The Board of Education's Secret Consent Agenda

Boards and legislative bodies will often come across mechanical issues, those which require neither debate or discussion, such as impeaching Donald Trump.  These issues are placed on the “Consent Agenda,” or as Bob’s Rules of Order calls it, the “Consent Calendar.”  This Consent Agenda, containing several issues of “whatever,” is then voted up or down at the body’s main meeting, or, as in the case of the Hartford Board of Education, at the Regular Meeting.  This is routine business for most Boards and legislative bodies.  Then there is the Hartford Board of Education.

It is customary to let people know what items are on the Consent Agenda.  At the Regular Meeting, the agenda ought to contain, and the Chair ought to read, the titles of the items that have been placed on the Consent Agenda.  Originally crafted to save time on less than substantial policy and process issues, the Consent Agenda can be used to sneak through a debatable issue.  That is why Board’s have rules on these things; the Bylaws of the Board of Education in Hartford make no mention whatsoever about rules concerning the Consent Agenda.  Our Board routinely passes this Consent Agenda (along with everything else as they are on a 106-0 streak in favor of anything on the agenda) and the public, attending or watching the meeting, or reading the minutes (for meetings where minutes are published) and agenda later, have no idea what was just passed under the guise of the Consent Agenda.  Things could get nefarious at worst, at best, it’s just another instance of being transparent as window tint.  Boards will have rules which allow members to request a vote on removing an item from the agenda and placing it on the main agenda at the main meeting.  Hartford’s Board of Ed has no rules on this so it is questionable as to whether Board members are even aware of this right.

The Bylaws of the Board of Education for Hartford do contain other rules however.  One such rule, 9321(b), states that, “[all] agenda items will conform to standard agenda item format, as proposed by the Superintendent.”  “[As] proposed by the Superintendent?”  Is Superintendent Torres-Rodriguez behind Hartford’s secret agenda?  Why is the Superintendent making rules for the Board’s Bylaws?  This is like the fox setting the standards by which the chicken coop will be built.  This issue should be discussed, debated, and rules ought to be set in place…and followed.