Gwinnett County Public Schools made history last month when it conducted its first online meeting where attendees could watch the proceedings from home.
District officials will use the Zoom platform again this month, and people who want to address the school board must sign up to speak by noon Monday, so they can be placed on the agenda for the Thursday meeting.
No one signed up to speak before the deadline for last month’s meeting, when the online audience was 163 for the work session and 250 for the business meeting.
Georgia requires that government meetings must be open to the public, but there are no mandates on how or if public comment should be conducted. With meetings being held on public domain platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meets, issues of security and decorum have come up, said Justin Pauly, a spokesman for the Georgia School Board Association.
Related story: As boards meet in cyberspace, hearing the public becomes a challenge
Related story: Gwinnett reverses decision to send staff to work on site
“We have all seen and heard stories of unwanted guests hacking in,” Pauly said. “This is a way of business that is not the norm for school boards. There will always be a learning curve and a transition period when new operations are required.”
Gwinnett isn’t alone. Most government bodies continue holding virtual meetings for social distancing.
“There is not a mechanism for public comments during these [virtual] meetings,” Fulton County Public Schools Board President Julia Bernath said. “But that being said, the board does receive constant feedback from our community with emails, texts, social media, and phone calls.”
Similarly, Henry County advises people to send comments via email.
Hall County appears to have a plan that works — an email address dedicated to public comments. The board begins accepting comments a half hour before the start of its meetings, and continues accepting them until the public comment portion of the meeting begins.
“We did this successfully at our March Board of Education business meeting and feel comfortable we can continue that trend moving forward,” spokesman Stan Lewis said.
Parent Tracy Brown said she reached out to Gwinnett school officials a few weeks ago to make sure she would be allowed to comment at this month’s meeting. Brown said she received an email saying she would be alerted about the new procedure, but hasn’t heard anything more from the district.
“I wonder if they really don’t want to hear from the public, she said.
Public comment procedure for Gwinnett school board meeting
While the board is conducting meetings virtually, there will no longer be the 6:15 p.m. public forum where speakers may sign up just prior to the meeting. Anyone who wishes to address the board, must be on the agenda and inform the Superintendent’s Office in writing by noon on the Monday immediately prior to the Board meeting.
The form is accessible at: data.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/ReqsforAddrGCPSBOE.nsf/RequestXPage.xsp
Individuals requesting to speak to the Board will be notified by the Coordinator of Board Services that the request has been received.
Questions: MySchoolBoard@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
About the Author
