By: The Other Noise
One year ago, Evergreen Public Schools’ PSE union–representing paraeducators, bus drivers, and many other staff who keep schools running–prepared to strike.
At the August 26, 2025 board meeting, Heather Christianson, president of the statewide PSE union, gave a public comment in support of the union. “A budget is not just numbers on a page. It is a moral document. It tells your community loud and clear what and who you value.”
Screenshot of Heather Christianson speaking at the 8/26/25 board meeting. She is wearing a blue T-shirt with the PSE logo and a red scarf. The caption reads: “…numbers on a page. It is a moral document.”
I’ve spent some time looking through old documents on the EPS board website, and I’ve come to a parallel conclusion. Agendas, too, are moral documents.
Do you post your agenda well in advance of a meeting, giving community members time to see what topics will be discussed, to arrange their schedules, and to prepare a public comment? Or do you wait as long as legally possible?
Do you schedule public comment near the top of the agenda, so community members don’t need to wait a long time to speak, and know roughly what time public comment will begin? Or do you schedule it near the end, and add an additional barrier to public participation?
Do you write agenda items with specificity, so attendees have a good idea what will be discussed? Or do you keep them vague, so that attendees don’t find out until the meeting happens?
When agendas change, do you alert the community? Or assume people will figure it out? Or hope they don’t?
With these options in mind, let’s take a look at the agenda for Evergreen’s upcoming board meeting.
At the top of the meeting is an executive session, which members of the public are not allowed to attend. The school board will call the meeting to order, adopt the agenda, and then immediately leave the room to have a private discussion. Is this expected to be a ten minute discussion? A one hour discussion? Community members will have to wait and see.
After an executive session of indeterminate length, there are two presentations by district staff, and then, finally, community members have an opportunity for public comment. I’m pleased to see that public comment comes before the board votes on the 2026-2027 budget. This gives community members a chance to offer their opinions on the budget.
When the agenda was originally posted on Friday, it included a board workshop scheduled after board comments (agenda item #11) which has since been removed. The agenda was already quite long, so I’m not surprised that the workshop was removed. There’s nothing nefarious in removing it or delaying it to a future meeting. But removing a board workshop is a significant change to the agenda. These workshops are open to the public but not streamed or recorded, so the only way to watch is to attend in person. To not announce this change shows incredible disrespect for community members who had made time in their busy schedules to attend. (Of course, this wouldn’t be an issue if the board recorded its workshops…but that’s a topic for another post.)
If agenda items can be edited at any time, with no public notice required…why not edit them for increased transparency and access? Add the number of people who have signed up to make a public comment, so attendees can better estimate meeting length. For executive sessions, add an estimated time, so attendees aren’t waiting indefinitely on a meeting they can’t attend. Add additional information as it becomes available. Wouldn’t that be kinder than necessary?
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