The Board recognizes the importance of citizen participation in school district matters. In order to assure citizens are heard and board meetings are conducted efficiently and in an organized manner, the Board may set time aside for citizen participation, either at a specific time during the meeting or during the discussion of agenda items. If the pressure of business or other circumstances dictate, the board president may decide to not set time aside for citizen participation.
Citizens wishing to address the Board on a certain agenda item must notify the superintendent prior to the board meeting. Citizens wishing to present petitions to the Board may do so at this time. The board president will recognize these individuals to make their comments at the appropriate time during public comment. However, if a petition is presented, the Board will only receive the petition and not act upon it or its contents. The Board has the discretion to limit the amount of time set aside for public participation. Normally, speakers will be limited to 5 minutes with a total allotted time for public participation of 60 minutes.
If the Board has set time aside for citizen participation and citizens wish to address the Board, the board president will recognize these individuals to make their comments at the appropriate time. The orderly process of the board meeting will not be interfered with or disrupted. Only those speakers recognized by the board president will be allowed to speak. Comments by others are out of order. If disruptive, the individual making comments or another individual causing disruption may be asked to leave the board meeting.
Public comment shall be limited to regular board meetings and will not be routinely held during special board meetings.
Petitions to Place a Topic on the Agenda
Individuals who wish for an item to be placed on the board agenda may submit a valid petition to the board. For a petition to be valid, it must be signed by at least 500 eligible electors of the district, or ten percent of the individuals who voted in the last school election, whichever number is lower.
Upon receiving a valid petition to the board to place a proposal on the next board agenda for public hearing, the board will place the proposal identified in the petition on the agenda of the next regular meeting, or a special meeting held within 30 days of receipt of the petition. The board will provide a sign-up sheet for all individuals who wish to speak on the proposal, and individuals will be called to speak in order of sign-up. The sign-up sheet will require each individual to list their legal name and mailing address. Each speaker will be limited to an amount of time established by the board president that is reasonable and necessary based on the number of speakers signed up. The same time limit will apply to all speakers on the proposal. Each individual will be limited to one opportunity to speak. The board maintains absolute discretion on whether or not to discuss or act on the public comments made on the proposal. If a petition is related to curriculum, the district maintains discretion to determine whether to stop teaching that curriculum until the board holds the public hearing to discuss the curriculum.
Individuals who have a complaint about an employee may ask the board to hear their complaint only after they have followed the board policy addressing citizens’ complaints. Students who have a complaint may ask the board to hear their complaint only after they have followed board policy addressing students’ complaints.
Approved: 06/08/2015 Reviewed: 1/24/2022 Revised: 08/14/2023
