0167  PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN BOARD MEETINGS

The Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest.

In order to permit the fair and orderly expression of such comment, the Board shall set aside a portion of each Board meeting, the length of the portion to be determined by the Board, for public comment on any school or school district issue that a member of the public feels may be of concern to the residents of the school district.

Public participation shall be governed by the following rules:

1.	A participant must be recognized by the presiding officer and must preface comments by an announcement of his/her name and municipality of residence;

2	Each statement made by a participant shall be limited to three minutes’ duration with not more than 45 minutes to be devoted to this section of the agenda. In the event of a special meeting being held in the same month as a regularly scheduled meeting, the public comment statements shall be limited to one minute with a total of 15 minutes for the public comments agenda section.  These guidelines will apply to both public comments on agenda items and general public comments;

3.	No participant may speak more than once on the same topic;

4.	All statements questions, or inquiries shall be directed to the presiding officer and any questions or inquiries directed by a participant to another Board member shall be redirected to the presiding officer who shall determine if such statement, questions, or inquiry shall be addressed by the presiding officer on behalf of the Board or by the individual Board member;

5	All statements will be timed by the designated member of the Board.

6.	The presiding officer will instruct the public that they are being recorded and they are responsible for their statements.

7.	The presiding officer may at any time during the public meeting:

a.	Request any person to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum;

b.	Request the assistance of law enforcement officers in the removal of a disorderly person when that person prevents or disrupts a meeting with an act that obstructs or interferes with the meeting; and

c.	Call for a recess or an adjournment to another time when the lack of public decorum so interferes with the orderly conduct of the meeting 

8.	The Board reserves the right to waive these rules when necessary for the protection of privacy or the efficient administration of the Board’s business.

N.J.S.A.	2C:33-8
N.J.S.A.	10:4-12

Date Adopted:	4/18/77
Date Revised:	3/18/91, 6/16/08, 10/15/12, 1/20/15, 3/15/16, 6/16/20