CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – At the Clarksville-Montgomery County School Board meeting Tuesday evening, board members considered revising their current public participation policy, which has been at the center of debate over the summer.

The School Board conducted a first reading of the new policy Tuesday.

Public participation has been an ongoing issue within the district, leading more parents to attend School Board meetings over the last several months, with some even staging demonstrations at meetings.

Public participation

Former Director of Schools Millard House first addressed the growing issue CMCSS parents had with the process of addressing the school board at a meeting on June 8.

At that meeting, House suggested the board view their public address policy at the board retreat, which is scheduled for Oct. 25 and 26.

Tensions continued to rise, and on July 13, about 40 parents staged a protest at a meeting.

While the main purpose appeared to be a demand for transparency on COVID-19 policies, an undercurrent of the parents’ outrage was their inability to address the board on topics not listed on the meeting’s agenda, which included COVID-19 policies.

This led to charged exchange between several parents and board members, who were shouting over members about the difficulties in requesting to address the board.

August’s School Board meeting also was fraught with tension as some parents were cut off mid-address to the board for not keeping their comments limited to relevant agenda items.

In what appears to be a response from the board, an update to the current request form was made on Aug. 10 in the form of a note.

The note reads, “The Board recognizes the value of public comment on the educational issues and the importance of involving members of the public in its meetings. To permit fair and orderly expression of such comment, the Board will provide a period during which visitors may make formal presentations.”

The new request policy also includes this note on the request form, however, goes further to add this statement: “Board members and/or the Director of Schools do not provide responses or engage in direct conversation during public comment. If speakers wish to receive an answer to a specific question, inquiries should be directed to the appropriate district office.”

The note also encourages prospective speakers to seek a solution to their concerns through the proper staff and administrative channels before addressing the board.

Less time, but more leeway

If the new policy is approved, requests to address the school board would will need to be made 72 hours prior to the first study session of the month, rather than 24 hours before the formal session.

This means now public comments will be made at study sessions rather than formal board meetings. Board Attorney Mark Nolan told Clarksville Now this was so that board members could hear public commentary a week prior to the formal meetings where voting on agenda items happens.

Additionally, under the new proposed policy, the time window allotted per speaker will decrease from five minutes to three minutes. Nolan said this was to give more people the opportunity to speak.

“Quite frankly, we compared it to a lot of districts, and most of them are three minutes,” Nolan told Clarksville Now.

Speakers will still be required to submit in writing their address topic along with the request for approval, but the new policy would give speakers more freedom in topic. If approved, the topic of address would no longer have to be directly related to what’s on the agenda.

Previously, the subject matter of public addresses to the board had to be related to items on the agenda to be voted on or discussed during that meeting.

Disruptions prohibited

The new rules also now make explicit reference to “loud comments,” shouting and “boisterous applause,” with the consequences of disrupting board activity resulting in a verbal warning, and then physical removal from the meeting by law enforcement.

Nolan told Clarksville Now that these additions were made in a general sense, and that they incorporate what other districts use in their policies.

“Even if you go to Montgomery County (Commission) or the city (council), they have the same type of language,” Nolan said.

When asked about the more frequent occurrences of School Board meetings locally and around the state breaking out in shouting, he said that would be a “good example” of the reason for adding the language.

These rules do not apply to public hearings the school district may conduct pertaining to zoning or budget items, where sign-up sheets are available on location.

County Commissioner Joshua Beal, who was not at Tuesday’s School Board meeting but rather a county commission meeting, said the board should have implemented these changes five years ago.

“It’s definitely good that they are easing the restrictions on what people can address them about. Whether they agree with them or not, the public still needs to be able to address their elected body on any matter that’s regarding the school system,” Beal told Clarksville Now.

Mask mandate discussion

At the end of the meeting Tuesday, board member Charlie Patterson requested to call a special meeting on Thursday to discuss a temporary mask mandate in CMCSS schools.

Board members agreed to wait to discuss a potential temporary mask mandate until the formal meeting next week due to scheduling conflicts. They added it to the meeting agenda as a discussion and “possibly take action,” Nolan said.

The School Board will vote on the changes to public participation and discuss the temporary mask mandate at the formal School Board meeting on Sept. 14.

Casey Williams contributed to this report.