Leaders of an Akron school board committee moved quickly Wednesday to make revising the recently altered redistricting policy a priority for the group.
The policy was changed earlier this month to speed an Akron Board of Education vote on redistricting.
Rene Molenaur, who chairs the Legal, Contracts and Board Policy Committee, said she thought the full board’s 5-1 decision to hastily revise a policy on how redistricting information is distributed unnecessarily removed opportunities for community members to give input on future redistricting plans.
The board, declaring an emergency last week, removed provisions that a first reading on a redistricting plan be held 30 days after a public notice is sent to the parents and guardians of every student in the district. The policy required two more readings of the plan before a final vote. It also allowed for public comment, essentially the public’s opportunity to provide feedback to the board at the time of each reading. Those measures were also removed.
The changes came under fire for limiting the public’s ability to learn about possible changes to where students went to school and to react to those changes. District officials said they had no choice but to alter the policy because it was holding up a vote to restructure and redistrict several schools, leaving other decisions at a standstill.
Wednesday, committee Co-chair Barbara Sykes said she thought it was important that the group work to “put most of the wording back,” though she said there might also be ways to improve upon the policy.
At the Wednesday meeting, attended only by Molenaur, Sykes and two attorneys, the group agreed to prioritize revisiting the policy at the group’s next meeting, in mid-April.
Mike Defibaugh, the district’s director of labor relations, said he planned to present a proposal that ensured there was appropriate notice given to community members while ensuring those with students in the district were the focus. He said he didn’t know that a series of formal readings was a necessary component of a new version. That was added in 2022, he said, as was the required 30-day waiting period before the policy’s first reading after a notice was sent.
“The notice provision to parents will always remain,” Defibaugh said. “We can add back in the issue of the community having the ability to speak.”
Molenaur said the amount of time given for feedback and discussion was intentionally inserted into the policy to improve equity in access to information. Equity requires specificity, she said, and so it’s important for her to ensure that specific measures are added back in.
“We’re fixing it,” Molenaur said. “Hopefully, it signals that we do care. This is a priority.”
Molenaur said because only two elected officials were present at the meeting, they could have had the discussion privately, in a phone call. But she said she thought it was important to show the public the process of making changes.
“Part of this is me trying to keep my word,” she said. “I’m not going to surprise anyone with a policy that anyone feels unprepared for.”
Additionally, she said the committee will discuss what constitutes an emergency and how one is declared. It’s possible that a new policy will emerge from those conversations.
“Great decisions are rarely made during an emergency,” she said.
