The Board of Education amended its policy on meeting conduct and public comment in November 2022, and further changes are on the agenda for the May 16, 2023 meeting.
By Ronni Newton
The West Hartford Board of Education adopted changes to Policy 8355, which governs meeting conduct and public comment, on Nov. 1, 2022, by a vote of 6-1, but on Tuesday night will have a first reading of further updates to the policy.
The changes made last fall were intended to prioritize comments by those wishing to address the Board of Education regarding agenda items. Individuals wishing to speak at Board meetings are asked to sign in and indicate the topic about wish they would like to speak, with all speakers allotted a maximum of three minutes at the beginning of the meeting – as well as three minutes at the end of the meeting.
The policy, as it stands now, reads:
“The Board welcomes public comment, as it represents an opportunity for members of the public to express their views to the Board on matters within the Board’s authority. Each member of the public wishing to speak may address the Board for three minutes at the beginning and three minutes at the end of each meeting for a total of six minutes during the Board’s two public comment periods. Persons commenting on agenda items shall be permitted to comment first. No more than ten persons shall be permitted to comment during the public comment period at the beginning of the meeting, provided that such limitation shall not apply to persons commenting on agenda items. A maximum of seven persons shall be allowed to comment on each subject matter. No person shall interrupt a meeting or render the orderly conduct of such meeting unfeasible, and the chairperson may order any individual who engages in such conduct removed. While the Board will not respond to comments made in public session, it will consider such comments in its policy deliberations and, where appropriate, will refer comments to school department personnel for their review as part of their administrative functions.”
Proposed revisions, which will have a first reading on Tuesday, are indicated in red below. There is no proposal to change the three-minute limitation.
The following was posted late Sunday evening in the West Hartford Political Forum Facebook group by someone identified only as “Anonymous member”: “The BOE is working to pass a policy that would prevent the public from being able to address the board. The policy aims to prohibit the public from speaking on topics outside of the agenda except for ONCE a month at the conclusion of the meeting, which could be as late as 9 or 10 p.m. at night. People holding public office are trying to silence the people they have been elected to represent.”
The post generated more than 30 comments by other members of the West Hartford Political Forum Facebook group, many of whom expressed concern about the proposed change.
“We’re not getting rid of public communications,” Board Chair Lorna Thomas-Farquharson told We-Ha.com on Monday in response to questions about the further changes to the comment policy. The topic was placed on the Board’s May 16 agenda after having been discussed at a meeting of the Board’s Policy Subcommittee on May 11. Thomas-Farquharson, who is a Democrat, along with Democrat Jason Chang and Republican Gayle Harris are members of the subcommittee.
“What is being proposed is not a matter of trying to silence someone,” Thomas-Farquharson said, adding that people can always email Board members to share their opinions and ideas.
In addition, Thomas-Farquharson said the proposed changes being considered will also allow the Board to vote – if requested by someone wanting to speak – to suspend the rules to allow a speaker on a non-agenda item to speak during the public comment session at the beginning of the meeting.
“The purpose for wanting to do this is that we want to assure our meetings are allowing us to be attentive to the business at hand,” Thomas-Farquharson said.
“We want to make sure that we are prioritizing hearing about agenda items. That’s the reason,” she said. “This is trying to strengthen those opportunities in a focused way.”
When the most recent policy change was introduced last fall, then-interim Assistant Superintendent of Administration Anne McKernan noted that: “Recently, the public comment period has sometimes been consumed by comments regarding matters that are not germane to the Board’s agenda, and extended public comment periods have significantly delayed the start of the business portion of some Board meetings. Concerns have been raised that such delays are not fair to persons waiting to present on agenda items, or to other members of the public interested in the Board’s deliberation and action on agenda items. It can also be unfair to persons who wish to comment on agenda items prior to final action.”
McKernan had researched the public comment policies of other Hartford area boards of education when the change was being considered last fall, and at the time said that “West Hartford seems to have one of the highest degrees of public speaking,” noting that it could be in part because the Board has two meetings per month with two available public comment opportunities at each one. Some town boards of education only meet once a month, and there are a range of limits on the time permitted and number of speakers.
While Harris is a member of the policy subcommittee which is proposing the further revisions to the policy she told We-Ha.com that she is “entirely opposed to it.”
Over the past few months there have been many members of the public who addressed the Board about the budget when that was an agenda topic. There are also several members of the public who regularly attend Board meetings and speak about non-agenda items, sometimes of a personal nature related to their own children. In most cases, those speakers do not remain for the business portion of the meetings.
“We just changed and modified this policy six months ago,” said Harris, who voted in favor of the policy change that was made in November 2022. She said she doesn’t see a problem with the current situation since on average there have been four people regularly speaking at meetings about non agenda items.
“Why are we doing this again?” said Harris. She said regardless of what side of the aisle you’re on, “it’s an affront to the democratic process.”
Thomas-Farquharson said that the Board still wants to hear from the other commenters, who will still have the opportunity to address the Board once a month at the end of the meeting, and said that while Board members cannot respond during meetings to comments, they are listening.
The West Hartford Town Council limits public comments at its regular meetings to agenda topics, and comments regarding items that are the subject of a public hearing may only be made during the applicable hearing. Once a month, the Town Council also offers the opportunity for residents to speak about other topics at a “Community Comment” meeting.
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