I'm curious how other boards handle inquires / comments from the public. We have a steadfast ruke to not comment during public expression and we also practice message control in that the superintendent is the only person that communicates with any public inquiries. As board members we are often asked why we don'y respond and they only hear from the superintendent. I realize it's good board practice to only have one spokesman for the district but also feel that not responding to inquiries with nothing but basicilly "I'll have the superintendent contact you" seems inadequate. Looking to see how other boards handle communicatating with the public.
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Thanks for asking the question. At least I'm not alone.
This still seems to be completely unsatisfactory to most people who commented at the meeting since they clearly came to have a public altercation with the Board and to pin down particular trustees as to their stance on an issue or to chastise trustees or administrators. It has become really frustrating but all in a day's work. I run a very tight meeting as a result with no deviation from the guidelines. This is resulting in some pushback from newer trustees as well. Lots of mentoring and education going on there as well.
This is our statement for those of you who might be interested:
Because we feel community engagement is important, the Hendrick Hudson Board of Education welcomes public comment during this portion of the meeting. Please note that the public comment period is not designed to be a discussion. The board is here to listen. Please do not expect the board to respond to your concerns and questions this evening. This is because the Board Trustees and the Superintendent take your comments seriously and want to have sufficient time to thoughtfully process your comments and to research issues if need be. We will consider your comments as we deliberate at future meetings or will have the proper staff member follow up with you at a later date as appropriate.
To maintain an orderly meeting the board has allotted 15 minutes for public each comments period, which may be extended by board consensus. Guidelines for those wishing to address the board are as follows:
• Each speaker should sign in with the District Clerk prior to the public comment section and will be called in the order in which they have signed up. We would ask that groups designate one individual to speak on their behalf. It is not permitted to cede your time to another speaker.
• When called, please step up to the podium and begin by stating your name and affiliation (if applicable). Letters, petitions, or other written material should be handed to the District Clerk prior to your comments.
• All comments must be directed to the Board.
• Each speaker is permitted three minutes for their comments and must be recognized by the Board President. The Board Vice President will be timing comments, will give a 30 second warning to the speaker with a yellow card, and indicate when the speaker’s time is finished with a red card.
• The Board may limit repetitive comments in order to give time to participants wishing to speak on varied topics, as well as to maintain meeting efficiency.
• Although we take personnel concerns and individual student matters very seriously, the Board is not permitted to address these in open session as per state and federal privacy laws. We would ask that you use appropriate administrative channels for these items.
• The Board expects comments to be made without interference from the audience and in a civil manner so that our meeting can serve as a model of appropriate civil discourse for our students. In the unlikely event the meeting becomes unruly, the board may recess the meeting until order can be restored.
• Please remember, if you prefer not to participate in the public comments portion of the meeting, written comments to the Board of Education may be submitted in lieu of speaking. Please see the agenda or the district website for contact information.
We will now begin our public comment period on ___________items only.
While not required to there are many times that the Superintendent or a Board member may respond durning public comment session of a meeting. If it’s not a contentious topic and is easily answered we feel it’s just easier to answer during the meeting.
If an email/Facebook comment is received during a meeting the superintendent responds.
We try to stick to the same principle most of the time, but honestly, we have not had a whole lot of contentious public comment at our meetings. The last time we did have someone tell us “we think your teachers are teaching critical race theory”, we did have one board member kind of loose it and snap back at the commenter, but we did generally have the superintendent respond. If a “board position” on an issue is warranted, the board President (me) would make that position known, and I suppose the president would also let the commenter know that the superintendent will look into and respond to a particular issue. When it is apparent that public comment will be a “thing” at a meeting, I do read a set of ground rules for the public comment session that is heavily borrowed from an example given at a board officers training.