Public Meeting Participation

 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AT SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETINGS

All regular and special meetings of the School Committee shall be open to the public.  Executive sessions will be held only as prescribed by the Statues of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  The Quabbin Regional School District Committee welcomes public comment on matters within its authority, and had established a Public Comment period at its regular meetings for this purpose.  The following procedures govern the Public Comment period of regular School Committee meetings.

  1. The Committee makes available a maximum fifteen (15) minute period at its regular meetings for individuals to address the Committee for no longer than three (3) minutes per person.  The Chair reserves the right to limit the number of speakers due to time constraints and to increase or reduce the time allocated per speaker.
  2. All Public comment testimony shall be limited to issues that are within the scope of the School Committee’s authority.
  3. Individuals wishing to speak at Public Comment strongly encouraged to submit a request to do so before the day of the meeting. Contact information is provided below.
  4. If time permits, the Chair may allow members of the public, who have not submitted a request to speak in advance, to also peak in the Public Comment period. Those individuals must sign in prior to the start of the meeting to indicate their request to speak.
  5. Speakers are encouraged to present their testimony in a respectful manner.
  6. Public Comment is an individual’s opportunity to express an opinion on issues within the School Committee’s authority. Public Comment is not a dialogue, discussion, or question and answer session between individuals and the School Committee.  Therefore, the School Committee will not respond to the comments, except as noted in paragraphs 7 and 8 below.
  7. The Chair reserves the right, after a warning, to terminate speech which is not Constitutionally protected because it constitutes: a true threat; incitement to imminent lawless conduct, comments determined to be defamatory by a court; and/or sexually explicit comments made to appeal to prurient interests.
  8. Comments made during Public Comment that are on a topic outside of the scope of the School Committee’s authority and/or comments which exceed the speaker’s time limit will be curtailed.
  9. In addition to, or in lieu of, speaking during the Public Comment section of a School Committee meeting, individuals may submit written testimony to the Committee either prior to or at the meeting. Contact information is provided below.  If written testimony is submitted at the meeting, fifteen (15) copies should be provided for distribution to Committee members.
  10. Disclaimer: Testimony presented during Public Comment does not reflect the opinions or positions of the School Committee.  Due to Constitutional free speech rights, the School Committee does not have the authority to prevent all speech that may be upsetting or offensive to other participants.
  11. Requests to address the Committee during a Public Comment period, submissions of written testimony, and inquiries about this policy should be directed to:

 

School Committee Secretary
Quabbin Regional School District
872 South Street
Barre, MA 01005

(978)355-4668 (tel)

(978)355-6756 (fax)

jbennett@qrsd.org (email)