesn’t want to go back to public meetings, the metaphorical wife. That’s not right. While the district is in keeping with the letter of the law with virtual meetings, the spirit of the law seems to be getting stomped on.

In-person and virtual instruction is taking place in harmony at Shawano’s public schools. It should be the same way with the board meetings. To not do so indicates the school district has something to hide, and if that’s the case, the public needs a way to confront its elected representatives face to face. If the Shawano School District refuses to accommodate this, then we, the public, should demand it.


Lee Pulaski is the city editor for the Shawano Leader. Readers can contact him at lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com