For three years, the School Board has not been following Robert's Rules of Order; rather, members have bludgeoned one another with it. There's a better way forward.
After having attended many of the meetings in person and watched most of them I couldn't attend online I can state that while one can get an idea of the chaos by watching online it is difficult to really understand the lack of decorum and level of disrespect unless one is in the room. I was in attendance at the recent meeting referred to in this article. Watching online only shows part of what's happening. Once the meeting goes to recess the cameras are turned off but the behavior continues.
While I doubt it will happen, I would like Mr. Tatum, the expert in Robert's Rules quoted, to attend a meeting in person and ask him to provide insight after watching a SCPS meeting in its entirety in person.
Ms. Gillespie and Ms. Phelps are boldly and intentionally disrupting meetings and appear to have no intention of changing their public behavior.. Chairperson Lorita Daniels could do better at working toward order and I have seen improvement since she first took her position in January, but the truth is that at this point there appears to be no stopping Gillespie and Phelps in their determination to disrupt, cause chaos, and force meetings to have multiple recesses and possible early adjournments in what appears to be a vendetta in protest of November's vote that changed the make-up of the board.
Additionally, there is frequently outrageous behavior from members of the audience and I believe Chairperson Daniels is trying her level best to allow members of the public their First Amendment rights while maintaining order, which is a very difficult task. Of note there is a non-resident of Spotsylvania who wears costumes to the meetings and whose comments are irrelevant to the agenda. Another citizen brought a bullhorn to the last meeting with the threat of using it should the chairperson mute his microphone. I would appreciate an expert in Robert's Rules of Order to weigh in on any suggestions he would have as to how these disruptions, which affect the tone of the meetings per audience behavior, may and should be handled.
One really can't appreciate how out of control many Spotsylvania County School Board meetings are without being present. Ms. Gillespie has used her bullhorn from the dais. While it has improved since the board's majority changed, there is still far too much leaving the dais by board members. Ms. Phelps regularly leaves the dais and the room when one of her constituents, a former political opponent, comes to the microphone and before he begins to speak.
To sum it up, I agree with Mr. Tatum that strict adherence to Robert's Rules would help make meetings run more efficiently and ultimately would allow the board to do its important business, but when two board members appear to have one goal, which is to create chaos in order to stall progress, I'm not sure what the chairperson can really do to stop it.
As a concerned citizen and taxpayer, a resident of Spotsylvania for over 40 years, a retired educator, and someone who understands the importance of public education, I'm appalled, disgusted, and alarmed by what appears to be the direction this board is headed due to the behavior of two members.
Excellent comment! Thank you for it. I hope you turn it into a Letter to the Editor of the FXBG Advance so it can be viewed by Advance readers who perhaps don't read all the comments.
I have a few additional comments to add, which I will add in a separate comment. They will not be as articulate or well-written as yours, but I hope they add to the discussion.
Thank you for providing more context. It sounds pretty horrific. I can't imagine reasonable citizens being okay with this. Spotsy has become a national embrassment.
The 2025 budget proposed by Taylor, including capital expenditures, was $479 million, roughly. That obviously wasn't approved by the County's Board of Supervisors, but even substantially discounted, it is still far, far too much taxpayer treasure to surround with the kind of farcical theater to which everyone has been repeatedly exposed. The business we see in public must be quite different in tone and content than the real business being done that we don't see. Somehow, our money is being taken and spent, bullhorns and mic muting to the contrary notwithstanding.
People really need to attend these meetings and witness what is going on off camera. At the last one I attended in person, when the superintendent search firm gave their findings from the surveys and community forums, it was nearly 100% Phelps and Gillespie causing problems and those watching online didn’t get the whole picture AT ALL.
I cannot stress that enough.
Nothing is going to even appear normal until Phelps and Gillespie are replaced with people who care about public education and diplomacy. Until people understand this, we will end up fighting amongst ourselves over opinions and think pieces like this.
