July 21, 2024
Hot Topics: Action Plans for Current Issues & Those to Anticipate, Part 4:

Public Comment at School Board Meetings

Public Comment at School Board Meetings WASDA Conference

In September at the WASDA Fall Conference, Kirk Strang spoke about hot topics in Wisconsin school districts. Our goal is to share this information with as many superintendents, faculty and school administrators as possible, which is why we’re recapping Kirk’s presentation here in its entirety. That said, if you missed any of the previous installments of the series, be sure to click on the links below to get caught up.

This five-part series dives into each of the following hot topics:

In Part 4, our attention is focused on public comment at school board meetings, specifically:

  • Rules for Public Comment Period
  • Virtual Meetings to Avoid Disruption

Let’s get started …

RULES FOR PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD

  1. A school board has the authority to prohibit certain behaviors or comments, and to do so does not violate a speaker’s free speech rights. These include:
    1. A true threat
    2. Comments that are reasonably understood to constitute one or more complaints about an employee or group of employees, or an attack on one or more employees
    3. Any personally identifiable references to a student
    4. Comments that are primarily for the purpose of attacking an individual (this forum is for an exchange of ideas, not for exchanging slanderous remarks)

  2. Public comment period can be restricted with almost any neutral criteria:

    1. Residency or other legitimate status
    2. Total time
    3. Time per speaker
    4. Subject matter must be on the board agenda
    5. Refrain from any prohibited subjects or manner/language
    6. Obey the orders of the chair

    The question is whether we now have to do more based on the experiences we had with masks, social distancing, contact tracing, book content, and other matters that citizens have presented and — perhaps more importantly — how they presented them.

  3. Should we consider new “rules” for managing public comment and the manner of individuals that attend board meetings?

    For example:

    1. Remain seated
    2. No waving or hand gesturing
    3. No vocal interference with speakers during their time to address the school board
    4. No disruption or incitement to disrupt
    5. No taunting, ridicule, or other deliberate demonstrative behavior directed at others or their views
    6. No conduct reasonably understood to be an attempt to influence or impair a speaker’s ability to deliver their comments

  4. What About New, Physical Strategies?

    For instance:

    1. Place the school board on an auditorium stage or in a similarly recessed location; The “moat” effect does seem to keep everyone separated
    2. Have an alternative route for board members to take to be seated for the meeting and keep the public away from that route (the school district has to allow access to meetings, not to every conceivable place in its facilities)
    3. Use video recording technology placement and features to discourage unruly behavior
    4. Require those in attendance to sign in, not just those who register to speak
    5. Use social distancing if feasible in light of OML access to meeting requirements
    6. Ventilation (partisan and non-partisan)
  5. When is a Police Presence Preferable?
    1. Where we anticipate a loud, angry mob, especially when there are warring sides and both plan to attend the meeting
    2. When public comment periods have been unruly and the optics of a uniformed officer help maintain order
    3. When there is a genuine need to protect the safety of school board members, administrators, and/or members of the public
    4. Officers that attend the meeting are in a better position to write citations when it is warranted, because they witnessed the behavior; This also can alleviate the need for board members or administrators to be witnesses to the infractions committed by citizens

VIRTUAL MEETINGS TO AVOID DISRUPTION

A school board meeting must be “accessible” to the public.

  1. This standard does not require that school board members attend the meeting in person, at least not as a per se matter.
  2. Access can be delivered if the school district provides online access, provides accommodation to individuals that require it in order to access the meeting, and provides a viewing site for individuals who cannot afford devices that are otherwise required to see and hear the meeting.

In Part 5 of this series we’ll tackle public access to school grounds, with a focus on government property (in general), and public school districts. We’ll also share some of Kirk’s best practices and tidbits on the subject.

Until then, here are some additional articles based on WASDA Conference presentations that may be of interest …

© 2022, Strang Law LLC