If School Board President Eric Lawson’s goal was to create an “orderly” meeting, as he stated at the September 22nd school board meeting, he accomplished the opposite.

In a treatise that took in excess of two minutes to read, Lawson has created an extensive list of what audience members are prohibited from doing or saying during public comment time. To enforce these rules, Lawson has two Sheriff Deputies posted at the meetings. He has threatened to have the deputies remove anyone from the meetings he feels have violated his dictates, much of which is a violation of 1st Amendment Rights.

While Lawson cited “Robert’s Rules of Order” as the foundation on which he has built an elaborate list of possible meeting violations, a speaker during the public comment time cited 1st Amendment Rights as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States as the document he should subscribe to. What followed was Lawson repeating his warnings each time the audience applauded during “Public Comment” time which ended up being disruptive to the progression of the meeting. While the applause lasted 3-4 seconds, Lawson’s repetitive warnings of possible consequences created a negative atmosphere. Rather than an orderly meeting, Lawson created a silly-looking spectacle of a meeting.

Lawson became the President of the Board of Education in July. He needs to be reminded this appointment does not come with a crown and scepter. Students in the Alpena Public School system would be better served with less theatrics and instead a focus on constructive use of school board time. With multiple pressing and urgent concerns, it would be advisable for Lawson to direct his energy and attention to the needs of our students. If he did that, the audience might be inspired to applaud him!

Kristen Dean

Alpena