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Court of Appeals denies hearing for Walker County Schools on public comments policy

Walker County Schools Superintendent Damon Raines has defended the school board's public commenting policy, which requires prospective speakers to meet with him prior to a board meeting. Justices in the U.S. District Court and the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals have ruled this policy to be unconstitutional.
Walker County Schools Superintendent Damon Raines has defended the school board's public commenting policy, which requires prospective speakers to meet with him prior to a board meeting. Justices in the U.S. District Court and the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals have ruled this policy to be unconstitutional. Walker County Schools Superintendent Damon Raines has defended the school board's public commenting policy, which requires prospective speakers to meet with him prior to a board meeting. Justices in the U.S. District Court and the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals have ruled this policy to be unconstitutional.

By Tyler Jett 5 min read

For the third time in three years, federal judges have ruled against the Walker County, Ga., school district’s public commenting policy.

U.S. Court of Appeals justices declined on May 2 to hold a rehearing in the district’s case against Jim Barrett, which the school system already lost twice. Barrett sued the district in 2015, arguing that its policies for how people can address the board of education violate the First Amendment.

photo Attorney Craig Goodmark, left, talks to the media Wednesday alongside Dr. Jim Barrett, Gerry Weber and Michael T. McGonigle outside the Walker County School Board in October 2017, after the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Barrett against the school system. Goodmark says Superintendent Damon Raines and the school board have wasted taxpayer money defending their public comment policy in court.

In February 2016, U.S. District Court Judge Harold Murphy agreed. The school board appealed.

In October, a three-judge panel in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld Murphy’s ruling. The school board appealed again, asking for another hearing. The justices said no.

“I don’t know how many federal judges have to tell him before the superintendent gets the message,” said Barrett, an eight-grade social studies teacher and the president of the Walker County Association of Educators. “At some point, the superintendent has to be held accountable. And the board needs to hold him accountable.”