The School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) held a roughly three-hour workshop on Wednesday afternoon, with public comments at board meetings being one of the two items listed on the agenda. 

The board approved the second reading of several policies at its July 31 regular meeting, including a revised version of its rules for public comment.  

“Given the fact that we just updated our public comment policy, I thought now would be a good time to remind the board – and our community members who may be watching this –about the new policy and sort of the standards that apply to free speech and public comment issues,” SBAC Attorney David Delaney said, before leading into a PowerPoint presentation. 

Public comment was among the three main topics of focus in Delaney’s presentation, with First Amendment action and social media being the other two. 

“We can just expect that it is going to be uncomfortable,” Delaney said of public participation. “It doesn’t have to be abusive [and it] shouldn’t be obscene. But it is not going to be sunshine and rainbows when people are coming down to share their grievances.”  

This was the case during a contentious first public comment period of the July 31 meeting, in which more than 30 citizens showed up to speak in reference to controversial Facebook comments made by board Chair Sarah Rockwell about the July 24 death of pro wrestler Hulk Hogan. 

Delaney provided the board with five takeaways and standards for public comment.  

Consistent application of the policy is critical. 

Merely offensive language is not enough.   

• Comments when viewed as a whole must be obscene (crude, abusive, vulgar, pornographic, or indecent).  

Abusive   

• Language that is harsh, insulting, cruel or malicious.  

A true threat   

• Containing language meant to frighten or intimidate specified persons into believing they will be harmed by the speaker or someone acting at the speaker’s behest.  

Violation of Florida Statute 877.13  

• Knowingly acting to disrupt or interfere with the function of a school board meeting. 

While taking questions from board members, Delaney said he and district staff were going to help the board offer specific information to remind the public of the expectations for public participation. 

“We’ve already got the public comment form that’s going to provide some of that guidance,” he said. “We are talking about projecting on screens kind of what the expectations are [for public participation]….” 

Board member Leanetta McNealy said she felt putting the expectations on a TV screen in the board meeting room, along with saying them at the meeting and having them on the public comment form, would be “sufficient enough for any individual.” 

In addressing McNealy’s remarks, Delaney said some school districts have the script read by the board attorney.  

“Would you like that message delivered from your board attorney or would you rather it come from the chair?” Delaney asked the board members. 

McNealy immediately replied to Delaney. 

“The attorney,” she said. “I feel very comfortable with someone with an attorney’s name.”  

Vice Chair Tina Certain said she didn’t care which direction the board went, but felt the expectations should be included on the printed public comment form – moving toward online sign up – while also on the TV screen and agenda.  

Board member Thomas Vu agreed with McNealy’s suggestion to have Delaney read the expectations. 

“I like the idea that it’s somebody with a presumption of neutrality,” he said.  

No votes were made during the workshop, as it was only held for discussion purposes.  

Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News.