A group that wants to make it easier for the public to comment at Hamilton County school board meetings is asking for the public’s help in reaching that goal.
UnifiEd has been calling people at home and urging them to call, email and come to Thursday evening’s school board meeting to show their support for the group’s proposed change to the public comment portion of such meetings. The Chattanooga nonprofit organization formed about a year ago with the goal of getting people more involved in Hamilton County’s schools.
UnifiEd wants people to be able to sign up the night of each school board meeting to speak about items on the agenda — instead of needing approval from school officials 72 hours ahead of time.
The group also wants the school board to set aside up to an hour at each meeting’s end for people to discuss non-agenda items.
UnifiEd’s Executive Director Elizabeth Crews issued a news release Monday that said of the 11 major Tennessee school districts whose policies UnifiEd examined, those in seven counties allowed for public comment on agenda items without public notice: Bradley, Knox, Shelby, Rutherford, Johnson City, Kingsport and Sullivan counties.