BED - BOARD MEETINGS: PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Board meetings are held to transact business of the School. So that citizens have the opportunity to be informed concerning those transactions, meetings are open to the public, except when closed meetings are conducted, as permitted, by the Open Meetings Act. The Board shall provide opportunities at its meetings for citizens to address the Board, but shall impose reasonable restraints on the number, length, and frequency of presentations, and, in so doing, shall not unfairly discriminate among views seeking expression.

Gov't Code 551.003(5); Atty. Gen. Op. H-188 (1973)

LIMIT ON PARTICIPATION

Public participation is limited to the designated open forum portion of a meeting. At all other times during Board meetings, the audience shall not enter into discussion, or debate, on matters being considered by the Board, unless recognized by the President. No presentation shall exceed five minutes. Where the individual members of a delegation of persons have requested to speak on the same or similar topic, the President may require the delegation to designate a single spokesperson.

The following procedures shall apply to citizens' communications:

Sign-Up Sheet

1. A person or representative of a group or organization shall be required to sign up on a form provided by the Board prior to the beginning of the meeting. The person signing up shall give the subject to be addressed, his or her name, address and telephone number and if applicable, the group or organization the person represents.

   No person shall be permitted to sign up for another person nor shall anyone be permitted to exchange time or to yield time to persons not signed up.

2. Citizens' communications shall be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
3. Speakers shall present their comments in a respectful and professional manner. Profanity, vulgarity, or character abuse shall not be permitted.

Board's Response

4. Specific factual information or recitation of existing policy may be furnished in response to inquiries; however, except for a proposal to place the subject of the inquiry on the agenda of a subsequent meeting, the Board shall not deliberate or decide regarding any subject that is not on the agenda posted with notice of the meeting. The Board President may direct the Superintendent to respond to questions or statements at a later time; however, Board members shall not conduct a dialogue with a speaker. [See BE]

Complaints Against Employees

5. Complaints about specific School personnel are not appropriate for presentation during citizens' communications and shall not be permitted. Such concerns shall first be addressed to the appropriate administrator as required by Board policy, and, if unresolved administratively, may be addressed to the Board as a scheduled agenda item in closed meeting, unless the employee who is the subject of the complaint requests that the complaint be heard in open meeting. [See DGBA, FNG, GF]

DISRUPTION

It is a criminal offense for a person, with intent to prevent, or disrupt, a lawful meeting, to substantially obstruct, or interfere, with the meeting by physical action, or verbal utterance and thereby curtail the exercise of others' First Amendment rights.

Penal Code 42.05; Morehead v. State, 807 S.W.2d 577 (Tex. Cr. App. 1991).

The Board shall not tolerate disruption of the meeting by members of the public. If, after at least one warning from the President, any person continues to disrupt the meeting by his, or her, words or actions, the Board President shall request assistance from law enforcement officials to have the person removed from the meeting.

Adopted: 3/25/94

Amended: 11/14/97, 3/21/03, 4/1/05

Reviewed: 1/24/02

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