Dailey plans ‘talking’ session

Kirby Dailey of Colfax will host another public meeting May 10 in what he said is an effort to get the Colfax public and the Colfax school district administration effectively talking.

Residents will be given a chance to ask questions directly to the administration or the five district school board members. Dailey said many citizens have told him they feel they aren’t involved in the decision-making process.

Colfax Supt. Michael Morgan said if Colfax voters don’t feel the administration is approachable, that is a perception worth correcting.

“Certainly if it’s there we need to figure out what the problem is,” he said.

After the public meeting finishes, Morgan said he and the board may take time to go over what they heard from the voters.

The democratic idea of electing citizens to serve on a public board is the root of citizen input at work anyway, he said of the school board.

“The whole concept of community input is why we have a board of directors that represents areas of the community without the community having to be at every board meeting,” Morgan said.

Dailey said he’d like to work on helping translate questions at the meeting into discussion with the board, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly how he planned to do that.

“You’ve got to come out in a constructive way,” Dailey said. He added, “If the only time you go to the school board is when you are mad as a hornet…My natural instinct is to lean back.”

After the public failed the school district’s $1.3 million levy in early February, a two month series of public meetings followed in which school staff and Colfax voters came out to voice concerns and ask questions to the administration.

Dailey, along with other citizens, led one of those meetings and later played a role in urging the community to pass the revised levy proposal of $950,000.

As a result of the May 10 meeting, Dailey said he wanted the public to walk away realizing their public servants are open to a discussion and, conversely, school district officials to walk away with a clearer understanding on the concerns of the public. He said the session next week was a follow-up of a pledge to conduct a review after the levy question had been resolved.

The meeting will be at 7 p.m. in the school library during a scheduled school boards work session. The school board’s main meeting is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.

“I hope the take-home from this meeting is that the community feels a clear sense of the board and administration’s desire to get constructive input,” Dailey said. “And that the board and administration get the clear message that the community wants the opportunity to participate in that input.”

Morgan said he does feel his administration and board strive to hear the public’s ideas.

There is a public comment period during each school board meeting, he said. Phone numbers and e-mail addresses of Colfax school board members are available on the Colfax school district Web site.

Morgan pointed out he has tried to answer questions as they come up at public meetings.

School board president Brian Becker said he is very open to Colfax voters calling or approaching him with concerns or ideas.

“I’m always open to talking to community members whenever they have a concern that they want to bring up,” Becker said.

Dailey replied yes when asked if he felt any backlash or suspicion from the community for his role in the campaign for the levy or for these meetings.

“I’m comfortable in my skin. My desire is to help and if that backfires I’ll apologize and try to help again,” he said.