The question of whether or not officials should be allowed to attend and vote at meetings through virtual means, such as on platforms like Skype, was discussed by the Oxford Board of Education for over a half hour on Feb. 26. Many of the officials had differing opinions on the issue.

For now, the board thinks no virtual attendance should be allowed under any circumstances. Though there was some disagreement, the move was ultimately approved 7-0.

Earlier in the month on Feb. 12, the board’s policy committee of Treasurer Korey Bailey and Secretary Heather Shafer presented a policy to the board stating that trustees could attend meeting virtually if they give 72 hours’ notice. That suggestion was approved 7-0 on Feb. 12 and came from a state suggestion that virtual attendance could be an option.

Shafer, however, favored the board’s previous policy to allow no virtual attendance. Shafer and Bailey said they were at a disagreement before Feb. 12, and felt they could have presented the issue better to their colleagues that evening.

But, because of the last meeting’s discussion, Board President Tom Donnelly presented the board with a version of the policy stating that board members may only virtually attend in the case of an emergency on Feb. 26. His draft policy stated the conditions of “lack of quorum” and “moving the meeting date is unreasonable” as the two needs for virtual attendance.

“The idea is to get a quorum so we can keep doing business, and the chances of this being used are rare,” he said.

Shafer voiced staunch disapproval of the idea at both meetings.

“I really feel that non-attendance, voting virtually and calling in is a loss of integrity,” she said. “I think it compromises the integrity of our meeting. If three or more board members are not here, we should not have a board meeting.”

This led most board members to give their opinion on the matter, including further comments from Shafer.

“I think it’s a responsibility that we have to our (constituency) to make it to these meetings, to be here, to listen, to see the presentations, to meet people, to meet the students, to see their faces,” she said. “If three or more people are not here, we don’t have the ability to be a board.”

Donnelly said he wasn’t trying to set a precedent of casual virtual attendance, but wanted the policy in case it was ever needed.

“I’m proposing, potentially, the rewording because I’m concerned to just opening the door for those who feel like (they) don’t want to come to the board meeting so they’re just going to Skype in,” he said. “There’s a reason for being here.”

“While I understand the position Heather has and I completely, wholeheartedly agree, I still think there’s got to be some sort of way we can do this,” Board Vice President Dan D’Alessandro added.

Several board members held onto the idea of a meeting’s integrity and said they would rather video attendance than phone calls.

“If you’re riding in the car and listening you’re not really paying attention, you’re not seeing the presentations,” Bailey said. “If I’m travelling and I have the option of watching the meeting, that’s what my focus is.”

“I don’t want to give a vote on a phone call because let’s face it: you won’t know if it’s me… If we’re going to do this, it has to be visual,” D’Alessandro said.

Trustee Erick Foster also raised the issue of allowing someone into a closed session through virtual means.

“If you’ve got a closed session and somebody is virtually in that closed session – are we talking about that as well? I kind of have a hard time with that,” he said. “Because there could be somebody else in the car with that person, there’s a lot of unknowns with that.”

These comments led the board to move to amend Donnelly’s revision to exclude closed session.

D’Alessandro said several times that he saw both sides of the issue, but felt that virtual attendance should never become a crutch for trustees.

“I agree this should be used in rare circumstances,” he said. “If it is a situation where I find myself not able to make meetings on a regular basis, then it’s time (to step down).”

D’Alessandro later added that the board president should hold board members accountable if a virtual policy was adopted.

“We need to set a precedent, trust that everybody is going to stick to the commitment that they’ve made and do their very best to get here,” he said. “With that in mind, if it becomes a problem then it’s for (Tom) or anybody who sits in that chair to have a conversation with that person.”

When the time came to put it to a vote, Shafer again spoke up.

“We are saying that these people will be allowed to vote,” she said. “I mean if you don’t show up to Congress, you don’t vote. You don’t go to congressional meetings, you don’t get a vote. Attendance is important.”

After the inquiry of Bailey, Superintendent Tim Throne reminded the board that a policy can be revisited at any time. This prompted Bailey to suggest going back to the board’s original rule of no virtual attendance.

“Why don’t we just go back to the original and say ‘no’ and if it becomes an issue, then we can review it,” he said.

Bailey made the motion to go back to the original reading, and Shafer made the second. It was accepted in a 7-0 vote. In the vote to get Donnelly’s revision off the table, the vote was 6-1 with Donnelly casting the only vote in favor.

“I see in the future that there’s going to be a need for this as we become a more and more mobile society,” he said earlier in the meeting.

During his final comments for the night, Foster thanked Shafer for standing her ground.

“Heather, you flipped me when you said ‘If you’re not at Congress, you don’t vote,’” he said. “The second you said that, I thought, ‘Absolutely, you’re right.”

Shafer thanked the five who voted along with her and noted the healthy nature of a little disagreement.

“I appreciate everybody listening to me, I really do,” she said. “It’s OK to not be on the same page and to have discussions. That’s what a fully functioning board should do.”

D’Alessandro, while making his comments, echoed the sentiment of many of his colleagues by stressing that meeting attendance is important to their elected roles, virtual or not.

“You’re in or you’re out,” he said.”I think we’ve gotten to the point where we want to be a kinder, gentler, all work together kind of board. But at some point, it’s you’re in or you’re out.”

The board of education is scheduled to meet again on Tuesday, March 12 at Oxford High School. Meetings start at 6:30 p.m.