GETTING RESULTS: New Rochelle Board of Education Plans Do-Over on Flawed Public Hearing on Anti-Bullying Legislation

The New Rochelle Board of Education will seek to remedy a flawed Public Hearing held on August 7th, 2012 on changes to the New Rochelle Board of Education Code of Conduct to bring the district into compliance with the New York State Dignity Act, anti-bullying legislation signed into law in 2012 which went into effect on July 1, 2012.

The board held the Public Hearing before voting to schedule the hearing hours later during the same board meeting.

New Rochelle Board of Education President Chrisanne Petrone, responding to concerns among those who came to speak at the hearing, relayed to her for this article, told Talk of the Sound that she has requested a draft Resolution be prepared for consideration and vote by members of the Board next Tuesday, Aug. 28th. The resolution will authorize a second Public Hearing on September 4, 2012, at 7:00 P.M., in the Linda E. Kelly Theater, New Rochelle High School, for public comment on the revised Code of Conduct setting the stage for a board vote on the changes at the end of September.

“I am anticipating that a Resolution to adopt the revisions to the Code of Conduct will be considered and voted on by the Board at its Special Meeting on September 24th,” said Petrone.

Petrone, who has often advocated for greater community involvement with the school board including greater transparency with board proceedings, moved swiftly after learning of community concerns.

Petrone has a history of bring greater transparency to the school board. She recently sought and obtained board support for the adoption of BoardDocs, a web-based service intended to put public information contained in board packets online prior to board meetings. Her interest in BoardDocs grew out of a desire to comply with recent changes to the New York State Open Meeting Law spearheaded by Assemblywoman Amy Paulin. Last Spring, Petrone brought forward a resolution to create the first-ever Citizens Advisory Committee on the School Budget, to provide board members with access to financial expertise from New Rochelle residents with strong financial backgrounds.

The Public Hearing on August 7th was required as part of a process to modify the New Rochelle Board of Education Code of Conduct pursuant to the Dignity Act, anti-bullying legislation passed by the New York State Legislature and signed into law by then-Governor David Patterson on September 13, 2010. The law took effect on July 1, 2012. The proposed changes to the Code of Conduct were intended to bring the Code into line with the new State law.

Over a dozen people came to the meeting prepared to speak at the hearing but none of them got the chance.

New Rochelle Board of Education meetings often do not start on time, especially in the summer. There is no tradition of holding Public Hearings on a monthly basis as is the case with the New Rochelle City Council. These factors might explain why none of the residents wishing to speak at the hearing were in the Carew Room on the second floor at City Hall were present when the the Public Hearing was called to order at 7 p.m. sharp by Petrone.

With no speakers in the conference room where the hearing was being held, the hearing was immediately closed. Shortly thereafter, people wishing to speak began to trickle into the room only to be informed the hearing was over. Several people left the meeting once they realized the hearing had ended before they had arrived. Others remained and spoke during the Public Hearing period at the end of what proved to be on the longest school board meeting in years. It was not until about 10 p.m. that those few that remained were able to address the board with their concerns regarding the Dignity Act, the proposed changes to the Code of Conduct and the rushed manner in which the hearing was handled.

Several hours after the hearing had been opened and abruptly closed, the Board voted on Board Resolution 13-99 authorizing the Public Hearing that had already taken place.

Minimal effort has been made to promote the hearing. A required public notice submitted to the Journal News on August 1st did not appear until August 3rd, according to School Board Clerk Liz Saraiva. The Public Hearing was not promoted on the district web site and the amendments to the Code of Conduct were not published to the district web site until the day before the Public Hearing.

By contrast, the New Rochelle City Council typically votes to approve a Public Hearing weeks in advance, the hearings take place at a regularly schedule date and time — the first meeting of the month, at 7:30 p.m. — just before the monthly Citizens to be Heard session. The hearings are always well-promoted and while not every hearing draws an audience, those that do are often well-attended.

There is no similar tradition of having Public Hearings, except for the annual School Budget Review Hearings.

The cart-before-the-horse Public Hearing came about in an attempt to bring the school district into compliance with the Dignity Act which had already gone into effect the month before. To do that,, the board was required to adopt changes to the Code of Conduct and those changes required a public hearing. Having failed to meet the New York State deadline after almost two years notice, the Board of Education resorted to rushing through a questionable, possibly illegal, process in order to claim changes to the Code of Conduct had been adopted by the Board of Education following a public hearing.

Putting further pressure on the board’s timetable, is the annual mailing to student’s families. The New Rochelle Board of Education Code of Conduct is mailed to every household with children in the public school system before the start of each school year. In order to print and distribute the Code of Conduct for 2012-13 on time, the board needed to adopt changes to the Code of Conduct before the beginning of the 2012-13 school year.

The flaws with the hearing process became apparent during the Public Comment period, traditionally held at the end of the regular meeting which follows the Committee of the Whole Meeting.

One speaker suggested expanding the definition of those covered under the Code of Conduct’s bullying related sections to include transgender persons (sometimes referred to as transexual persons). There appeared to be some agreement by some board members to include transgender persons in the Code of Conduct but no motions were put forward and no changes to the draft changes put forward in the board resolution.

Several speakers asked for an opportunity to submit written comments only to learn there was no formal process to do so.

Others complained that the actual resolution had only been posted on the District web site the day before the hearing which did not provide them sufficient time for careful review and discussion among interested parties.

The resolution at this Tuesday’s meeting is intended to address these concerns.

The New York State Department of Education describes the Dignity Act as follows:

This legislation amended State Education Law by creating a new Article 2 – Dignity for All Students. The Dignity Act also amended Section 801-a of New York State Education Law regarding instruction in civility, citizenship, and character education by expanding the concepts of tolerance, respect for others and dignity to include: an awareness and sensitivity in the relations of people, including but not limited to, different races, weights, national origins, ethnic groups, religions, religious practices, mental or physical abilities, sexual orientations, gender identity, and sexes. The Dignity Act further amended Section 2801 of the Education Law by requiring Boards of Education to include language addressing The Dignity Act in their codes of conduct.

Additionally, under the Dignity Act, schools will be responsible for collecting and reporting data regarding material incidents of discrimination and harassment.

The changes to the Code of Conduct were attached to Board Resolution 13-99.