Greg MartinYou can stand at the podium and share your thoughts with the Hamilton County School Board - provided you submit a written request 72 hours beforehand to get on the agenda.
A standing-room-only crowd of upset teachers learned the hard way in late August when they weren't able to address the board before it approved higher out-of-pocket health insurance costs and reduced health insurance access for teachers' spouses. No teachers had signed up in time to speak.
The policy is something school board member Greg Martin would like the board to review.
"I think we need to have transparency in a grander and greater way," Martin during Thursday night's meeting. "I think we ought to have a forum where people can speak to us."
But Martin's motion to review the policy, which also included him suggesting to have a teachers union member speak at the end of Thursday night's meeting, died for lack of support.
Afterward, Martin explained he'd like to scrap the 72-hour requirement.
"What I would like to see happen is the public have access to address the board at the end of the meeting," Martin said. He acknowledged that might not have made teachers any happier at the August meeting, since they wanted to speak before the board voted.
Ann Bates, the longtime executive assistant to the school board, said the school board hasn't had a public comment period since the city and county schools consolidated in the mid-1990s. One downside to a public comment period, she said, is that meetings can drag on for hours.
"I literally have been to board meetings until 3 o'clock and 4 o'clock in the morning," Bates told Martin after the meeting.
Bates said some school districts avoid that by meeting one day to set the agenda and hear public comment with a meeting another day to vote.
Allowing public comment at school board meetings appeals to Elizabeth Crews, the chief executive director of UnifiED, a new Chattanooga nonprofit that aims to get people more involved in Hamilton County's schools. One of its goals is to increase the school district's transparency.
"We think there should absolutely be an open comment section," said Crews.
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/tim.omarzu or twitter.com/TimOmarzu or 423-757-6651.