Bad connections. A robotic voice reading phone numbers. Intermittent heavy breathing.
The St. Paul school board’s first attempt at doing business by conference call went off with many hitches last week.
“We’ve got a little work to do,” board member John Brodrick told colleagues after the umpteenth interruption from a caller joining or leaving the meeting.
“That is something that hopefully we can fix,” chairwoman Marny Xiong said of the robo-voice.
They’ll try again Tuesday evening. And this time, the public is invited — sort of.
The board typically meets twice a month. Last week was its committee meeting, in which board members usually deliberate without much of an audience and take no formal action.
Tuesday’s meeting is the more formal get-together that typically starts with up to 30 minutes of comments from the public. A mix of praise and criticism, the comments are not required by law, but board members say they value hearing from the community.
Unable to meet for now because of group restrictions related to the novel coronavirus, the board still is thinking through how to best hear from a public it cannot see.
For now, comments can be submitted by email or phone to the board’s secretary, who will read them aloud to start the meeting. In the alternative, one could email all board members at sb.members@spps.org.
The meeting audio will be streamed live on cable and on the district’s website.
It’s a busy time for the district, which is coming off a four-day teacher strike and preparing for distance learning while delivering free meals and caring for around 200 children of St. Paul workers whom Gov. Tim Walz has deemed “essential” during the COVID-19 emergency.
So, Tuesday’s meeting offers a light agenda.
Superintendent Joe Gothard said they plan to “just get through” the meeting, taking necessary votes and postponing the rest.
The board still hasn’t kicked off talks on next year’s budget, which now includes a teacher contract that will cost over $5 million more than expected. The financial implications of COVID-19’s distance learning and expected economic recession is anyone’s guess.
District spokesman Kevin Burns said they “don’t want to rush through important items” on a conference call.
Officials explored holding the meetings by Skype and in person, with social distancing enforced, before settling on conference calls. Burns said they hope to have a better process in place next month.