The Board adopted Policy 206 to make its open forum process clearer and more in line with its purpose, and no, it does not take away anyone’s right to speak directly with the School Board.

Policy 206, adopted by the ISD 728 School Board in August 2021, aims to do a number of things to allow both the public to interact with their elected School Board at official meetings, and to allow the School Board to conduct its business in a timely manner:

• The public will still have up to seven (7) people, for an allotted time of three (3) minutes each, to address the Board.
• The public will still be able to address the Board on topics within the School Board’s control.

No, the Board is not required, by law, to offer an open forum at each meeting, but desires to do so to hear from the public about school-related issues that are of concern.

The District will continue to hold public forums, and, in addition, will offer several other areas of public comment and communication, not limited to but including email, phone calls, social media and mail.

No, the School Board is not required to record or televise its Board meetings.

Yes, the Board will continue to record and televise its Board meetings with the exception of the public comment period.

The purpose of a public comment period is to give community members an opportunity to provide input directly to the School Board about issues that fall within the School Board’s authority. Because public comment is not a time for citizens to speak to the community or to the audience it will not be recorded or live streamed. However, a summary of the public comments is placed in the minutes of the School Board meeting and available on the District’s website.

Yes.

Policy 606 enforces our beliefs – as outlined in our Strategic Plan – that ISD 728 is a place where everyone can learn, where all people have value, and that change is an opportunity for growth.

The policy, which can be found on ISD 728’s website, utilizes what we believe are supportive statements for our staff and for our students. We recognize that all people have different, valuable perspectives. We also know that school is a place – a safe place – to share those perspectives. And finally, we also embrace the opportunity to provide a place for discussions that help us learn, and help us grow.

Policy 606 ensures that:

• Students lead discussions and are welcomed to bring forth topics – even if controversial – that are relevant to furthering growth and education.
• Teachers are facilitating those conversations – not utilizing them to influence others.
• Teachers and staff feel supported by District Leadership when these conversations occur in their classroom or school building.

Citizens who wish to address the School Board must submit a written request to speak before 12:00 p.m. (noon) on the day of the public School Board meeting. Citizens can contact the Board by email as identified below or by completing the form available on the District website.

The written request must be sent to schoolboard@isd728.org.  The citizen must provide his or her name, home address, whether he/she has a child attending school in the District, the name of group represented (if any), his/her association with the school district (i.e. student, employee, resident, business owner, alumni, etc.), and the subject to be covered or the issue to be addressed. Individuals who do not submit all of the required information will not be approved and/or considered to address the Board at that meeting.

If more than seven individuals request to address the School Board at any particular meeting, those unable to address the School Board shall be given an opportunity and priority to address the School Board at the next public meeting within the parameters identified in Policy 206.

Yes, it is possible. District Officials continue to work with the Department of Health, Department of Education, local, county public health officials and its own Health Services Staff to review local, school, district and community data.  If local data supports additional or different mitigation strategies, ISD 728 is willing and ready to implement them.

The School Board gives notice of proposed policy changes or adoption of new policies by placing the item on the agenda of two school board meetings.  The proposals are made available online and within each agenda, and public comment is allowed at both meetings before final school board action.  Members of the public are also allowed to provide feedback to the School Board by direct email to the full School Board at schoolboard@isd728.org, or can be made to the Board Chair and/or the Superintendent.

The final action taken to adopt the proposed policy is approved by a simple majority vote of the school board at the second meeting at which public input was received. The policy becomes effective on the later of the date of passage or the date stated in the motion.