... meetings of the minds

Has there ever been a Wake school board meeting where the discussion became repetitive, participants became enamored of the sound of their own voices and decision-making slowed to a crawl? No doubt.

There is plenty to be said for a well-structured agenda and moving right along with the people's business. But there's the point: This is the people's business. Board Chairman Ron Margiotta, who sees a need to streamline things, is not running the meetings of a civic club, a homeowners association or a company's operating committee.

Perhaps Margiotta is showing a bit of frustration as public dissent has dogged efforts by him and his colleagues in the board's 5-4 majority to bring about significant policy changes. Tuesday, when a board meeting again was disrupted by protests and arrests, Margiotta launched a move toward a scaled-back meeting schedule and scrapping of the board's standing committees.

The chairman wants to cut the board's regular meetings from twice to once a month, along with one or two work sessions. Does he think that more time spent in review and debate is simply time wasted, since his Republican-aligned bloc has the votes to do whatever it wants?

The board already has leaned in the wrong direction in terms of providing public access to its crowded meetings. Cutting the number of meetings would simply make it that much more difficult for members of the public to present their views in face-to-face settings.

Especially with crucial decisions in play, the board should be bending over backwards to encourage public participation and oversight. Streamlining in this context sounds like something the board can do without.