Phelps and her book banning, anti-everything friends (who are becoming norms in the seats at meetings) want this. Their only motive now is to create confusion and chaos because they know their narrow minded ideas wont get votes. The chaos will end up making people place most of the blame at the feet of those who do not deserve it - like Dr Daniels. Theyre setting up Spotsy residents to believe the current board majority are the baddies so that we will vote for the other end of the spectrum and put the Mark Taylors and Kirk Twiggs of the county back in the majority.
What’s sad is that their tactic seems to be working.
My comment will hopefully tie onto Becky Murray's outstanding take on the Spotsy School Board and Robert's Rules of Order (RR).
The intent of RRO is to streamline meetings by taking them down to the bare bones. The goals are to make decisions in the most efficient manner possible while assuring that everyone knows what they are voting on and have had a chance to discuss (while staying on topic.) Setting an agenda lists what is on tap for the meeting. Once agreed upon, it should be followed. The way to get things done is to move/make a motion that states clearly what action the group is voting on. A vote is taken only after all voters understand its contents and discussed briefly. After discussion, the motion is restated to make sure everyone knows what they are voting on. A vote ends the topic. On to the next motion.
RRO wasn't meant to make meetings complicated or long. Quite the contrary. In fact, there are simplified versions of the book - updates as well as modifications for use by small groups (such as a 7 member school board.) Our school board should look into that. (Our local CRRL library system has such a simplified book, written in part by a descendant of the original Robert. Bear in mind that RRO is not the law; it is followed when an organization opts to follow it.
It should be noted that Dr. Daniels can be heard at the last meeting trying to follow RRO, using the exact words cited in the article. One problem with this board is that others on the board don't realize or care that the chair's word is final. Legal advice is fine, but it is only advice. The decision is not theirs to make. A great deal of time is wasted and tempers set ablaze when board members refuse to accept the chair's authority. Sadly, the outcome is completely the reverse of RRO's emphasis on an orderly, productive, and efficient method of running meetings.
The question is how the chair can exercise her authority in the face of the rude, impolite, and downright hostile environment on the dais. Moreover, how can an agenda be followed when the single agenda of the minority is not to accomplish business but disrupt it. Sometimes It seems we need not a legal consultant but an enforcer.
After having attended many of the meetings in person and watched most of them I couldn't attend online I can state that while one can get an idea of the chaos by watching online it is difficult to really understand the lack of decorum and level of disrespect unless one is in the room. I was in attendance at the recent meeting referred to in this article. Watching online only shows part of what's happening. Once the meeting goes to recess the cameras are turned off but the behavior continues.
While I doubt it will happen, I would like Mr. Tatum, the expert in Robert's Rules quoted, to attend a meeting in person and ask him to provide insight after watching a SCPS meeting in its entirety in person.
Ms. Gillespie and Ms. Phelps are boldly and intentionally disrupting meetings and appear to have no intention of changing their public behavior.. Chairperson Lorita Daniels could do better at working toward order and I have seen improvement since she first took her position in January, but the truth is that at this point there appears to be no stopping Gillespie and Phelps in their determination to disrupt, cause chaos, and force meetings to have multiple recesses and possible early adjournments in what appears to be a vendetta in protest of November's vote that changed the make-up of the board.
Additionally, there is frequently outrageous behavior from members of the audience and I believe Chairperson Daniels is trying her level best to allow members of the public their First Amendment rights while maintaining order, which is a very difficult task. Of note there is a non-resident of Spotsylvania who wears costumes to the meetings and whose comments are irrelevant to the agenda. Another citizen brought a bullhorn to the last meeting with the threat of using it should the chairperson mute his microphone. I would appreciate an expert in Robert's Rules of Order to weigh in on any suggestions he would have as to how these disruptions, which affect the tone of the meetings per audience behavior, may and should be handled.
One really can't appreciate how out of control many Spotsylvania County School Board meetings are without being present. Ms. Gillespie has used her bullhorn from the dais. While it has improved since the board's majority changed, there is still far too much leaving the dais by board members. Ms. Phelps regularly leaves the dais and the room when one of her constituents, a former political opponent, comes to the microphone and before he begins to speak.
