The Monroe City School Board has cut back on the number of meetings it holds each month and its seven committees rarely meet; one hasn’t been appointed in four years.
Despite its extremely relaxed meeting schedule this year, each board member still takes home the same $800 a month ($900 for the President).
For more than 20 years the city school board has met twice each month to handle board business. In between regular meetings board members conducted committee meetings to ask questions about issues and to better understand policies and procedures.
However, beginning this year, the board published its schedule of regular meetings, with only one scheduled meeting per month with the exception of holiday months.
Although committees were appointed this year, only two committees have met this year. Both the curriculum committee, chaired by Betty Cooper and the facilities committee members have met once. None of the board’s other committees have met at all this year.
The lack of structure and transparency has been a main complaint of new board member Betty Cooper who complains at nearly every meeting that the board’s agenda contains items for approval that have not been discussed in committee.
“We should not act on any agenda item that has not been thoroughly vetted by the appropriate committee,” said Cooper recently.
In the February board meeting, board member Rick Saulsberry said the board should revise its committees because, according to its pol
