[Wpfw-lsb] Please Read Especially Resolution

[Luzette King]

I believe this should be interesting reading.  I would
also urge that you pay particular attention the
resolution at the end of this e-mail

Luzette

------- Start of forwarded message -------

From: Terry Goodman <tiji at flex.com>
Date: Fri, 28 May 2004 15:27:16 -0700
Cc: pnb at pacifica.org, evan at iwaynet.net, kenfree at EV1.net,
	mmartin at MMMLLP.com, donwhite4justice at hotmail.com,
	wonderwheel at pon.net, wonderwheel at wonderwheellaw.com,
tiji at flex.com
Subject: [alliance] Proposal for LSB Board Training and
a PNB Education Committee
To: alliance at lists.freespeechnow.org

Proposal for LSB Board Training and a PNB Education
Committee (copied to the PNB)

[Subject was: Pacifica's history sadly repeating
itself...]

The lack of proper board training and the failure of
boards to recognize the urgency of this need has
created a crisis in Pacifica's new governance.  KPFT
LSB Member Ken Freeland has claimed a continuing breach
of the rules and asserts that this breach has not been
repaired.  I raised a point of order at last night's
KPFK LSB meeting noting a similar breach.  This point
of order was ruled well taken, a motion previously
adopted was ruled null and void, and a repaired motion
was presented by the original maker and quickly
approved by the LSB.

When a continuing breach of the rules of the
parliamentary authority of the Foundation Bylaws
actually exists and has been asserted, all actions by
the governing body subsequent to and affected by that
breach are in danger of becoming null and void, if not
by rule of the chair or the decision of the body, then
by the parent body or by the eventual decision of a
court of law.

This same lack of proper board training and unfamiliary
with the rules of order among members of the KPFK LSB
has seriously degraded its ability to work though
agendas and accomplish necessary work.  Some blame the
rules themselves for these problems and call for their
abandonment.  At KPFK, we do have a Chair that
recognizes the seriousness of a continuing breach and
acts promptly to correct such problems when they arise,
but we continue to waste time debating and amending
individual motions which should instead be referred to
and perfected in committee, so some of the resolutions
we do pass receive incomplete deliberation at the risk
of creating more problems than they solve.

The KPFK and KPFT LSBs are not the only committees of
the PNB experiencing these procedural problems.  

Whatever the Pacifica National Board does to address
the current problems among its committees, it must by
now recognize that the democratization of Pacifica's
governance invites the participation of individuals
with inadequate experience in governance, and that the
unavoidable result of this is inadequate oversight and
a failure to properly attend to delegated
responsibilities.  

Consequently, it is becoming increasingly obvious that
the Pacifica National Board has a fiduciary
responsibility to arrange for board training in all
signal areas to take place next term, before the LSBs
with newly-elected members repeat the basic governance
mistakes currently occuring.

If Pacifica's governance is too busy handling immediate
crises to plan strategically for the future, we will
eventually fail.  

In consideration of these problems and the broader
issues within Pacifica of which they are only a part, I
offer the following resolution for the consideration,
adoption, revision, and/or proposal of any Foundation
Director recognizing the needs it addresses.  You may
do with it what you will.

Terry L. Goodman
KPFK Delegate
  
WHEREAS:
A clear understanding of the principles and role of
governance, of the distinction between governance and
management, of the rules of procedure, of the
requirements of the Foundation Bylaws, and of the
Purposes of the Foundation are all neccessary for the
proper conduct of business by Local Station Boards and
by the Pacifica National Board which is almost entirely
comprised of Directors elected from those
bodies,

AND WHEREAS:
New Delegates are periodically elected by the
Foundation's Membership to serve as representatives in
the Foundation's governance,

AND WHEREAS:
Both new Delegates and continuing LSB Members may
benefit from group training in the necessary knowledge
and skills of governance,

AND WHEREAS:
The management and staff of the Foundation and its
various components may similarly benefit from
continuing education,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
That the Pacifica National Board shall arrange for the
board training of LSB Members.  The arrangements for
initial governance training shall be completed by
November 1st of each year in which Delegate elections
are held.  Initial governance training of LSB Members
shall occur in each signal area in February of the
following year.  The estimated national budgetary
impact of this resolution is $25,000 for each year in
which initial LSB governance training is to occur.

FURTHER RESOLVED:
That a committee of the Board shall be created, named
the PNB Education Committee, that the membership of
this committee shall be one Director and two Delegates
from each Pacifica radio station signal area elected in
accordance with Article Eight, Section 2 of the
Foundation Bylaws, that the convener of its first
meeting shall be the Director receiving the highest
ranking, that the committee shall elect its own chair,
that work supporting this committee may be accomplished
by ad-hoc workgroups formed at local stations or
operating units, that members of the committee may
individually and severally collect and share bids,
proposals, catalogs, website links, announcements, and
other such information privately (via postal mail,
email, or fax, etc.), that recommendations from this
committee shall be deliberated before presentation to
the Board in occasional webcast telephonic meetings
publicly accessible through the internet, that the
committee may hold closed sessions to discuss those
specific issues for which closed session of the Board
are allowed, and that the duties of this committee
shall include:

a) to search out, evaluate, and recommend training for
LSB Members, including but not limited to board
governance training, anti-racism training, and training
in inter-personal communication, and to include cost
estimates in all proposals,

b) to investigate and report on the possibility of
developing in-house training capabilities and related
certifications so as to reduce in-house expenses and
offer quality certified training to other community
organizations, businesses, and groups. 
 
c) to work with Pacifica's national staff in the
collection, evaluation, and recommendation of policies
to the PNB with respect to the continuing education of
management and staff (including policies on full or
partial reimbursement and/or time off), and to include
cost estimates and recommended budget limits in all
proposals,

d) to assist the management of each operational unit in
the maintainance of a file of continuing education
opportunities, including but not limited to workshops,
conferences, seminars, and academic courses of study,

e) to report to the Board on training and
apprenticeship programs currently in operation or
proposed at each Pacifica broadcast station,
 
f) unless a similar proposal is under review by
national staff, to evaluate and recommend to the PNB
with respect to a program of voluntary short-term
personnel exchanges among Pacifica broadcast stations
for the sharing of knowledge and experience among
staff, including an evaluation of the potential of
using alternative lodging and meal arrangements to
avoid the expense of hotels and restaurants, and to
include cost estimates and recommended budget limits in
any proposals that may result, 

g) to collect and assemble into a report evaluations by
participants in all Foundation-funded LSB trainings
after they occur and to encourage and collect similar
reports on all station-funded LSB trainings after they
occur, and

h) to perform other such related tasks as the Board may
assign and to report and recommend to the Board as
circumstances require.

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