THE EMPTY CHAIR: How GCS Leadership Uses Silent Notifications to Imply Taxpayers Don't Care
During the September 14 Goshen Community Schools Board meeting, citizens stood at the podium to demand a true, open, televised two-way community forum regarding the $105 million proposed budget.
Immediately following public comments, Superintendent Jim DuBois took the microphone to offer the administration's defense. He pointedly informed the Board that the district's new restricted "micro-meetings" (which central office marketing calls "coffee chats") had drawn as few as zero to five sign-ups.
He then used those low numbers to frame the turnout as a sign of general contentment, arguing there is no need for a large two-way community forum, and that a 15-person attendance cap is plenty.
It creates a predictable cycle: schedule low-visibility meetings, watch the room stay empty, and then treat that silence as a green light.
THE PARENTSQUARE DOUBLE STANDARD: The Megaphone vs. The Whisper
Why aren't parents and taxpayers flooding into these "coffee chats"?
The answer comes down to Selective Advertising. Goshen Community Schools possesses a powerful digital infrastructure: ParentSquare. This tool is selectively used, and important Board meetings or financial decisions don’t seem to make their way onto this platform. But their notices for those types of events do meet the minimum legal standards: notice on their website (below the fold, and on a site that few check regularly for updates) and a local newspaper (The Goshen News, behind a digital paywall).
WHEN THEY WANT YOU TO KNOW: When central office wants to announce athletic events, weather closures, fundraisers, or the like, they use ParentSquare to push high-visibility, instant notifications directly to the cell phones of GCS families and staff members in seconds.
WHEN ACCOUNTABILITY IS ON THE LINE: When central office nearly doubles the Superintendent’s office salary budget line to $700,000, triples Board pay to over $300/hr, commits $6.2 million to a luxury turf soccer stadium, or quietly shifts statutory budget hearing dates forward by 35 days, ParentSquare goes completely silent.
Instead of pushing notifications to parents' phones, leadership places budget notices a link below the fold on their district website or deep inside state databases. How often do you check their website (and scroll down)? Relying solely on buried website notices rather than direct notifications predictably results in low visibility.
The Strategy Behind 15-Person Silos
Capping meetings at 15 people in a small room without video cameras serves two major functions:
NO CAMERA, NO PUBLIC RECORD: Unlike streamed board meetings archived on YouTube, small "coffee chats" leave no permanent video record or transcript.
As Superintendent DuBois reasoned on camera while steering the Board toward private sub-quorum meetings: why put professionals like attorneys and accountants at risk on video cameras where they could get "lambasted"? It is a striking standard for a district where frontline bus drivers and support staff are recorded on camera every single shift, while leadership seeks out quiet corners to keep their own decisions off the tape.
Do you have any idea of what was said in the last “coffee chat” regarding the $105M budget proposal? Unless you attended or have someone give you the scoop, NO, you don’t! And as a teaser, let me tell you, the one I attended was very interesting and clever.
PREVENTING COMMUNITY SOLIDARITY: In an open boardroom with 100+ citizens, bus drivers, classroom aides, custodians, and parents see that they are all facing the exact same structural austerity while central office expands. By fragmenting the public into 15-person micro-silos, leadership keeps attendees focused on micro-issues (like drop-off lines) rather than the $105 million macro-budget.
THE CHALLENGE: Turn On the Megaphone
Board Policy 0123 explicitly pledges that GCS will "maintain two-way communications with citizens" and "keep them informed of the progress and problems of the Corporation".
If leadership is proud of this budget and confident in their spending choices, they shouldn't hide behind 15-person coffee chats.
We challenge GCS leadership to use ParentSquare to send a district-wide push notification announcing a true, televised, two-way public forum where all taxpayers can ask questions and receive direct, on-the-record answers before the final October 12 budget vote.
Until they turn on the ParentSquare megaphone for financial accountability, empty chairs at coffee chats aren't proof of community consent—they are the receipts of administrative exclusion.
PACK THE ROOM AT THE NEXT BOARD MEETING:
📅 WHEN: Monday, September 28 @ 6:00 PM
📍 WHERE: GCS Administration Building (613 E. Purl St.)
📝 LOGISTICS: Fill a seat to show leadership that GOSHEN IS WATCHING.
Comments
Post a Comment