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Elected School Officials Not Always Easy to Reach

January 7, 2012

Article from MercuryNews.com: http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_19672171

Maybe you’re anxious about trigger cuts at your kid’s school. Or you don’t want your neighborhood school closed, or you’re outraged by an administrator’s salary.

So you pick up the phone to call a school board member. How do you find the number? Only about one-third of the school districts in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties list some or all of their trustees’ phone numbers online. The rest channel contact through the district office, which is open during school hours, usually 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and closed on weekends, holidays and winter break.

You’re in better luck if you want to email: All but two Santa Clara County school districts list email contacts for board members, as do 15 of San Mateo County’s 23 school districts.

But email doesn’t assure a response, or even guarantee a reading. Some trustees said they use their personal emails and don’t read their district-provided email addresses.

Two years ago, Chris Vuong of Morgan Hill emailed members of the East Side Union High School District board because he was concerned that it might cut the International Baccalaureate Program at his alma mater, Andrew Hill High School. Of five trustees he emailed, only Frank Biehl responded in substance, Vuong said. One trustee sent a “thanks for your email” reply, and the other three did not respond at all.

And last summer, when the district was reassigning principals, distraught parents at Yerba Buena and Santa Teresa high schools emailed the East Side board. But, the parents complained, most board members did not acknowledge parents’ messages, much less respond.

Elected school board members say the public manages to find them. “I am frequently stopped by community members (mostly parents) at the supermarket, pharmacy and about town,” said Melissa Baten Caswell, president of the Palo Alto Unified school board, whose personal phone numbers are listed on the Web. She said she gets far more emails than phone calls.

Bob Griffin, a San Mateo Unified trustee for 15 years, said he talks to people at church, restaurants, service clubs and other places about school matters.

But when there’s no ready way for the general public to reach their representatives, it’s more likely that elected officials will hear from fewer, or perhaps less diverse, voices before making decisions.

“In general, we think school board members should be totally accessible,” said Phillip Ung of California Common Cause.

“You have to be available to interact,” said Peter Scheer of the First Amendment coalition. “On the other hand, you can’t have all your time taken up by these communications.”

He suggested using technology, Facebook or Google+, where people can leave messages and create public forums.

When Mike O’Halloran, of Santa Clara, wanted to lobby to transfer his neighborhood from the Campbell elementary and high school districts to the Santa Clara Unified School District, he relied on his contacts from Boy Scouts and civic groups to reach trustees.

“I’m sure board members themselves want to hear directly from the public rather than hear everything filtered through the staff,” he said. Santa Clara trustees’ contact information isn’t listed on the district website.

Trustee Andrew Ratermann defended Santa Clara Unified’s process of directing constituents to call the district office. The superintendent or a secretary passes on the messages, even when the district is closed, Ratermann said.

And for those who don’t have email or don’t speak English, the system works well, he said. Multilingual employees at the district office can interpret the message and, if necessary, arrange a meeting with translation for a board member.

The system is similar to those at the state and federal levels, he said, where the only listed phone numbers are for offices.

Ratermann has a listed home phone, which he also posts online. “There are concerns about security as an elected public official,” he said, noting that during Halloween a student set fire to a teacher’s house. “I find that the crazies seem to find me anyway.”

Trustee Ellen Wheeler said that in 10 years on the Mountain View-Whisman board, she’s received only about 10 calls from constituents. “Most people use email.” And, she added, most people don’t even email. Instead, people talk to her when she visits schools.

“Should constituents be able to call elected officials at home?” Wheeler asked. “I vote for calling them at their elected place of work and emailing them anytime.”

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