You, as a member of this community, have a right to know what is going on — even behind the scenes — within our Fayette County Board of Education (FCBOE).

This is not a bold statement. Your right to know is not new; it is not subversive or radical. It is fundamental and very, very important.

Chances are every adult who reads these lines has a financial stake in the decisions of the FCBOE. We are a community. We all pay taxes, whether we have children in Fayette County schools or not.

The FCBOE ought to be fostering a system of open government so that we can all rest assured the school system is working for us and for our students, and not for the personal gain of a few individual adults.

I give you my word that if I am elected to the FCBOE, when you come to the FCBOE wanting to view documents on any subject, you will be given access to those documents even if I have to do the legwork to find them myself. This pertains to ESPLOST, land purchase agreements, redistricting plans or anything else.

The recent proposal for an ESPLOST seemed to fall from the sky after the July primary. Why? A recent Open Records request could not be accommodated. Why? Convincing the FCBOE to document meeting minutes and voting records has been a struggle. Why? You have a right to know.

I support quality education. I support having top-notch facilities. I applaud the efforts of our teachers and paraprofessionals. However, the FCBOE has evidenced a historical pattern of problems with transparency. And we must all ask, ‘Why?’

Too many questions about how some of our school bond funds have been spent and too few answers being offered by the people to whom we gave the authority, point us all in the direction of asking, “Why?”.

Parents and taxpayers deserve value for their significant tax payments. Yes, provide a quality education, but do it efficiently and do it openly.

If you write my name on the ballot for the FCBOE Post 1, I will commit to advocating the following fundamental and crucial steps:

1. I will ensure a higher degree of transparency by opening doors for parents and taxpayers that have been shut for too long. I will push for meeting agendas to be released for public review on the FCBOE website one week prior to board meetings. This will ensure that citizens and board members have adequate time to review and prepare for the upcoming meeting.

2. I will push for detailed meeting minutes, recording how board members voted on each item, and have them linked on the FCBOE website. In addition, hard copies of the minutes and associated documents will be kept at the FCBOE office for review by citizens at any time – and you will not have to supply your personal information. The community will know exactly where every board member stands on every issue. We deserve no less.

3. I will push for a statement of complete financial disclosure, tracking the FCBOE budget each month. This, too, will be posted for public review on the FCBOE website and/or on the cable channel 24. It’s your money. You have a right to know exactly how the board spends it.

4. If a parent or taxpayer has something to say at one of our FCBOE meetings, they will be allowed to have their say. They will not be cutoff in mid-sentence by a three-minute time limit.

5. Finally, open records requests will be handled in an efficient and timely manner. It is the FCBOE’s responsibility to provide parents and taxpayers with the information they seek. This is your right under the law.

Taking these steps toward promoting open government and providing full disclosure to the community does not cost a dime. Why hasn’t the FCBOE already taken the steps I propose? Again, we ask, ‘why?’

Please let me know your thoughts. Go to my website, and click on “Ask Nicole.”

I appreciate your consideration of my name as the write-in candidate on the ballot as your advocate for Post 1 of the FCBOE.

Nicole File

Write-in candidate, BoE, Post 1

www.Nicolefile.org

Peachtree City, Ga.