Two stories in Tuesday’s edition of The Post-Journal point to a tightrope being walked in the rooms where decisions are made.

Lisa Yaggie, now a former Southwestern Central School District board member, resigned her position after five years because, she says, she wasn’t allowed to express her views and opinions about issues facing the district.

“I like to talk about challenging issues,” she said. “I think it was interpreted as more disrespectful than it was to be a healthy conversation, and that’s certainly not good for a board of education, so I thought it was time to remove myself.”

Chautauqua County legislators, meanwhile, ended their most recent voting session before the second privilege of the floor, a time that allows county residents to speak about items not listed on the legislature’s meeting agenda. During the February meeting’s second privilege of the floor, a group of county residents presented legislators a copy of Robert F. Kennedy’s “The Real Anthony Fauci” and then reading chapters from the book.

Shutting down debate and discussion is a tightrope, as we noted above. In Yaggie’s case, the discussions made have had a positive impact on the Southwestern Central School District by having a public discussion on issues of diversity and inclusion. It’s unfortunate she felt the need to resign because, as she put it, the school board is “not a board that encourages a lot of interaction.” The flip side of that coin is the Chautauqua County Legislature’s decision to end its March meeting without allowing a second privilege of the floor. Reading legislators a copy of a book is a waste of people’s time and grandstanding at its worst. Simply presenting the book with a word or two about it would certainly have sufficed. If people want to be taken seriously, they must also treat their legislators’ time seriously. If residents want legislators to read a book, they should start a book club and invite them to attend. A legislature meeting is not the time or place for such grandstanding.

How much interaction and discussion is too much or too little? In our view, the more discussion of issues publicly the better. That’s something anyone in elected office at any level should keep in mind. The things you don’t hear may be the one things you need to hear the most.