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South Range schools to enforce public comment rules at next meeting
BOE requires 10-day notice for public to speak at meeting
By ROBERT CONNELLY
NORTH LIMA
Beginning this month, you’ll need to give South Range schools a 10-day notice if you want to address the board of education during its meeting.
Officials said this is not a change, just a notice that they will enforce their current bylaws with regard to public comments.
“We are not discontinuing the public participation portion of the meeting. Anything that’s on the agenda for that night can be questioned and asked about,” said Ralph Wince, South Range Board of Education president. “Anything [else] is still allowed to be asked about. It just needs to be signed up 10 days prior.”
Because the agenda is not available to the public 10 days in advance, however, the result of the bylaw forces members of the public to sign up in advance to ensure any chance to address the board.
Even then, the request is not a guarantee as the bylaws state requests “shall be subject to the approval of the superintendent and the board president.”
The board’s next meeting is July 27, so the deadline to apply to address the board is July 17.
Wince addressed the issue at Tuesday’s meeting in response to a Letter to the Editor that ran in The Vindicator June 21 written by outspoken resident Richard Ferenchak. He frequently speaks at the monthly board meetings, usually held the third Monday of the month at 7 p.m. in the band room.
A two-minute time limit per person and an overall 15-minute limit on public comments will be enforced. Wince further said that if a topic warrants, that 15-minute time limit can be extended.
“To me, it’s very simple. Their strict interpretation of their bylaws is to stifle public opinion they don’t agree with,” Ferenchak said. “They’re only going to discuss what they approve ... there’s no guarantee [Superintendent Dennis Dunham is] going to allow you to talk about it.”
Wince, however, was quick to point that resident’s requests “are subject to the approval of the superintendent and the board president.”
Wince gave a specific example of this request: “If you had somebody that was ... wanting to talk about the same exact thing month after month. We’re not going to rehash the issue over and over again.”
The 10-day window, Wince said, allows board members to research a subject matter in advance.
“The perception of censoring what someone is going to talk about is totally false,” the board president said.
Ferenchak recommends that the district set its agenda 15 days ahead of its next meeting, to allow residents a few days before the 10-day limit on if they want to submit requests to speak.
“There’s no transparency here at all,” Ferenchak said. “I think people are angry ... [to] the average Joe citizen, this is not the way you pass levies. Shutting people up is not how you pass levies.”
To change or amend a bylaw requires a majority vote, according to the board’s policies on its website.
ELSEWHERE
The South Range policy does not mirror how public comments are handled at other school board meetings in the Valley.
“Oh no, this is not, not appropriate,” said Jackie Adair, a Youngstown school board member who often spoke as a member of the public before being elected. “The voice of the people has been censored. I find that totally offensive.”
The city district requires speakers to sign up before the start of a meeting.
How would the public even know that far ahead of time if something on the agenda they want to talk about is even on the agenda, she wonders.
“What if something comes up in the 11th hour? Are you just supposed to sit on it until the next board meeting?” she asks.
“It’s contrary to the whole idea of representative democracy,” Adair said. “It’s not the will of the people, the voice of the people. The people or person who makes those kinds of decisions is going to do so at their own peril as far as elections and levies. If I don’t have a say-so in the operation of the school system that my property taxes pay for, I’m not going to support you financially anymore and I’m going to vote you out and vote for someone who will listen to what I have to say.”
In the Poland school district, people who wish to address the board do not have to give advance notice and are not limited to a specific topic, except that the board cannot discuss personnel matters in public.
Those who speak during the time allotted for public comment are required to state their name and address and are limited to five minutes. Discussion of each topic is limited to 15 minutes.
The Boardman Board of Education’s policy is that: “Citizens wishing to address the board of education at regular or special board meetings need only complete a ‘Request to Address the Board’ form. Upon presentation to the superintendent or board president in advance of each meeting, permission will be granted to the requesting citizen to address the board of education for a maximum of five minutes.”
In Austintown, the school district makes time for two public comment sessions at each meeting. The first is specific to items on the agenda before action on the agenda is taken. The second public comment session is at the end of the meeting and is on the speaker’s topic. Those wanting to participate in either comment portion is asked to sign in on a sheet before the meeting.
The South Range policy doesn’t sit well with Sandy Theis, executive director of Progress Ohio and a Warren native.
“The public should have a right to petition public bodies in a [reasonable] amount of time and this isn’t reasonable,” she said. “We’re seeing a growing hostility to open government.”
“You shouldn’t have to get a lawyer to get access to open meetings and records,” Theis said. “These are our meetings. ...Here you have members of the public who want to get engaged and they’re being discouraged from getting engaged. That’s really shameful.”
Progress Ohio is a charitable, political and community organization dedicated to issue advocacy in Ohio.
At a board meeting Tuesday night, the Mill Creek MetroParks leadership also announced a change: Beginning with the July 13 meeting, topics for public comment will be limited to current agenda items. The board will continue to allow citizens to sign up for public comment immediately before meetings begin.
Contributors: Staff reporters Denise Dick and Jordyn Grzelewski.