Burdens of School Staff of Concern to Trustees

Addressing concerns that some staffers are being overworked, Fullerton School District trustees this week reviewed their rules for requesting staff reports.

Trustee Robert C. Fisler said he wants the board to seek a majority consensus before requesting information from district staff members.

Fisler said some demanding and “unnecessary” requests have been made by individual board members. The information produced in response to the requests took up many hours of staff time, he said, causing delays with other, more pressing work.

“We are causing the staff a tremendous amount of work and . . . I think the board should OK any requests,” Fisler said.

Trustee Marjorie B. Pogue agreed.

Board President Anthony M. Valla said, “What we’re hinting at is the concept of teamwork, something that we have to really sponsor and we should work together.”

But Trustee Kim Ann Guth, who often is the lone dissenting voice on school issues, countered, “We are not a family and I’m not on your team.”

Guth said the law specifically states that each piece of paper in the district is a public record and “every person has the right to inspect any public record.”

No formal action was taken to limit board members from asking for information.

But trustees agreed that in the future, requests for studies or other needed paperwork would be channeled through the superintendent. In addition, Supt. Ron Cooper was asked to alert the school board if such requests would be too time-consuming.