Huntley school board OKs time limits on discussions

When the Huntley Unit District 158 school board adjourned last week's meeting, it was 12:57 a.m.

The board meeting started in closed session at 5:30 p.m. -- almost seven and a half hours earlier.

Tuesday's meeting wasn't a record. Several board meetings have run until close to 2 a.m., board members say.

The board approved a procedural change Tuesday that members hope will cut down on marathon meetings that test their endurance and patience.

Under the new policy, members are allowed 10 minutes to introduce an item and five minutes each to respond.

"That's 45 minutes allowed for every single subject," board President Shawn Green said. "I think that's pretty fair."

The policy was a compromise between the originally proposed limits and board members who felt they were too restrictive.

The original proposal was to limit the introduction to five minutes and responses to three minutes.

Green and Superintendent John Burkey backed the original limits, while board members Larry Snow and Tony Quagliano said the limits should be higher.

Quagliano proposed the compromise that the board approved Tuesday.

"Is it trying to limit anybody's time? No. It's trying to get people's minds to 'You need to get to the point,' " Quagliano said.

The new policy allows the board to suspend the time limits if board members agree an item warrants more discussion.

Still, Snow and board member Aileen Seedorf voted against the policy, board members said.

Snow said Friday he objected to other restrictions in the policy.

The policy requires items to be discussed at committee meetings before they are taken up by the full board and requires board members to submit items for an agenda no later than four working days before a meeting.

"There's no other district that says you can't put something directly on a board agenda," Snow said.

The changes apply to the board's regular and committee of the whole meetings and do not affect board committees.