Addressing The Board

Learn the True.  Do the Good.  Love the Beautiful.

Guidelines for Audience Opportunity to Address the School's Board.

Each regular meeting offers an opportunity for members of the audience to address the Board of Directors. To encourage and facilitate parent and community involvement in the school, the Board of Directors of St. Johns Classical Academy provides an opportunity for members of the audience to address the Board as follows:

1. Anyone who wishes to address the Board must complete a Public Comment Card and submit it to the Board chair prior to the start of the meeting. Once the Community Comment portion of the meeting begins, no additional cards will be accepted.

2. The Board Chair (or designee) will call on each speaker who has submitted a Public Comment Card, first calling on those addressing an item included in the current agenda, followed by those addressing topics not on the current agenda.

3. When called upon, please state your name and topic. All remarks should be addressed to the Board as a whole, not to any specific member(s) or to any person who is not a member of the Board.

4. If more than three individuals have organized to speak on the same topic, please designate a spokesperson who can summarize the issue.

5. Please limit your comments to three minutes. Longer time may be granted at the discretion of the Board chair.

6. During this agenda item (normally not to exceed 20 minutes, subject to the discretion of the chair), the Board and administration will listen to comments and ask clarifying questions if needed. The Board will not deliberate or take action regarding requests presented at this meeting. The Board Chair, upon determining a consensus of the Board, may delegate responsibility to the school’s administration or designee to follow up with the speaker within a few days following the meeting.

7. Comments and interactions between Board members and the public are expected to be respectful, courteous, professional, and civil. The Board Chair will be responsible for ensuring that interaction meets these standards and will disallow inappropriate interaction. Profanity, vulgarity or character abuse will not be permitted. The Board Chair or presiding officer has the authority to terminate the remarks of an individual that does not adhere to the established guidelines.

8. Speakers may not address criticism toward an individual school employee. Florida Open Meeting law prohibits the Board from discussing concerns about individual employees or students in a public meeting. Comments regarding individual employees or students should first follow the established school communication process outlined here, after which comments may be submitted to the Board Chair in writing.