During each regular and special open meeting of the Board, any person may comment to or ask questions of the School Board (public participation), subject to reasonable constraints established and recorded in this policy’s guidelines below. It shall be the Board’s practice not to directly engage in discussion or ask or answer questions during public comment. The Board listens to comments or questions during public participation; responses to comments to or questions of the Board are most often managed through policy 3:30, Chain of Command.

To preserve sufficient time for the Board to conduct its business, any person appearing before the Board is expected to follow these guidelines:

  1. Address the Board only at the appropriate time as indicated on the agenda and when recognized by the Board President. This includes following the directives of the Board President to maintain order and decorum for all.
  2. Use a sign-in sheet, if requested.
  3. Identify oneself by stating name and community of residence as well as general topic and be brief. The time for any one person to address the Board during public participation shall be limited up to three minutes for the initial comment by each speaker. After a speaker makes an initial comment, the speaker may speak for up to one additional minute during subsequent public comment periods. Each speaker will be limited to a total of 4 minutes, 3 minutes within the first comment period and 1 minute in the second comment period, during any one Board of Education meeting. In exceptional circumstances, and when an individual has made a request to speak for a longer period of time, the Board President may allow a person to speak for more than the allotted time set forth in this policy. If multiple individuals wish to address the Board on the same subject, the group is encouraged to appoint a spokesperson.
  4. Observe, when necessary and appropriate, the Board President’s authority to:
    1. Shorten the time for each person to address the Board during public participation to conserve time and give the maximum number of people an opportunity to speak; and/or
    2. Determine procedural matters regarding public participation not otherwise covered in Board policy.
  5. Conduct oneself with respect and civility toward others and otherwise abide by Board Policy, 8:30, Visitors to and Conduct on School Property. Direct comments and/or questions to the Board of Education as a whole and not toward any individual member of the Board or administrative staff.
  6. The Board will not entertain charges or complaints against individual employees by persons during a Board meeting. Rather, a charge or complaint against an employee must be in writing and signed by the person who makes it, and the Board will refer any such charge or complaint to the Superintendent for appropriate review taking into consideration the procedural due process rights of the individual in question.

Petitions or written correspondence to the Board shall be presented to the Board in the next regular Board packet.

Adopted: March 20, 2006
Revised: July 18, 2011; April 25, 2016; December 18, 2017; November 14, 2022