CONTROVERSIAL CHANGE TO RULES FOR SPEAKING AT ROCKWOOD SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS
Starting July 1st, Rockwood patrons who want to speak at school board meetings will only be able to speak about items that are on the agenda for that meeting. The board unanimously approved the changes at last Thursday's meeting.
The change is a departure from having two comment periods: one for agenda items, and, one open period where residents could speak about any topic they wanted, whether it was on the agenda or not, as long as it pertained to the Rockwood School District. There will now be one comment period, on agenda items.
This has some conservatives crying foul, saying it restricts free speech.
The remedy from the school board is, even though you can only comment on agenda items, residents of Rockwood now have a way to put an item on the agenda, a procedure that is now required by state law.
All of this comes after Rockwood's "open" comment period was repeatedly used to disparage members of the community or members of the school board. Such comments, at times, referred to community members and board members as racist.
One commenter used her open time to utter a vulgar euphemism. You can read more about that, here.
Another used her open comment time to demand that a school board member be removed from her committees. You can read more about that, here.
TO GET AN ITEM ON THE AGENDA
If you want to get an item on the agenda of a Rockwood school board meeting, this is the form to fill out.
To understand more about the procedure for putting an item on the agenda, it is spelled out in Rockwood policy 0411.
As a result of the above change, the rules for speaking at a board meeting are also being revised. This is the language they approved, for an update to policy 0412.
The change was approved as part of the consent agenda items, in which multiple items are generally approved or rejected with one vote. You can see it in this recorded video of the meeting, starting around the 23:47 mark.
Rockwood's school board meetings are generally held twice a month at 7:00 pm, on Thursdays. You can see the full schedule here. The next one will be July 20th at Eureka High School.