"A request to pull an item from the consent agenda for a separate vote must be made by two trustees (or by any one Trustee who has a conflict of interest on an agenda item) by 5:00 P.M. on the Tuesday preceding the regular Board meeting."We have been here before.
Trustees Lew Blackburn and Bernadette Nutall have expressed their intention to support this latest attempt to turn the clock back again. The underlined language is designed to deny an individual Trustee the right to pull an item for a separate vote - you must get the approval of another Trustee. In other words, you must play politricks.
These same Trustees will then go out into the community and brag about the number of unanimous votes of the Board because that is automatic if everything remains on the consent agenda. Teamwork has nothing to do with it. It has to do with selfishness, arrogance, and personal agendas that must be hidden in order to sidestep the public interest in public issues.
Dissent is one of the most important rights in a democracy.
If I had not dissented and opposed a clear violation of a state law - it is likely that neither Trustees Morath, nor Bernadette Nutall, or Bruce Parrott or Eric Cowan would have had an opportunity to join Dallas ISD because there would have been no election for years. That is the thing about protecting the right of dissent - if there is no dissent there is no possibility of change.
Many other school districts and public institutions have no problem protecting the right to dissent and the right of the public to have public issues addressed in public.
Here are a few examples:
DART Board Rules of Procedure
RULE 11. MEETING AGENDAS - p. 14
11.8 If one Board member desires to have a Committee-of-the-Whole Consent Item moved to Items for Individual Consideration, the Board member must notify the Office of Board Support by telephone or fax no later than 11:00 a.m. on the day of the scheduled Committee-of-the-Whole meeting. Dart allows one member to pull an item.
Dallas City Council
7.11. Deferral of Agenda Items. - p. 22
(a) A city council member may defer, until the next city council voting agenda
meeting, a voting item appearing on the city council agenda by delivering a written list of the agenda item numbers to be deferred to the city secretary before 5:00 p.m. of the Friday before the city council meeting for any item on the regular agenda and before 5:00 p.m. of the Monday before the city council meeting (or if Monday is a city holiday, then 5:00 p.m. of the Tuesday before the city council meeting) for any item on the addendum to the agenda, unless the item:Section 4-DUTIES AND PRIVILEGES OF MEMBERS
4.6. Demand for Roll Call. Upon demand of any member for roll call vote, made
before the result is announced, the vote shall be taken on the city council chamber voting machine, or if the machine is unavailable, the roll shall be called for yes and no votes upon any question before the city council. It shall not be in order for members to explain their vote during the roll call.
4.8. Dissents and Protests. Any member shall have the right to express dissent from or protest against any ordinance, resolution, or other action of the city council and have the reason for the dissent or protest entered in the minutes.
Highland Park ISD - CONSENT AGENDA
For each item listed as part of a consent agenda, the Board shall be furnished with background material.All such items shall be acted upon by one vote without separate discussion, unless a Board member requests that an item be withdrawn for individual consideration. The remaining items shall be adopted under a single motion and vote. Click Here
Notice there is no time limit of any kind in the policy - no restriction whatsoever on the right of a Trustee to pull an item. This is the Board policy of Highland Park ISD - generally believed to be a pretty good school district. A Trustee is allowed to pull an agenda item at the board meeting itself with no problem.
The following school districts all have the identical or a very similar policy on pulling items from the consent agenda for a separate vote.
Fort Worth ISD - CONSENT AGENDA
For each item listed as part of a consent agenda, the Board shall be furnished with background material. All such items shall be acted upon by one vote without separate discussion, unless a Board member requests that an item be withdrawn for individual consideration. The remaining items shall be adopted under a single motion and vote. Click HereAustin ISD - CONSENT AGENDA
For each item listed as part of a consent agenda, the Board shall be furnished with background material. All such items shall be acted upon by one vote without separate discussion, unless a Board member requests that an item be withdrawn for individual consideration. The remaining items shall be adopted under a single motion and vote. Click Here
Denton ISD - CONSENT AGENDA
For each item listed as part of a consent agenda, the Board shall be furnished with background material. All such items shall be acted upon by one vote without separate discussion, unless a Board member requests that an item be withdrawn for individual consideration. The remaining items shall be adopted under a single motion and vote. Click Here
All such items shall be acted upon by one vote without separate discussion, unless a Board member requests that an item be withdrawn for individual consideration. The remaining items shall be adopted under a single motion and vote. Click Here
Plano ISD - CONSENT AGENDA
For each item listed as part of a consent agenda, the Board shall be furnished with background material. All such items shall be acted upon by one vote without separate discussion, unless a Board member requests that an item be withdrawn for individual consideration. The
remaining items shall be adopted under a single motion and vote. Click Here
remaining items shall be adopted under a single motion and vote. Click Here
Irving ISD - CONSENT AGENDA
All items shall be acted upon by one vote without being discussed separately unless requested by a Board member, in which case the item shall immediately be withdrawn for individual consideration. Items withdrawn for separate discussion shall be acted upon individually. Click Here
Arlington ISD - CONSENT AGENDA
For each item listed as part of a consent agenda, the Board shall be furnished with background material. All such items shall be acted upon by one vote without separate discussion, unless a Board member requests that an item be withdrawn for individual consideration. The remaining items shall be adopted under a single motion and vote. Click Here
Grand Prarie ISD - CONSENT AGENDA
All such items shall be acted upon by one vote without separate discussion, unless a Board member requests that an item be withdrawn for individual consideration. The remaining items shall be removed from the consent agenda and addressed as individual action items. Click Here
Desoto ISD - CONSENT AGENDA
All such items shall be acted upon by one vote without separate discussion, unless a Board member requests that an item be withdrawn for individual consideration. The remaining items shall be adopted under a single motion and vote. Click Here
Duncanville ISD - CONSENT AGENDA
For each item listed as part of a consent agenda, the Board shall be furnished with background material. All such items shall be acted upon by one vote without separate discussion, unless a Board member requests that an item be withdrawn for individual consideration. The remaining items shall be adopted under a single motion and vote. Click Here
Waxahachie ISD - CONSENT AGENDA
For each item listed as part of a consent agenda, the Board shall be furnished with background material. All such items shall be acted upon by one vote without separate discussion, unless a Board member requests that an item be withdrawn for individual consideration. The remaining items shall be adopted under a single motion and vote. Click Here
Beaumont ISD - CONSENT AGENDA
For each item listed as part of a consent agenda, the Board shall be furnished with background material. All such items shall be acted upon by one vote without separate discussion, unless a Board member requests that an item be withdrawn for individual consideration. The remaining items shall be adopted under a single motion and vote. Click Here
Spring ISD - CONSENT AGENDA
For each item listed as part of a consent agenda, the Board shall be furnished with background material. All such items shall be acted upon by one vote without separate discussion, unless a Board member requests that an item be withdrawn for individual consideration. The remaining items shall be adopted under a single motion and vote. Click Here
There are more examples.
Trustee Mike Morath - supported by Trustee Lew Blackburn and Bernadette Nutall - again seeks to control the right of an individual Trustee to dissent and the public's right to have public discussion and separate votes on important public issues.
Of course, I will continue to oppose this latest effort to turn the clock back again.
