The first public hearing of the Broward Schools Commission for Education Excellence Through Integrity, Public Ethics, and Transparency (Broward Schools Integrity)  was held at the Dillard Center for Performing Arts (Dillard High School Auditorium) on January 11, 2010 from 6pm to slightly past 8pm. Seventeen people, including myself, addressed the commission members, Ft. Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler, former Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth, and lawyer W. George Allen.

The hearing began with opening remarks from each member. Each of the three members have equal weight and will split facilitating the meetings. In his opening remarks, George Allen stated that the purpose of the commission is “to make sure the Broward Schools integrity is in tact and working.” The commission members are requesting the advice, thoughts, input, and criticism of the public to produce a product not filtered by school board staff or leaders. Mayor Seiler stated that the project is to be a “roadmap for how we can restore the public trust.” The development will be through an open and transparent system and aims to transfer openness and transparency to the School Board.

Those who addressed the commission spoke on many district issues. Some frequent suggestions were to limit the activities of lobbyists. Some recommendations to this effect were to prohibit lobbyists from serving on committees or advisory boards, to include photographs of lobbyists on the school district website, and to prohibit former employees from lobbying the district for two years after ending employment. Removing school board members from selection committees was also recommended.

Former district employees and a long-time community activist spoke of issues with the Special Investigative Unit (SIU). They highlighted the hostile environment for employees under investigation and requested a full investigation of SIU. Concern was made that the School Board recognizes a need for change in the SIU, but staff disputes that need.

A project manager from the facilities division stated that the issues the district is facing are not new ones. He recommended another layer of oversight and brought up the concern that district staff cannot openly communicate their concerns without repercussions.

Common suggestions were to impose term limits on board members and to make School Board workshops more open to public. Members of the public can currently attend, but not speak at workshops. Workshops are not broadcasted online, on the radio, or on television.  School Board members have recently discussed broadcasting audio of workshops.

There were recommendations made for the operations of top district administration. One such recommendation was to develop a district-wide succession plan for senior staff. Another was to add a level of oversight between leadership and school board membership.

A common concern was that the recommendations of the commission will be ignored and that it was simply appointed to calm the masses. Concern was made that when the system doesn’t really want to fix something, they form a committee. Mayor Seiler hoped to answer these concerns by stating that the work of the commission will be done over the next couple months and that the document will be very public. They will go beyond making recommendations, they will press for them.

Audits were discussed as an issue. Some people expressed concern that the reports of the auditors are ignored and the chief auditor ridiculed. Mayor Seiler spoke of how audits work in Ft. Lauderdale. The auditor is hired by the city commission and reports directly to the commission, not to staff. The School District does not have an entirely independent auditor.

Concern was made that advisories are being disregarded by the School Board. Advisory committees make recommendations that are often ignored by the board or district staff.

The commission members vowed to address the concerns of the public and do everything they can to make the recommendations go into effect. They said that they would not be doing this if they did not think it would be worth it.

The next meeting of Broward Schools Integrity will be held on Monday, February 22, 2010 at Coconut Creek High School (1400 NW 44th Avenue, Coconut Creek) from 6 to 8pm.