Public Comment Called Off in Montauk
Saying the Montauk Teachers Association had abused public comment sessions at school board meetings while contract negotiations were underway, the Montauk School Board axed public comment during the three most recent board meetings.
“We’re not supposed to speak about contract negotiations while they’re ongoing, and it was happening with the Montauk Teachers Association,” Diane Hausman, the school board president, said yesterday by phone. “We never have any members of the public there, anyway. It will be back on the agenda next month, at the next meeting.”
The last meeting that had a public comment session was on March 22. During it, Laura Schilling, the head of the teachers union, read a statement that said, “We continue to work without a contract since June 30, 2015. The message conveyed is that you do not value us, and you do not wish to compensate us in a manner that is reasonable and reflective of the budget that is being proposed.”
Dr. Schilling said in an email yesterday that the association disagrees that it has abused public comment sessions. “The M.T.A. has done nothing more than exercise its right to encourage the district to continue fair contract negotiations. This right has been exercised in the past at the Montauk Public School and neighboring school districts. The teachers continue to work without a contract while maintaining our high level of professionalism.”
Public comment sessions at the district’s board meetings are a “privilege, not a requirement,” Ms. Hausman said.
In lieu of public comment, she said she and other board members, as well as Jack Perna, the superintendent, could be reached by email. She said she makes her personal cellphone number public and that the district clerk also can be contacted with inquiries.
“They know how to get in touch with us,” Ms. Hausman said, adding that the public could ask the district clerk to “put something on the agenda.”
Robert Freeman, executive director of the New York State Committee on Open Government, confirmed yesterday that boards may choose whether to allow public comment.
“The open meetings law gives the public the right to be present. It says nothing at all about the public’s right to speak or otherwise participate,” Mr. Freeman said, although most boards permit limited public participation.
“For what it’s worth, it seems to me that the school board could have established a policy that would limit public participation based upon subject matter. In this instance, it could say, ‘Public, we still want to hear from you, but we will not take comments related to our bargaining process.’ ”
The Montauk School Board will meet next on June 14 at 4 p.m.