Fear of Asking vs Fear of Answering

It takes a lot of gumption to stand up in front of people to ask a question or voice an opinion. Most people have a deep fear of public speaking, which drives them to avoid it at all costs; they'd rather eat worms than put themselves through the anxiety of a public presentation. With this human fear so widely known, why then do our elected officials treat public comments at their meetings with such stoic disregard? Is it arrogance from our public boards, as it often seems, or is there perhaps an equal level of terror on their part?

The Coeur d'Alene School Board is well known for sitting behind their big desk with neutral looks on their faces, as they listen to members of the public get up and speak at the podium. These elected school board members listen politely for the allotted time, then smile and say "thank you ... next." That's it. No response. No questions. No engagement.

The elected Board of Trustees for North Idaho College actually has a policy of no response to public comments at their meetings. They claim to "speak with one voice", which means none of the individual members can comment. At times they've even had their attorney make the announcement that they will not respond to any citizen statements.

Post Falls School District behaves the same way. It looks like these school boards learn from each other. And it seems that their fear of answering may be almost as intense as the public's fear of asking.

These public boards appear to be controlled by their legal consultants. The attorneys don't want board members to voice their opinion. They dread any perceived risk. But we did not elect the attorneys. And we did not elect a group with one voice. We elected individual trustees to represent us. People we hope will use their brain to make decisions, their spine to stand up for what's right and their voice to communicate with us.

Any citizen who's alarmed enough about an issue to get up off their couch and go to a public meeting deserves better treatment from their elected officials. These taxpayers steel their nerves and gather the courage to stand up in front of room full of people to express their ideas. They expect some discussion and an exchange of ideas in return.

So perhaps it's time for our school boards to overcome their trepidation and change their methods. They made the policies, probably out of fear and control, and they can change them. Increased feedback from school boards would help reinforce the public's trust in those with the title school board "trustees". These are educational institutions dedicated to public enlightenment. And we, the public, if we make the effort to speak out, should look forward to an informative dialogue with our elected educational officials.