NEWARK – Citizens asked for more transparency from the Worcester County Board of Education this week.
At Tuesday’s school board meeting, members of the public said they wanted to see video of meetings and evening meeting options so working parents could attend.
“The Somerset County Board of Education can do it, so can you,” Pocomoke City resident Matt Lankford said.
Though for years public comments at school board meetings have been few and far between, in recent months there has been a steady stream of input from citizens. While it started with opposition to the school system’s mask mandate, the concern from commenters has since turned potential vaccine requirements for children and the need for more public access to board meetings.
Lankford said he wanted to see the board hold an emergency meeting to discuss how to make meetings more transparent. The school board meets the third Tuesday of each month at 12:30 p.m.
“Most citizens work 9 to 5 or somewhere in that range,” he said. “They can’t attend your meetings unless they take off work. Another time which would allow a greater number of citizens to attend would be much appreciated.”
He said he also couldn’t believe that with Worcester County’s tax revenues there wasn’t video access to school board meetings.
“Those that have missed your meetings because of scheduling conflicts could view it online if you had it,” he said. “Simple. Make the change …We the people are wondering if this is intentional. Suppressing the public from the meetings. I don’t believe it is. No, not you guys. But get the emergency meeting and get on this. Remember you are called public servants and that means you serve the public not the other way around.”
Darren Lombardo offered similar comments.
“Over a period of time I’ve observed on the website of the school system no links to view past meetings, no way to find out what goes on in this meeting,” he said. “We need to have meaningful access and to be able to view for those parents that aren’t able to make it during the day. It’s very crucial. I know as a school system, in any school system, it’s important to have meaningful parent engagement and involvement.”
He suggested an alternating meeting schedule, with some months featuring an evening meeting and other months featuring an afternoon meeting. He added that the school system likely had the capabilities to offer online meetings, since they had done distance learning during the pandemic.
“You guys are experts in streaming,” he said, adding that he’d offer his IT consulting services pro bono if the school system needed help.
Other public input at Tuesday’s meeting focused on opposition to a potential COVID-19 vaccine mandate for children. Parent Jamie Rice expressed concern about vaccine safety, as did Caryn Abbott. Ocean Pines resident Melissa Mather shared the story of how her son had been injured by a vaccine when he was a child.
“It breaks my heart to see kids injected with things when they’re healthy,” she said.
