Members argue merits of banning, preserving practice for political purposes, advertising
By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff Writer
It’s been about three months since the Burlington Area School District School Board elections were decided, but apparently the controversy surrounding at least one part of it just won’t go away.
The School Board Policy Committee looked at a potential new policy Monday night, one that would ban any non-school-related materials or information from being distributed on school ground.
Nothing was approved at the Monday meeting, but it was clear emotions still ran high.
The policy came up for consideration in light for fliers that were distributed before the election April 2. District residents Paul and Sheila Webber printed and distributed fliers in support of Larry Anderson and Jim Bousman. Both were later elected.
The fliers were distributed at Band-o-Rama March 11 at Burlington High School, and then also March 16 at the Burlington Home Expo at BHS. At the home show, the fliers were accompanied by a handout that reminded people about early voting.
That distribution drew the ire of WeVote Burlington leader Bonnie Ketterhagen, who said at the time that the discarded fliers should be viewed as litter, people cited, and that she had been informed initially by Superintendent Peter Smet that it was inappropriate to use school grounds for campaigning.
Smet later backed off that stance, saying there was nothing specific in district policies forbidding the practice. Ketterhagen and other supporters then wanted to see a policy crafted to keep the situation from happening again.
That was the initial stab taken Monday night. The one-paragraph policy simply read, “No non-school related materials or information of any type is allowed to be distributed in schools or on district or school grounds.”
Bousman immediately questioned if the board wanted to take this up at this point, given that the district is also looking at the possibility of advertising revenue.
“I think it’s hard to define it unless we know how much commercial business we’re willing to tolerate,” said Bousman, who attended the meeting via speakerphone.
School Board President David Thompson simply said, “I don’t think this policy is needed at all. I don’t think we’ve had a real problem.
“If there are issues, we can handle them in house.”
School Board member Roger Koldeway immediately reminded Thompson that the situation created an issue in the spring.
“What’s the problem with that?” Thompson asked. Citizen member Karen Tolle added, “I think that’s school related.”
Koldeway said it shouldn’t be allowed, at which point Thompson disagreed.
Citizen member and former School Board member Susan Kessler said that school grounds are public property, and if rooms can be used for political purposes, so could the grounds for distribution of such material.
“This just doesn’t make any sense,” Kessler said of the policy.
Koldeway said that politics should be kept out of the school, and the policy was necessary to protect the students.
Ironically, Ketterhagen’s husband, Phil, a School Board member, suggested leaving it alone until there was a problem.
Sheila Webber attended the meeting, and said that the distribution was done outside of school hours, and cleanup committees were organized.
“I think there doesn’t need to be a policy until something is done that is harmful,” she said.
Bonnie Ketterhagen argued that leaving the decision up to individuals – specifically, school principals – would lead to an unevenness in the decision making. And Koldeway argued that leaving this open to any sort of advertising could create issues.
“What if an abortion clinic wanted to advertise?” Koldeway asked. Thompson immediately countered with, “And what if an adoption agency wanted to?”
Koldeway pushed to look at the situation further, at which point Thompson said, “I would like to suggest we do not burden the administration with this task.”
When Koldeway insisted it was an issue, Thompson invited him to draft a policy for further review.
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Can you say trouble maker. I am sure there are 101 other more important things they could be debating about, but they are convinced that these flyers are the reason there ‘friends’ lost the last election. We all need to get over it and move on to issues that actually affect us taxpayers and the students!
It seems that Roger Koldeway and Bonnie Ketterhagen are trying to control the flow of information that the public can receive. The “We Vote” candidates refuse to attend forums, refuse to answer reporters’ questions, and now want the only information to be their own flyers and signs. These signs contain voter baiting statements such as “conservative” and “fair” without ever explaining the policies that they would truly endorse. The car window handouts gave the public a chance to see other information. Volunteer cleaning crews followed every handout event and picked up the litter, so that was not an issue. I say, that Roger should draft a policy that requires every school board candidate to attend at least two public forums that are hosted by a fair and impartial entity. No one should be able to limit or frame the questions at the forums. The policy should also include that candidate for this public office must respond to questions from the media in a timely manner without constraints on the questions asked. Freedom of the press is part of the very foundation of our country.
EXCERPT: “Koldeway said that politics should be kept out of the school, and the policy was necessary to protect the students.”
What are we protecting the students from? Democracy? Their parents who distributed the fliers? This nonsense and a solution looking for a problem that doesn’t exist.
What is stopping the WeeVoters from distributing their own fliers? Nothing! In fact I for one would welcome that and the information it might provide that they tried so very hard to hide in the last election.
I’m sure King George, in his conservative quest to maintain authority and quash liberty, would have loved to stop revolutionary pamphleteer Thomas Paine from spreading his enlightened Common Sense to his fellow citizens. I have no doubt that what Tom Paine did was against the King’s law. But we fought a revolution to throw off that kind of authoritarianism, we’ve been fighting it ever since and we’re still fighting it today! This is America, you know, where we fly our flag rightside up even when we lose elections. America is a democracy and so far anyway, Democracy is NOT Against The Law! Democracy demands citizen involvement and the spreading of information so that voters can inform themselves, something the WeVoter candidates worked really hard at stifling during their campaign.
This about free speech, democracy in action and the right of We the People to engage reasonably and responsibly in disseminating rational information about OUR electoral process on OUR public property. I see no reasoning whatsoever behind Roger and Bonnie’s desire to infringe our rights and stiffle the flow of information. Only sour grapes and self-centered, childish ire.