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Guest -> free speech in schoolboard meetings, read this newsday article (8/12/2006 8:27:57 PM)
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Islip school board silences public
Controversial hush imposed by Islip school panel halts those wanting a say on taxes, union contracts
BY JOHN HILDEBRAND
Newsday Staff Writer
August 11, 2006
When Michael Buksa spoke at an East Islip school board meeting this week, he was startled to be stopped by the superintendent after 30 seconds.
Equally surprised were his companions from a local taxpayer group known as SchoolWatch.
"I was totally shocked when they cut him off," said Frank Gerace, the group's president. "Let the public say what they have to say."
Superintendent Dennis Maloney and other East Islip school officials have taken an unusual and possibly illegal tack in their efforts to reduce public controversy over high property taxes and a teacher-salary contract that is now being renegotiated: a ban on residents' comments about the contract during question-and-answer sessions at board meetings.
Maloney said he imposed the ban in response to shouting matches at earlier meetings between taxpayer advocates and their critics.
"We're trying to curtail some of the negativity surrounding school board meetings in the past year and create a more positive atmosphere," he said. School board president Kim Phillips later told Newsday that she agreed with the need for community "healing," but also intended to review the ban with other board members later this month.
Buksa, 43, an oil-heat technician, experienced the ban first-hand Tuesday night. It happened after board members ran through more than 90 minutes of official business and opened the meeting to public comments. SchoolWatch had come up with 18 ideas on revising the teachers' contract and saving money, ranging from a reduction in the number of coaches per team to an $85,000 salary cap.
Buksa had barely gotten to idea No. 2 in his prepared remarks when he was stopped. Maloney said he would not allow oral comments on collective-bargaining issues, but would accept them via e-mail.
School spending is a hot issue in East Islip. Last spring, residents voted "no" twice on proposed school budgets. As a result, the district has eliminated more than 26 teaching jobs and canceled all interscholastic sports. A booster club is now trying to collect donations to save teams.
At the same time, the district is renegotiating an expired teacher contract, which provides top salaries well over $100,000. SchoolWatch members contend it would be unfair to award big raises at a time when students are losing elective courses and sports. A majority of board members, on the other hand, are sympathetic to teachers.
Controversial though the contract may be, the district's ban on public discussion is just plain wrong, according to one of the Island's leading free-speech advocates.
"You can't silence people at a public forum simply because it makes you angry to hear what they say," said Tara Keenan-Thomson, executive director of the Nassau County chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union. "That's the heart of democracy."
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