Notice of the time and place of the Lincoln Board of Education meeting was e-mailed to an extensive list of local and regional news media. A mailing list is maintained at the Lincoln Public Schools District Office. A public notice was published in the LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR.
The Lincoln Board of Education is empowered to act on any item listed on the Agenda at any time during the meeting, irrespective of the time or order listed. Pages listed, or further detail, are available upon request. The Open Meetings Act requires and the intention of the Board is that agenda items be sufficiently descriptive to give the public reasonable notice of the matters to be considered at the meeting. The Lincoln Board of Education releases its agenda well in advance of most meetings and desires that all interested persons are fully informed. Any interested person who has a question or needs clarification about the sufficiency of a descriptive item should contact the Office of the Superintendent of Schools.The Lincoln Board of Education shall also make available for examination and copying as requested by members of the public, at least one copy of all reproducible written materials to be discussed at the meeting.
2. CALL TO ORDER
3. ANNOUNCE OPEN MEETING ACT POSTING AND LOCATION
4. INFORMATIONAL PRESENTATION
5. PUBLIC COMMENT
Rationale:
In keeping with Board Policy 8420:
Persons speaking during Public Comment will be called forward individually by the Board Chair to the location identified for such purpose.
A time limit of five minutes will be allotted for any speaker. At the discretion of the chair, the speaker may be allotted additional time. Board members may share, address or consider comments from the public during public comment, at the end of public comment or when related business is on the agenda.
Each individual speaking to the Board will be required to identify himself or herself prior to giving public comment. A "Record of Appearance" card is provided for this purpose.
Persons wishing to appear will be heard in the order in which the Chair of the meeting determines appropriate.
In cases where more than one person wishes to speak on the same topic, their presentations to the Board may, at the discretion of the chair, be grouped together by topic.
If the number of people wishing to speak under the public participation portions of the agenda is large, the chair may rule that a public hearing be scheduled or the discussion be limited on the issue in question.
Persons speaking to the Board during public comment may make printed materials available to the Board but may not use any other form of media.
If at any time persons appearing before the Board exceed the time limitations set forth in this policy or on the agenda or if persons appearing before the Board or who are present at the Board meeting or public hearing become abusive in language or behavior, it shall be the responsibility of the chair to declare that person or persons out of order and to refuse permission to continue to address the Board, require a change in behavior and may require the person or persons to leave the premises of the Board meeting.