Public Comment at School Board Meetings
Requests to address the Robertson County School Board during the “Public Comment” portion of the meeting must be provided in writing with all required information (direction provided below) at least 48 hours prior to the School Board meeting.
1. Public comments are limited to issues related to items on the Board’s agenda requiring Board action.
2. The Board will not allow profane language, threats, loud comments, or excessive noise (to include jeers, shouts, and boisterous applause or demonstrations, as well as music, sound effects, and other noise from electronic devices) from the floor. Disruptive persons will be asked to leave the meeting room. In accordance with Tennessee Code Annotated § 39-17-306, any person who acts to prevent, obstruct, or interfere with any lawful meeting of the Robertson County School Board by physical action or verbal utterance shall be warned by the Chair, Vice Chair, or Board Attorney to discontinue those actions. Law enforcement may lawfully remove any person from the meeting who refuses to cease his or her acts of preventing, obstructing, or interfering with any such meeting.
3. The presiding Board officer or the Board Attorney may interrupt or terminate a presentation when its length has exceeded the three (3) -minute time limit, or when the presentation is obscene, threatening, profane, vulgar, unduly repetitive, or irrelevant to the business before the School Board.
4. The presiding Board officer or the Board Attorney may limit the total number of individuals recognized to speak on any side of any given issue to one (1) individual. Delegations shall select only one (1) individual to speak on their behalf unless otherwise determined by the Board.
5. Presentations may be collectively limited to thirty (30) minutes at the discretion of the presiding Board officer or the Board Attorney.
6. No person will present orally or discuss at an open meeting of the School Board complaints against individual employees or students.
7. This process does not apply to public hearings (to include zoning hearings and budget hearings) for which a sign-up sheet will be available on location.
Individuals wishing to speak before the School Board may do so electronically or by paper. Please complete a Public Comment Request Form, which can be found at this link if paper form is preferred. The physical form must be submitted in full in person at the Robertson County Board of Education, 800 M.S. Couts Boulevard, Springfield, TN 37172 no later than 4:00 pm on the Friday prior to the School Board meeting.
Alternatively, you may submit an electronic version of the form here. The electronic version of this form must be completed in full and submitted no later than 4:00 pm on the Friday prior to the School Board meeting.
Individuals submitting incomplete request forms will not be placed on the agenda to appear before the Board. Your request will be referred to the School Board Attorney for evaluation and review. Unless you are notified to the contrary, you will be placed on the “Public Comment” portion of the agenda subject to the guidelines listed above.
Public comment opportunities are available for the Board to hear from interested members of the community concerning the business of the Board. Board members and/or the Director of Schools do not provide responses or engage in direct conversation during public comment. If speakers wish to receive an answer to a specific question, inquiries should be directed to the appropriate district office. Before addressing the Board, individuals are urged to seek a solution to their concerns through the proper staff and administrative channels.