Dive Brief:
- Four members of the Ohio Board of Education walked out of Tuesday's meeting in protest of Board President Debe Terhar's decision to change the meeting's agenda.
- Dozens of people, including teachers, had shown up to the morning meeting to give their input on a new proposal that eliminates a law requiring schools to have a certain number of "specialty teachers". When it came time for public comments, Terhar decided to re-work the agenda and do a 30-minute presentation on the new proposal first.
- The four board members who left felt this was unfair to the people who came specifically at 10:45 a.m. to have their voice heard.
Dive Insight:
According to WHIO, what really shook the four board members that left is when the board president told a meeting attendee that he or she were welcome to leave at any time. Board members are meant to represent the public and their opinions, so moving a meeting agenda around -- while perhaps a minor offense -- really could be interpreted as a power move. People are busy and getting to a board meeting in the middle of the morning on a Tuesday isn't easy -- especially for educators who have to teach. Telling community members that they can leave a board meeting if they don't agree is probably not going to bode well, as seen in this situation.