Order, Order

Other rules changes passed last week aim to speed up meetings and make them more businesslike.

"A lot of important business got done after 10 o'clock," says committee member Nancy Walser.

The new rules limit the time for public comment to three minutes for each community member signed up to speak. Three minutes had been the informal standard, but Walser says the committee needed a firm rule that could be applied consistently--especially when many people signed up to speak on a controversial issue.

Another change aims to speed up debate by limiting committee members to short speeches. However, there is no limit on the number of times they may speak.

Members hope the shorter meetings will mean more people stay around at the meetings and keep their television sets tuned for the duration of the meeting to the school district's cable channel, where meetings are broadcast live.

Other rules changes under the heading of "Meeting Etiquette" call for a "courteous and respectful tone" during meetings and require members to refer to each other in the third person, rather than by direct address, and also to call one another by their last names, in order to "promote a formal atmosphere."

Last week, members frequently called fellow members by their first names. Several times committee member Alfred B. Fantini was called "Freddy."