The School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) voted unanimously during a regular meeting on Tuesday to stop taking citizen input by phone, starting July 1. 

Alachua County Public Schools introduced the option to call in with a public comment during COVID, as did many other local government bodies, according to Board Chair Sarah Rockwell. Superintendent Kamela Patton said the SBAC is now the last school board of Florida’s 67 counties to still allow the phone call option in its meetings. 

Several board members said they had previously been in favor of keeping the phone call option, but after further consideration had come up with several reasons to sunset the practice. 

Board Member Thomas Vu took issue with people who call in and fail to identify themselves in their comment, while board policy states that participants will be requested to announce their “name, and group affiliation, if and when appropriate.” Those who speak from the podium are asked to announce their name anytime they speak, even if they are regular, recognizable attendees. 

Rockwell noted that the current phone system has had technical issues during meetings before and that it is costing the district money to maintain. She also said the system is underutilized. 

Neither Patton nor the assistant superintendent for finance, Gabrielle Jaremczuk, knew how much the phone system costs the district, but the director of information and technology, Nathan Foote, said he ran the numbers a few years ago and found the cost was about $7,000 annually. 

Foote said the phone setup, based on cost per phone call during the hours of meetings, came out to about $300-400 per meeting the last time he estimated the numbers for finance. 

Rockwell said the cost averages “well over” $100 per phone call, which was a factor the last time the board touched on the topic. 

“At the time, I was advocating for keeping the phone system in place, because I am a big proponent of accessibility and making sure that all of our citizens are heard,” Rockwell said. “And I still believe that that is important, but at the same time, our phone system is underutilized… and the callers we have tend to be the same couple of people, who call a lot.” 

Board Member Leanetta McNealy alone took issue with removing the option of phone call comments. She said those who do not attend meetings should have some way to submit comments that generate board discussion the same way that speaking from the podium would, saying email is not a sufficient option. 

“Alachua County Public Schools can be No. 1 in something,” McNealy said. “As far as keeping, the other organizations in the community have stopped them—it doesn’t mean that we need to.” 

Board attorney David Delaney said public comment is designed to be one-way input, not to generate dialogue with the board. 

After Board Member Tina Certain made a motion to sunset phone call public comments, Vu seconded the motion but also introduced an amendment to make it effective July 1, at the start of the next fiscal year. 

McNealy provided a second for Vu’s amendment, then introduced her own amendment to require that staff come up with an alternate way for citizens to accomplish the equivalent of speaking at a meeting. 

After staff and other board members clarified McNealy’s request was for a procedure for board members to highlight a particular email received, which they can currently do during board member comment time, McNealy said to let her amendment die. 

McNealy asked that if a citizen wants to provide input to the board without attending a meeting, that they use the boardmembers@gm.sbac.edu email address, which sends the message to all board members, plus the superintendent. 

The board voted 4-0 in favor of Vu’s amendment, then approved Certain’s motion with the amendment, also unanimously. 

They made the decision on Tuesday with rows of teachers in attendance, having come to speak during public comment for the second meeting in a row, pressing for a higher pay increase and respect in the re-negotiation of their contract after voting against ratification in January. 

Two public commenters who regularly call in their input also called on Tuesday to voice their opposition over the somewhat garbled phone line, saying they have children and obligations that make it difficult to make it to a board meeting. 

“That’s not a good look for Alachua County, trying to silence people who cannot make a meeting,” one caller, who did not identify herself, told the board.