No Public Comments Allowed at School Board Meeting Tonight

June 18, 2007
According to Sally Smith, secretary to Superintendent Robert Damron, no
public comment will be allowed at the Special Called Meeting of the
Cleburne School Board tonight at 5:30 p.m. Ms. Smith said that the law
does not require that they allow public comment. They have chosen not to allow public comment.

On the agenda is acceptance of the resignation of School Board Member
Brad Allen, who took office only a week ago, appointment of a
replacement, and personnel actions.

You are encouraged to type out your comments to the board members and
pass them out to the 7 board members before the meeting starts. Also
make 4 or 5 extra copies for the media. Star-Telegram reporter Martha
Deller will attend the meeting, and has asked for copies of public comments.

Here is the scenario of events:
May 12 - CISD School Board election. Incumbent Brad Allen won. The only
opponent, Pat Linkenhoger, got 45% of the votes.
May 12 evening - ALL school board members gathered at the polling place
to hear election results. By reading the law, it appears that this
constituted an illegal meeting in violation of the Open Meetings Law.
All school board members clapped and cheered when it was announced that
incumbents Brad Allen and Brad Mead had won.
June 11 - New school board members sworn in at the regular meeting of
the CISD school board.
June 14, 15 and 16 - School board members attended a training convention
in San Antonio, spending three days together.
June 15 - Four days after Brad Allen was sworn in, Superintendent Robert
Damron called a special meeting of the school board to accept the
resignation of Brad Allen and appoint a replacement.
June 18 - Superintendent Damron's secretary, Sally Smith, informed Alden
Nellis that NO PUBLIC COMMENT would be allowed at the meeting. The law
allows it but it is not required at called meetings. CISD chose not to
allow public comment.

Since no public comment will be allowed tonight, here are ways for you
to be heard.

Type up your comments and distribute them to the 7 board members before
the meeting. Make 4 or 5 extra copies for the media, including Martha
Deller of the Fort Worth Star Telegram, who has specifically asked for
copies of comments.

Go to the meeting early and talk to the board members to express your
opinions before the meeting starts.

Post your comments on the Blog at http://www.CleburnePolitics.com. Go to
Blog at the top left, read the opinions, and click on Comments to add
your comments to each post.

Email school board members. Below is their contact information.

Donna Boles, dearboles@yahoo.com, phone 817-641-4513
Brad Mead, brad@united-cs.com
Stu Madison, president, Stu@johnsoncountytx.org and procqter@swbell.net. His number at the County Attorney’s office is 817-556-6330
Teddy Martyniuk, viporcon22@aol.com, 817-648-0157
Jennifer Dugger, jenniferdugger@yahoo.com
Brent Easdon, brene@cleburne.net and easdon.k@digitex.net
Brad Allen (resigning), brad.allen@Compassbank.com, 817-558-6753

Sorry, we don’t have the rest of the board members’ telephone numbers. They are unlisted. We only got their email addresses by chance. So much for them wanting public input as representatives of the taxpayers.