St. Lucie School Board balks at cutting public-input time, citing First Amendment rights

Colleen Wixon, Treasure Coast Newspapers
·2 min read

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Speakers at School Board meetings will continue to have three minutes to be heard.

The School Board had considered cutting the time allotted to unscheduled speakers, depending on the crowd. But confusion over how and when the changes would be applied caused the board to pause any changes.

No vote was taken Tuesday on the proposed change.

Unscheduled speakers from the public are allowed three minutes to voice their concerns with the School Board. Scheduled speakers are given five minutes. The board had considered reducing the time to two minutes if there were more than 10 speakers, and to one minute if there were more than 20 speakers.

Those attending Tuesday's meeting asked the board to reconsider.

"Why would you want to limit participation?" asked Rick Reed, vice president of the St. Lucie County Concerned Citizens. "It is our sacred right (to speak)."

St. Lucie School Board should encourage more, not less, public participation at meetings

School Board members Donna Mills and Jennifer Richardson vehemently opposed making any changes that would limit the public from speaking to the board.

"I'm disappointed that this ever came up," Mills said. "It's wrong. The purpose of this board is to encourage its citizens to bring their thoughts and concerns to the attention of this board."

Limiting speakers to one minute is "ridiculous," Mills said.

"We shouldn't do this to the people," she said.

Richardson said the proposed change was a violation of the First Amendment.

"We seem to forget we are on this board (to be) public servants," she said. The board should be moving toward achieving greater transparency, she said. "Instead, we are moving to less."

St. Lucie County bus driver, Michael Brown, demonstrates his role on his school bus, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023, at the St. Lucie County school board bus compound. “Attitude is everything,” Brown said. “I’m the first person that they see, so I want that to be a moment to see that smiling face. I think that helps them go through their day. We don’t know what they go through when they’re not with us, so it’s important.”

The School Board should want to hear from its constituents, Richardson said.

"Our community deserves the right to exercise their First Amendment rights," she said.

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Vice Chair Jack Kelly initially said the changes were designed to be fair to everyone. But he changed his mind when he realized people would be limited to speaking if they showed up the same time as more than 10 or 20 people.

Across the Treasure Coast, school boards limit speakers to three minutes. In Indian River County, those wishing to address the School Board must submit a form either electronically by 4 p.m. the day before the meeting or in person by 5:45 p.m. on the day of the meeting. Martin County School Board limits speakers, either scheduled or unscheduled, to three minutes and limits the public discussion portion of a meeting to one hour.

Colleen Wixon is the education reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers. Contact her at colleen.wixon@tcpalm.com.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Public can continue speaking at St. Lucie School Board for 3 minutes