NEW CASTLE Public input policy tabled

School officials say the policy came from the state school board association.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- City school board members plan to take a second look at a policy that would restrict the public's right to comment during board meetings.
Board members were considering a policy that would limit all public comments to matters on the agenda but tabled it after getting some opposition from the audience Wednesday.
Two frequent school board-meeting visitors oppose the restriction.
"It's practically impossible for a person to talk about matters on your agenda since I only got the agenda five minutes before the meeting started," said Joseph Sparano of Liberty Avenue.
Rosemary Henderson of Neshannock Avenue also questioned whether the new policy violates the state's open meetings and records law, also called the Sunshine Act.
Solicitor Charles Sapienza said administrators took the policy from Pennsylvania School Board Association guidelines.
Superintendent George Gabriel said it was one of the least-stringent policies offered by the school board association. He said this policy is part of the larger districtwide-policy manual he is working on.
Careful controls
Board member Larry Nord asked to table the matter to look at it again. He said he is not opposed to setting some controls, but he was unsure if this policy was the right one.
Board member Andrea Przybylski opposes the policy.
Lynn Padice, school board president, said she favors the policy because some people have used the public comment period to degrade others or for political reasons.
After the meeting, Sapienza said the policy follows the state open-meetings law and is intended to keep irrelevant issues from a meeting.
"What they don't want are people standing up and talking about idle gossip they heard in the community or a disgruntled parent," Sapienza said.
Sapienza said the policy would most likely not be taken literally, and residents would be able to talk about items that have been before the school board on past agendas or are expected in the future.
First Amendment
Robert D. Richards, co-director and founder of the Pennsylvania Center for the First Amendment at Pennsylvania State University, said school boards are allowed to set some guidelines for public comments such as the amount of time to speak or when it is offered during a meeting, but they should not try to restrict the content of that comment.
"It's dangerous territory for the government to try to prescribe what can be said and what cannot be said," said Richards, who is also an attorney.
He said the state's open meetings law gives residents the right to talk about matters of concern.
"It gives the citizens access to their government authority and, in fact, case law is clear that municipalities and government authorities should encourage public comment. That is the essence of Democracy," he said.
Sapienza said he believes the policy does not violate the state's open-meetings law, but a person may.
"Can a board member violate the Sunshine law by denying a person's right to speak? Yes they can," he said.
cioffi@vindy.com