By CASEY CAMPBELL

Staff Writer

The Cooperstown Central School board will not change its policy regarding the availability of public information packets, an official said at last Wednesday's board meeting.

President Anthony Scalici said an "ongoing dialogue" had been taking place between district residents and the board about the public packets during recent meetings.

After asking the district lawyer about the matter, Scalici said the board was going "far beyond what other schools do" in making information available and didn't need to do anymore than was already being done.

"It reaches a point where we think the public has enough access to information that we don't need to go any further," he said.

District clerk Darlene Bennett, who prepares the packets for the board, said that as it stands now, three packets are made for the public and are given to the first three people who show up at board meetings. Anyone else in attendance is given a one or two page agenda that lists items up for discussion, but does not contain detailed descriptions of anything up for discussion.

The public packets contain exactly the same material given to board members, minus anything confidential or personnel related that cannot be released, Bennett said.

District resident Carl Good was one of the people in attendance questioning the policy and said the board's decision left him unsatisfied. He said he didn't understand why they couldn't make it available for viewing on Monday when board members usually receive their copies or why it couldn't be put on the website in some format.

Good said he and other residents wanted to view the material prior to the meetings so they could have a better understanding of what was being discussed and approved. He pointed to the Cooperstown village board of trustees, which has hefty packets available for the public well in advance of the meetings.

Good said he also asked that the packets be made available for viewing or copying the morning before the meeting, but that the board would not do this either.

Scalici said Tuesday that confidentiality issues were a major factor in why access to the packets was limited and a reason why they likely wouldn't put the packets on the internet. He said residents wanting more information on a specific subject were welcome to ask about it and could receive specific items in the packets after the meetings.

"We're doing whatever we can to engage people and give them information," he said. "What it comes down to, is school board members are elected to conduct the district's business. If people are dissatisfied, they should run for the board."