Off with the muzzles on Austintown school board

Off with the muzzleson Austintown school board
It is no coincidence that virtually all policymaking boards of public institutions comprise two, three, five or more individuals. It simply makes good sense to have a variety of viewpoints to generate discussion, debate and decisions that will serve the greatest good for school districts, local governments and other agencies spending taxpayer dollars.
On the Austintown school board, however, such logic has been twisted, replaced with a troubling doctrine of group speak.
Over the years, the board as a group has intentionally chosen to muzzle individual members' opinions during its public meetings.
"We only speak as a group," board member Brad Gessner said this week.
"We've gone on forever with one person as our spokesperson," concurred Dr. David Ritchie, who has served on the board for 37 years. "We need to come together as a group."
Ritchie and other board members supporting the policy appear to be so interested in projecting an air of unity that the board risks losing credibility.
Public-minded residents who attend meetings are shortchanged when denied insight on where each individual elected official stands on issues. The board is not and should not be a monolith. Full and unfettered debate is natural, healthy and essential to the messy workings of representative democracy.
That's why we support the challenge by first-term board member Michael Creatore. He argued at a meeting this week that all board members "have a right to express to the taxpayers that elected us what we think and feel."
An OSBA recommendation
Some board members counter that the closed-mouth policy has been recommended by the Ohio School Boards Association at its training sessions for many years. One OSBA spokesman, however, said that although an individual board member should not speak on behalf of the entire board unless elected as spokesman, he or she should be allowed to explain the motivation behind votes on issues.
Regardless of whether the directive for silence originated at the state or local level, the practice is wrong and compromises the public's right to know.
Fortunately for Austintown school district residents, it appears as if the muzzles may be yanked for good. Creatore's fortitude to challenge the longstanding policy and his open dissension with the majority board's leanings to place an operating levy on the fall ballot motivated previously silent board members to open up and present individual views on levy options.
In coming weeks and months, the school board looks as if it will have its work cut out for it trying to build community support for the probable tax issue. As it does, each and every member should be willing to present his or her views openly, frankly and with no regard to misguided self-censorship.