Morris Jeff Community School board members had their monthly meeting on Thursday, but The Lens was only able to report on part of it because the school door was locked for the first 20 minutes of the meeting.
The meeting was slated to start at 7 p.m. and lasted until 7:38 p.m.
At 6:55 p.m., the reporter arrived at the front of the building and tried opening the door to the building marked “Visitor’s Entrance.” The door was locked. The reporter buzzed, but there was no answer.
A walk around the perimeter of the building revealed that no other entrances were open. No maintenance crew or staff could be seen through the windows, although all the lights were on.
The reporter continued to try to knock and buzz the doorbell for 25 minutes, in addition to emailing members of the board about the situation. No other members of the public attempted to get in during that time.
A maintenance worker opened the door just after 7:20 p.m.
At that time, the board was just finishing its finance committee report, which board member Melissa Jagers said mostly consisted of topics discussed at Tuesday’s financial meeting.
During an open public comment period immediately afterward, the reporter brought up the issue of the locked door and asked how parents and other members of the public were supposed to engage if they couldn’t have access to the board meeting.
Board president Aesha Rasheed said that it was highly unusual for the door to be locked, and other board members said they had never encountered the issue before Thursday night. * Rasheed and Jared Frank, director of finance and operations, apologized for the inconvenience.
Rasheed said that she had thought about what to do in the past in case the door was ever accidentally locked. She said it might be a good idea to provide information about what to do on the agenda that’s posted on the door.
Board members then discussed upcoming events, including an art auction fundraiser tentatively slated for March 2, and an IB validation visit scheduled for March 7 and 8.
Principal Patricia Perkins said that the school would be having a joint fundraiser with Edward Hynes Charter School at City Park on Saturday, March 16. Board members also mentioned a fish fry on Friday March 22 and a spring fair Saturday, May 11.
Perkins said that all events would be posted in a newsletter that the public can subscribe to on the school’s website.
In addition to Rasheed, Jagers and Frank, those in attendance were Jolene M. Jeff, Wanda Guillaume, Jennifer F. Weishaupt, Stacey Gengel and Belinda Cambre.
* Correction: Jared Frank is director of finance and operations for Morris Jeff Community School. An earlier version of this story incorrectly called him a board member.
