For about an hour on Monday evening, February 8, the current board of the School District of Lancaster held their first town hall meeting at Wheatland Middle School. For the nine-member board—four of which are new recruits—the meeting provided a new opportunity to connect with residents and parents from the district in an open, ‘unscriped’ setting. According to Superintendent Pedro Rivera, meetings such as this have not been hosted by the board for many years.

About 40 people attended the meeting, although nearly half were employees of the district.

The topics of communication and community outreach took center stage in much of the evening’s discussion, which was entirely directed by questions and comments from the audience.

One parent asked that the district come up with a way to better inform parents of police actions that occur within their children’s schools. “It’s very difficult as a parent to calm an anxious child down who’s very upset about that kind of thing when I have no information about what kinds of things are happening,” she asserted, “At the elementary school level, if a kid gets lice, you get a letter.” She noted that a clear channel of parental notification would help cut down on inaccurate rumors among students.

“I’m sure it happens much less frequently than the students perceive,” she said.

One man expressed disappointment that the socioeconomic majority of the district was not strongly represented at the meeting. “If you look at this room, you’ve got parents with honors students and everything—that’s not the majority of McCaskey. That’s not the majority of this school district. And those who look like me,” the man, an African American, asserted, “Are not here, and I can’t blame the school district for what we as parents are not doing.”

“There’s a disconnect in the community overall,” he asserted, “Any problems are really not a School District of Lancaster problem; it’s really a community problem—particularly among our young minority males.”

New board member Charlie Crystle noted that, for very similar reasons, the board will be creating a new committee on community engagement, which he will chair. “It’s exactly the stuff you’re talking about,” Crystle said, noting that the committee will exist “not just for PR, but to get people actively engaged, so that we can have better outcomes.”

Crystle noted that, while the committee is certainly in the works, many details are still being worked out: “There’s no ‘plan,’” Crystle said, “It’s fairly new.”

Also new will be the board’s Committee of the Whole Work Shop, at which the full board will meet to discuss proposed resolutions, soliciting comment and discussion from members of the public. This new committee will hold its first meeting next Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at McCaskey East.