Dear editor,Why is it that our supposed “transparent school board” decided to have a meeting during March break when families go away on holidays and school district staff is required to attend a meeting on their week off?  School District 71 has been doing a live broadcast of the board meetings for quite a few years. It is great for people who are unable to attend the actual meeting. The ability to sit and watch it live from the comfort of your own home is terrific.  I was watching the March 22 meeting at home when board chair Susan Barr passed the gavel to the vice-chair and proceeded to ask management to review the secretary-treasurer’s duties and responsibilities so that he was made to be more “transparent.”This motion was a clear attempt to throw the secretary-treasurer under the bus.I immediately got in my car and drove to the board office to ask these questions:Why is the board meeting being held during spring break? Why is the current policy R2000R2 concerning the secretary-treasurer’s role and responsibilities no longer appropriate?  When I arrived, I was told by some parents and the press that the board, for the second meeting in a row, voted to end the meeting and not allow time for question-and-answer period from the public.I am angry that the board continues to say they are transparent yet they are unwilling to take questions from the public who have taken time out of their busy schedules to attend the meetings or watch them online.  I walked into the boardroom and asked why the public was not permitted to ask questions, and the response from the board chair was, “I didn’t see you sitting in these chairs.”My question then, as a taxpayer in this community, is why do they bother broadcasting the meetings online or even having so-called public meetings if the public isn’t permitted to ask questions?Perhaps, instead of worrying about the supposed transparency of the secretary-treasurer, the board should stop and take a good look at themselves.Thankfully, the secretary-treasurer has managed to keep within SD71 budget as opposed to a deficit, setting aside a “rainy day fund,” part of which may have to be used to pay the mediator hired to babysit a dysfunctional board that needs to get along until the November election.Our tax dollars at work!My final conundrum is the fact that the board chair refers to our school district superintendent as Mrs. Elwood instead of her title, superintendent Elwood. I believe she has earned this title and should be addressed as such at all meetings, especially public ones.Senior management has been respectful towards all the trustees, calling them by their political names and they in turn should be showing the same respect.  Tome Nakashima,Courtenay

Comox Valley Record