WEST LAFAYETTE — A West Lafayette mother and school board member is aiming to improve transparency and the public’s access to information.
Dacia Mumford filed a formal complaint against the West Lafayette Community School Corporation in 2022, alleging they violated the Indiana Access to Public Records Act by failing to provide a school board meeting packet.
The Indiana Public Access Counselor agreed with Mumford and found the school district indeed violated Indiana’s public records law.
“I was so excited about the opinion,” said Mumford. “The very next meeting they changed their policy from the packet being confidential before and after the meeting to being confidential before the meeting. Still not right, because once that packet is going to school board members it's public information."
Mumford, a former teacher, said her transparency concerns started after attending her first school board meeting in April 2019.
"No one knew what was going on if you were in the audience,” said Mumford. “At that point, the school board had a policy that all information in the packet was confidential both before and after the meeting."
When a school board meets, they have to post an agenda.
A school board packet has all the relevant documents associated with agenda items, like meeting minutes, personnel reports and accounts payable.
Mumford said the public should have access to the packets before and after the meeting.
"My view is as a school board member I’m representing the community,” said Mumford. “I can't represent the community if they don't know what's going on. I should be able to make a comment on something in the packet because I know what the packet says.”
Mumford ran for school board in 2020 and lost, but she started writing summaries of school board meetings on her website.
“I share background and my thoughts,” said Mumford.
She ran for school board again in 2022 and won.
Since taking office in January 2023, she’s pushed for more transparency including releasing the school board meeting packets before and after the meetings.
This spring, the board agreed and voted 7-0 to change their practice. The public can now review a school board meeting packets before and after meetings.
“May 8 of this year was the first school board meeting and any of these items, you could see for yourself and see what we were talking about,” said Mumford. “I can't explain how meaningful this is to me because it's making a difference."
WRTV checked with the Indiana School Boards Association, but they do not track which school districts provide packets to the public.
Mumford did some research and said many school boards still are not providing packets.
"This is my passion, my love and this is very important to me,” said Mumford. “I feel like every school board across the state should be releasing their packet ahead of time."
Mumford has a new concern, one that was heightened after seeing our investigation into Perry Township Schools in Marion County.
The Public Access Counselor found Perry Township violated the Open Door Law by telling people they could not record public meetings.
"I was super excited when I saw the story,” said Mumford. “We actually have a sign at our school board meetings that says cellphones have to be turned off. It's always bothered me."
Mumford said after seeing our story, she asked the school board to remove the sign telling people to turn off their cellphones.
However, as of the June 12 meeting, the sign was still there.
WRTV Investigates reached out to the President of the West Lafayette Community School Corporation Board of Trustees, Rachel Witt.
“While we do have a sign posted requesting that cell phones be off, we have not to my knowledge ever enforced or attempted to limit cell phone use in meetings,” said Witt in an email to WRTV. “In fact, we often have members, including Mrs. Mumford who routinely use their cell phones during meetings both prior to and after her election to the board. That request of patrons observing our meetings is, to my knowledge, more rooted in a desire to not have our meetings interrupted by bells and ringers, just as might be asked in any public presentation, performance or meeting scenario.”
WRTV checked with the Indiana Public Access Counselor and the Indiana School Boards Association and both agreed banning cellphone use entirely would likely be a violation of the public’s right to observe and record meetings.
“Any policy that requires patrons attending board meetings to power off their cell phones likely violates the public’s right to observe and record the proceedings,” said ISBA General Counsel Lisa Tanselle. “We encourage transparency, especially in light of state law requiring school boards to hear public comment on agenda items prior to taking final action.”
Dacia Mumford hopes to work with her fellow board members to get the sign removed and further improve transparency.
"That's what school board members should be doing is they should be making it as easy as possible for the community to be involved and have a voice,” said Mumford.
The Indiana Public Access Counselor has seen an uptick in complaints filed against local school boards—about 3 dozen in the last 5 years.
Most complaints are aimed at denial of access to public records or problems with accessing public meetings.
TIPS FOR PARENTS
- Get involved
- Join a school committee such as diversity, curriculum or calendar
- Volunteer at your child’s school
- Go to the school board meetings or watch them online
- Engage with your elected school board members either in person or via email
President of the West Lafayette Community School Corporation Board of Trustees Rachel Witt told WRTV the board had been working on improving transparency for several years including hiring a new superintendent and providing livestreams of meetings.
FULL STATEMENT FROM BOARD PRESIDENT:
Hi Kara,
Thank you for reaching out. I'm afraid I'm a bit confused if you are doing a personal profile on Mrs. Mumford, or if you are working on a story of the transparency work of the WL School Board. If it is a profile on an individual member, then I'm not sure that I have much I can add. Mrs.Mumford is certainly free to discuss what she perceives to be her personal accomplishments as a board member over the past six months on the board. As an individual member she does not speak on behalf of the board or the school corporation.
Like all school boards in Indiana, we only hold authority when we gather together in a public meeting and vote. We have, as a board of seven, been working actively towards increasing transparency for the past few years.This has been a slow, steady and methodical process, designed to keep steadfast focus on our students and make changes that build upon each other and are therefore sustainable. Mrs. Mumford was not actually engaged in the work of the board until her swearing in January this year and has not held any unique view or position to influence it outside of distributing her opinions as a citizen through her election campaigns.
The board actively started the work of increasing transparency more than two years ago by surveying the community regarding their priorities for our new superintendent and our school corporation. Questions regarding information management and transparency were a substantial component for the hiring of our current superintendent, Dr. Shawn Greiner. Dr. Greiner has worked very diligently through that process with us over the past year and a half to ensure that we were making steady and consistent progress. Like all school boards, we hold him accountable through regular communication and his annual performance evaluation. Our process has included everything from retaining new legal counsel, review of communication policy, processes and tools, staff hires, a robust training effort, a corporation communication audit, providing live stream in addition to audio recordings of meetings, producing additional post meeting documents, and at the end of last year as one of the last steps, we initiated the process of adjusting policy to release documents in advance of our meetings. I applaud our board members, five of whom have been on the board through this entire process for their dedication and diligence. Of course, our most recent two additional members have also found ways to contribute and I'm certain they will continue to do so. But the work we do as a board, well done, should always be the work of all seven members.
With regard to the request on cell phones in meetings, while we do have a sign posted requesting that cell phones be off, we have not to my knowledge ever enforced or attempted to limit cell phone use in meetings. In fact, we often have members, including Mrs. Mumford who routinely use their cell phones during meetings both prior to and after her election to the board. That request of patrons observing our meetings is, to my knowledge, more rooted in a desire to not have our meetings interrupted by bells and ringers, just as might be asked in any public presentation, performance or meeting scenario. We have a strong dedication to transparency in West Lafayette and I'm happy to discuss our process and work of the board and our superintendent if you have any additional questions.
