The Fulton Board of Education Policy Committee, which consists of three school board members, met Tuesday evening to go over 18 points of discussion, which included public participation at board meetings.
The district drew heat over the topic from a concerned parent at the Feb. 13 school board meeting. Amanda Murdie, who is the mother of two students in the district, requested to have herself placed on the agenda for that meeting - an action she claimed she wouldn't have to do if the board allowed time for public comment.
Murdie stated her grievance is that the school board meeting agenda does not include time for public comment. She said that conflicted with Fulton School Board policy BDDH, which states a "designated time will be set aside for public comments" during regular school board meetings.
At the time, Fulton Public Schools Superintendent Jacque Cowherd said this policy is "an option." He added it was one that the board didn't opt for at the time, but the public is permitted to speak during meetings.
"The board has maintained a procedure of allowing the public on the agenda if they call and ask," Cowherd said at the February meeting. "Up to this time, the board's been comfortable with that. It may change, it may not."
The possible change to the public comment policy was the first discussion point addressed during the policy committee meeting, and it took up the majority of the meeting time. Committee members are Fulton School Board President Kristi Donohue and board members Kevin Habjan and Rodney Latty.
Currently, board policy on public comments states:
• The Board will establish a time limit for the public comment period;
• No individual will be permitted to speak more than once during this period;
• The Board will establish a uniform time limit for each speaker; and
• Only items from the posted agenda may be discussed.
The school board must hold a vote to change its policies. Adjustments the committee members discussed Tuesday are listed below and are not official draft language. Based on the committee's discussion, a new draft will be presented to the school board during its next meeting at 7 p.m. April 15.
Possible public comment policy changes talked about Tuesday are as follows:
• If needed, time will be allotted for public comment;
• Patrons wishing to make a public comment must sign up to do so by contacting the district's central office by 4:30 p.m. on the day of the school board meeting;
• Remarks need to be limited to three minutes per person and one appearance per person; and
• Patrons may only speak to the school board about items listed on the agenda.
The three committee members all expressed agreement that only allowing patrons to speak regarding agenda items is best because it gives more time for them to mull over their ideas.
"To me, I like that scenario because someone's thought about it ahead of time and organized their thoughts in a more productive way," Latty said.
Donohue said restricting public comments to agenda items will also ensure that meeting time isn't spent on issues that can be properly handled internally by teachers, building principals or district administration.
"It's not that I don't want to hear (those concerns), it's just that we have those steps in place - the opportunities for building levels to take care of those situations," Donohue said.
She added that board members receive packets a few days prior to the meetings. Packets include materials and outlines regarding agenda items. If a patron were allowed to speak on a subject not included in the agenda, the board won't be prepared to respond.
"...Where I feel the misconception may come in is that maybe they're expecting some sort of answer or something that night and we're not prepared for that," she said.
Cowherd said he hasn't heard anyone make a public comment regarding anything other than what was listed on the agenda during his time as superintendent.
If someone would like to address the board on a topic other than those listed on the agenda, he or she will need to request to be placed on the agenda - like Murdie did for the February meeting. According to current board policy, the request must be made five days prior to the meeting, but that could be modified to six days if the board approves the proposed change. Cowherd said the change would make sure the board packet is sent by the beginning of the Friday before the scheduled board meeting, rather than the end of that Friday.
This story originally stated the next Fulton Board of Education meeting is 7 p.m. April 8 and has been updated to reflect the change.