Public Participation Lacking at School Committee

The Melrose School Committee decided Tuesday night to continue its practice of holding a pre-meeting, informal public dialogue open to residents, but the question remains if committee members—or members of the public—will show up for them.

Since the beginning of the year, the committee has scheduled a monthly public comment period starting at 6:15 p.m. on the Tuesday night of school committee meetings. But participation has been limited, by both the public and the committee members.

During most of those pre-meeting public dialogue sessions, the committee has been represented by only one member, Carrie Kourkoumelis, who requested the pre-meeting public comment periods initially.

There were 14 public dialogues between March 9 and Aug. 24, with participation by 41 residents in total, according to a memo from committee Chairman Margaret Driscoll. That's an average of slightly less than three residents per dialogue.

Gerry Mroz, of Mount Vernon Street, said he has been to nearly every school committee meeting for the past few years, and he tells them the same thing each time.

"I've been trying to push them to deal with educational issues, not just procedural issues," Mroz said.

Mroz told the committee, in two public comment periods at the beginning and end of the Tuesday night meeting, that there was "no dialogue" in the pre-meeting public dialogue sessions .

"The dialogue hasn't been a dialogue with the School Committee—it's been a dialogue with Ms. Kourkoumelis," Mroz said.

Kourkoumelis said at last night's meeting that the lack of participation by committee members "calls into question our sincerity."

She also read into the record a memo from committee member J.D. LaRock, who was not able to be at the meeting, until the final public comment period at the end of the meeting.

LaRock told Melrose Patch in an interview before last night's meeting that he supported keeping the pre-meeting public dialogue, even if he couldn't be at the meeting to vote on the measure.

"Any participation is better than no participation," LaRock said. "Limiting public discussion sessions means being against public engagement."

LaRock said it's often difficult to make it to the pre-school meetings comment time because they begin at 6:15 p.m., when people are heading home from work.

Kourkoumelis suggested to the committee that a possible solution would be holding monthly public comment sessions on a Monday night at various schools, to accommodate parents with tough schedules.

There was no motion to change the current structure, and the vote to continue the pre-meeting public comment time passed unanimously, with LaRock absent.