Fredericksburg School Board Considering Revisions to Public Comment Policy
The revisions will provide "greater clarity and more specificity" to the public comment process, staff said.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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The Fredericksburg School Board is considering revisions to its policy governing public comments that are designed to provide “greater clarity and more specificity” to the process, deputy superintendent Matt Eberhardt said on Monday.
Policy BDDH, titled “Public Participation in School Board Meetings,” was adopted in 1992 and last revised in August of 2024. The revisions now under consideration were written in consultation with a team of attorneys, Eberhardt emphasized.
“As we all know, freedom of speech is protected by the Constitution,” he said. “So there is considerable opinion and law on the matter, and we needed to make sure this was super clean.”
The goal of the revised policy is to “explain an orderly process” for citizens to follow when providing public comment, Eberhardt said.
The proposed revisions specify who is eligible to address the School Board and state that comments “shall be addressed to the entire School Board and not to individual Board members, the Superintendent, staff, or other members of the audience;” that speakers should maintain “civility, decorum and respect;” that “complaints regarding division employees should be directed to the appropriate school division official;” and that “comments that amount to a personal attack against any School Board member … are not allowed.”
The revisions grant responsibility for the “orderly conduct of the meeting” to the School Board Chair. They state that “when reasonable,” the Chair will warn speakers of the rules prior to ruling an action as “out of order” or terminating speaking privileges.
They state that “inappropriately conversations or outbursts” from audience members “will not be tolerated,” and that groups or individuals who cause such disturbance or threaten the safety of anyone in the meeting “will be asked to leave.”
The Chair can call for a recess and the School Board can vote to suspend public comments “when individuals or groups fail to comply with these rules,” according to the proposed revisions.
Eberhardt presented the policy revisions as an information item and said the Board would vote on whether to adopt them at a later meeting, possibly in April.
School Board member Jarvis Bailey, At Large, thanked Eberhardt and staff for taking a look at the public comments policy and said he thinks the policy should include more specifics about what constitutes “a personal attack” against another board member. He suggested that personal attacks could include “accusations regarding an individual’s character, motives, integrity, personal life, or conduct unrelated to school business.”
Bailey also suggested that the policy could restrict public comments to school division business and “matters within the jurisdiction of the Fredericksburg School Board.”
“This prevents things like rumors and unsolicited grievances, because that’s not within our jurisdiction,” he said.
School Board Chair and Ward 2 representative Katie Pomeroy stressed to the public that the Board is not attempting to “limit the free exchange of ideas between the community and us here on the Board.”
“The First Amendment is something that is very important to all of us,” she said.
Fiscal Year 2027 Budget
Also on Monday, the Board approved the budget request for fiscal year 2027, which begins July 1, by a vote of 4-to-1. The $68.4 million operating budget assumes $40 million in revenue from the City of Fredericksburg—a $2.7 million increase over the current fiscal year—and $22.5 million from the state.
It includes a 7% “compensation adjustment” for school division staff and the addition of two English learner teachers, one gifted education teacher, a CTE teacher, and three special education instructional assistants, among other new positions.
Ward 3 representative Annie Langdon voted against the budget.
“I wasn’t comfortable voting ‘yes’ on the proposed budget as I’m not yet satisfied with the salary increase for our teachers and staff,” Langdon told the Advance in a text message Tuesday. “There’s more conversation to be had if we want FCPS to truly be competitive with surrounding counties.”
Ward 1 representative Andrew Wolfebarger voted for the proposed budget, but said Monday that he is “willing to ask our funding body [City Council] for more money than what is in this budget request,” specifically for employee compensation.
City Manager Tim Baroody is expected to present his budget to Council next week.
This story was updated on March 3 at 6:30 p.m. to correct Annie Langdon’s ward representation.
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