By Don Rush

For much of the past two years, since the November 2021 Oxford High School shooting, members of the community have asked the Oxford School Board to be more open with the community. At its last meeting of August, the board presented a plan to expand board and community dialogue.

As Board President Heather Shafer was absent, Vice President Dr. Erin Reis opened up the presentation.

“I know we have talked about this before,” Dr. Reis said. “When public comment occurs we can’t respond due to policies of the board. So we wanted to expand and have more robust dialogue with members of the community.”

She then introduced two ideas for the board to consider. “I say we do both to start and see where we land.”

The first she called a “coffee chat.” “One time a month, two board members and the superintendent would be at a place – not at a school building – maybe a coffee shop somewhere in town. We would have open dialogue with some ground rules and have resources for families. If they need any information we would try to have as much stuff available at that time, or at least be able to follow up with them within 24 hours to get them the resources require.”

The second idea was a “Key Communicator Group.”

“This would be a very targeted group of individuals, whether they be realtors, pastors, or other business owners in the community. They would meet quarterly with the superintendent. This would be a way for them to offer feed back to Oxford Community Schools on things they have been hearing from individuals coming and going . . . to make us aware and responsive to those so we can get ahead of some of those conversations and be supportive to our community members in a more holistic fashion and thoughtful.”

The “key” communicators would also include two or three school board members.

Board member Colleen Schulz said it was a great idea. “Being here for a short time I can hear the frustrations from the community, not just from people who come to the board meetings but others who have reached out to me. This is a great first step.”

Board member James Sommers also liked the idea. “Coming on to the board and sitting through the different meetings and listening to people speak, and being on this side and understanding our policies doesn’t allow for that free-flow of communication . . . being able to have the dialogue back and forth, to ask questions or to understand a bit better . . . this will help us be a board of the community, not just a board sitting up here listening.”

Board member Amanda McDonough said she was all for it “obviously and the sooner the better . . . I think it will help the community and us to have a better understanding. We’ve all been on both sides of the table and it can be very frustrating.”

Sommers suggested having some of the meetings in the evening and some during the day to accommodate more people.

School Board Treasurer Mary Hansen said the board needs to have a plan in place before they start setting dates for the different meetings. “I am not saying that to slow anything down, but it’s never a good idea to just start something without a plan.”

The board moved to have Superintendent Dr. Vickie Markavitch start the “formal process” of getting the communication plans completed. “We will get on that,” Dr. Markavitch said. “I think the Coffee Chats might be the easy thing to begin with, maybe as soon as September if we can find a place and get people there. The Key Communicators is a little more intricate. We need to identify the groups. I will