To sum it up, I agree with Mr. Tatum that strict adherence to Robert's Rules would help make meetings run more efficiently and ultimately would allow the board to do its important business, but when two board members appear to have one goal, which is to create chaos in order to stall progress, I'm not sure what the chairperson can really do to stop it.
As a concerned citizen and taxpayer, a resident of Spotsylvania for over 40 years, a retired educator, and someone who understands the importance of public education, I'm appalled, disgusted, and alarmed by what appears to be the direction this board is headed due to the behavior of two members.
Excellent comment! Thank you for it. I hope you turn it into a Letter to the Editor of the FXBG Advance so it can be viewed by Advance readers who perhaps don't read all the comments.
I have a few additional comments to add, which I will add in a separate comment. They will not be as articulate or well-written as yours, but I hope they add to the discussion.
As a Spotsy resident who has watched these meetings in person and online, I concur 1000%.
Thank you for providing more context. It sounds pretty horrific. I can't imagine reasonable citizens being okay with this. Spotsy has become a national embrassment.
The 2025 budget proposed by Taylor, including capital expenditures, was $479 million, roughly. That obviously wasn't approved by the County's Board of Supervisors, but even substantially discounted, it is still far, far too much taxpayer treasure to surround with the kind of farcical theater to which everyone has been repeatedly exposed. The business we see in public must be quite different in tone and content than the real business being done that we don't see. Somehow, our money is being taken and spent, bullhorns and mic muting to the contrary notwithstanding.
People really need to attend these meetings and witness what is going on off camera. At the last one I attended in person, when the superintendent search firm gave their findings from the surveys and community forums, it was nearly 100% Phelps and Gillespie causing problems and those watching online didn’t get the whole picture AT ALL.
I cannot stress that enough.
Nothing is going to even appear normal until Phelps and Gillespie are replaced with people who care about public education and diplomacy. Until people understand this, we will end up fighting amongst ourselves over opinions and think pieces like this.
Phelps and her book banning, anti-everything friends (who are becoming norms in the seats at meetings) want this. Their only motive now is to create confusion and chaos because they know their narrow minded ideas wont get votes. The chaos will end up making people place most of the blame at the feet of those who do not deserve it - like Dr Daniels. Theyre setting up Spotsy residents to believe the current board majority are the baddies so that we will vote for the other end of the spectrum and put the Mark Taylors and Kirk Twiggs of the county back in the majority.
What’s sad is that their tactic seems to be working.
My comment will hopefully tie onto Becky Murray's outstanding take on the Spotsy School Board and Robert's Rules of Order (RR).
The intent of RRO is to streamline meetings by taking them down to the bare bones. The goals are to make decisions in the most efficient manner possible while assuring that everyone knows what they are voting on and have had a chance to discuss (while staying on topic.) Setting an agenda lists what is on tap for the meeting. Once agreed upon, it should be followed. The way to get things done is to move/make a motion that states clearly what action the group is voting on. A vote is taken only after all voters understand its contents and discussed briefly. After discussion, the motion is restated to make sure everyone knows what they are voting on. A vote ends the topic. On to the next motion.
RRO wasn't meant to make meetings complicated or long. Quite the contrary. In fact, there are simplified versions of the book - updates as well as modifications for use by small groups (such as a 7 member school board.) Our school board should look into that. (Our local CRRL library system has such a simplified book, written in part by a descendant of the original Robert. Bear in mind that RRO is not the law; it is followed when an organization opts to follow it.
It should be noted that Dr. Daniels can be heard at the last meeting trying to follow RRO, using the exact words cited in the article. One problem with this board is that others on the board don't realize or care that the chair's word is final. Legal advice is fine, but it is only advice. The decision is not theirs to make. A great deal of time is wasted and tempers set ablaze when board members refuse to accept the chair's authority. Sadly, the outcome is completely the reverse of RRO's emphasis on an orderly, productive, and efficient method of running meetings.
The question is how the chair can exercise her authority in the face of the rude, impolite, and downright hostile environment on the dais. Moreover, how can an agenda be followed when the single agenda of the minority is not to accomplish business but disrupt it. Sometimes It seems we need not a legal consultant but an enforcer.