Purpose
The Board, as a representative body of the district, welcomes the attendance of the public at its meetings.  The Board encourages appropriate public participation and recognizes the value to school governance of public comment on educational issues and the importance of involving members of the public in Board meetings.  Accordingly, the public is cordially invited to attend any public sessions of the Board. 

All Board meetings of the Upper Moreland School District are, by law, open to the public.  A single exception to this is when the Board meets in executive session for purposes outlined in Board Policy 006.  All official action of the Board, however, must be taken in at a public meeting. 

The Board also recognizes its responsibility for proper governance of the school district and the need for orderly meetings at which to conduct its business in an effective and efficient manner.  The Board meeting is the sole opportunity for the School Board to deliberate or take the required official actions related to the operation and business of the School District.  As such, the sole purpose of such meetings is for the Board to do the School District’s business.  The law requires that the Board’s deliberations and actions be done in a public setting (with exceptions) and be subject to public comment.  However, public participation at such meetings is specifically limited by the law.  What that means is that Board meetings are meetings of the Board held in front of the public, they are not meetings of the public.

In order that the Board may fairly and adequately discharge its responsibility to both operate the schools and provide opportunity for public expression, the Board hereby establishes guidelines to govern public participation in Board meetings necessary to conduct its meeting and to maintain order.

Guidelines
Board meetings are those meetings of the Board regularly scheduled on the fourth Tuesday of every month (regular meetings) or those meetings scheduled as needed for specific purposes (special meetings) or those called to address emergencies (emergency meetings), which are attended by a quorum (majority) of the Board members and held for the purpose of deliberating upon school district business or taking official action.

In order to permit fair and orderly expression of public comment, the Board shall provide an opportunity at each open Board meeting for residents and taxpayers to comment on matters of concern, official action or deliberation before the Board prior to official action by the Board.
When public participation is identified during the public Board meeting agenda, the presiding officer will invite comments from visitors.  Comments about agenda items or matters that the school board may consider are limited to approximately three (3) minutes.  All statements should be directed to the Board.  The public participation segment of the meeting is for citizen comments – not for question-answer, discussion or debate.  The Board is not obligated to respond, comment or vote on issues arising from public participation.  Groups should identify a single spokesperson so that repetition is avoided.  Citizens should state their name, organization, if any, and present their concerns or statements.  The presiding officer may announce a time limit for the comment period.
The presiding officer is responsible for the orderly and efficient conduct of the public Board meeting and will rule on the time and suitability of public presentations to the School Board.  The presiding officer at each public Board meeting shall follow Board policy for the conduct of public meetings.  Where his/her ruling is disputed, it may be overruled by a majority of those Board members present and voting.  The presiding officer may interrupt or terminate a public participant’s statement when the statement is too lengthy, personally directed, abusive, obscene, or irrelevant, request any individual to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum, request the assistance of law enforcement officers to remove a disorderly person when his/her conduct interferes with the orderly progress of the meeting, call a recess or adjourn to another time when the lack of public decorum interferes with the orderly conduct of the meeting, and/or waive these rules with the approval of the Board.
Members of the public should first consider whether their issue deserves the attention of the entire Board, administrative staff members, and the assembled public.  A contact to a school administrator can usually satisfy most concerns.  Appeals to the Board are appropriate only if the Superintendent has been unable to resolve a problem and the matter has been addressed to the appropriate Board Committee.  Not all issues may be deemed appropriate for public discussion.  The Board may request written correspondence or a private session.
Electronic recording devices and cameras, in addition to those used as official recording devices, shall be permitted at pubic meetings under guidelines established by the Board.  No placards or banners will be permitted within the meeting room.
Committee Meetings
Committee Meetings are those meetings conducted by a subset of the Board for the purpose of discussing District operations, such as Budget and Finance, Facilities and Operations, Human Resources, Policy and Programs and Services and making recommendations to the Board.  Unless specifically scheduled as such, Committee meetings are not Board meetings. 
The Board President shall assign the subset of Board members to each applicable Committee and appoint Committee chairs.  The chair of each Committee is responsible for the orderly and efficient conduct of the Committee’s meetings. 
At such meetings, each Committee will strive to entertain all comments and discussion from the public and address all questions at their meetings.  The Board strongly encourages public input and interaction at Committee Meetings. The discussion and debate that occurs at Committee meetings helps the Committee to make decisions on items to place on the Agenda for the Regular Board Meeting.
While encouraged, public input and interaction at Committee meetings is still subject to the guidelines of appropriateness and decorum expressed above as to Board meetings.