Davidson County residents plead with school board members to reconsider proposed restrictions on public comment

Parents and teachers say a proposal to place new restrictions on public comment at Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) Board of Education meetings will silence important voices members need to hear.Under current rules, community members who want to speak at board meetings must submit a written request six days before the meeting and speakers receive up to three minutes for their remarks.The proposed change would require the public to submit a request to speak two weeks prior to the meeting and the total time dedicated to public comments would be no more than 30 minutes. The board chair would set the amount of time each speaker receives up to a maximum of three minutes under the proposed change and if a large number of people wish to speak, the chair would divide those 30 minutes equally.Former MNPS parent and teacher Tom Surface told the board Tuesday night that the policy change will set barriers that further lowers public engagement.“I believe we need to ensure there is space for everyone in our community to tell their story. Now the proposed policy, as I see it, restricts citizens by only allowing them to talk about what’s on the board’s agenda. Yes, people can contact their school board member by email or phone, and that may work for some things, but there’s stories that need to be told in a public forum and heard by the whole board,” said Surface. “When you cut off the public from the life of school policymaking, you risk eroding trust and confidence, further adding to a public narrative that paints public education in a negative light.”Other critics of the proposed change expressed concerns that it would also limit teacher voices.Current MNPS teacher Mary Jo Cramb said teachers need the opportunity to talk to school board members that the public comment phase of meetings presents.“Simply speaking with board members privately or by email is not enough. We need to register our support or disagreement with district policies and practices in public because that is how democracy works. We need to make sure everybody knows what is going on in our schools and speaking here at the school board is an important way to do that,” said Cramb.The MNPS Board of Education isn’t the only school board considering changes to public comment at meetings.Rutherford County’s School Board is also considering a policy change that would limit public comment. Supporters there claim the change is needed to align with a new state law that went into effect last July that requires governing bodies to reserve a period for public comments.School board members in Nashville plan to discuss their proposed changes to public comments at next month’s meeting.