The Pleasant Valley School Board is considering a change to reduce the amount of time citizens can address the school board during public participation at meetings.

The changes to Policy 903 were presented to the board by Superintendent James Konrad at their meeting on Thursday, but were met with some resistance.

Currently, citizens are given one hour at the beginning to talk about agenda items only, and one hour at the end to talk about non-agenda items, and they can talk about multiple topics. Each person has 3 minutes to talk to the school board. If they are not finished talking and everyone else has been heard, then they can return to the podium to finish their thoughts.

The change would limit the public comment period to 30 minutes at the beginning and 30 minutes at the end. Citizens would still be given 3 minutes to talk, but they would only be allowed to talk about one topic. If they run out of time, they cannot return to the podium to finish, no exceptions.

Many of the school board directors voiced objections to the changes.

Director Teresa Greggo said she was concerned about the one topic per person and only 30 minutes total per public comment period. She asked for an explanation.

Konrad said, “The adjustment recommended for this policy was so that one person doesn’t dominate the conversation.”

He continued that it is important to maintain that 3-minute per person allotment, but he is concerned that a person will come up excessively in that hour to continue his or her comments.

“Is that a conversation that is best to be discussed in a different setting than at a board meeting,” Konrad said.

Konrad said he is always willing to meet with people in his office. They can email him or call. There is also an open discussion period with the school board 30 minutes before the district planning meetings.

Konrad added that the school board meetings are getting “quite lengthy” with staff acknowledgments and the Students of the Month presentations during the school year. The Students of the Month presentations were instituted after Konrad became superintendent.

Director Todd Kresge said, “I don’t agree with limiting them to 30 minutes in the first section or 30 minutes for the second. They’re community members. They deserve to have the time that they’re allowed.”

Kresge said that usually the citizens don’t need an hour for comments. Konrad agreed saying that it is another reason why he thinks 30 minutes is sufficient.

“I don’t think these changes would have a dire impact on what’s currently happening in the board meetings,” Konrad said.

Director Norm Burger said, “From my perception, I don’t think there’s much to be gained from changing the hour to 30 minutes. I’m just in favor of leaving it as is. I’m recommending that we not change it.”

“I have a problem with it saying one topic per person,” said school board President Sue Kresge.

Kresge said she thinks she understands what Konrad was trying to do with the change and recognizes that there is a caveat that allows the board to give extra time if it is warranted. Her issue is the one topic per person.

“If there’s a couple things on the agenda that they want to talk about, they should still have that 3 minutes to talk about whatever is on the agenda,” she said.

School board Vice President Michael Galler said he didn’t think the length of the comment period was a problem.

“Why are we even bringing this up,” he asked. “Why is this even being talked about? Why is the policy committee even recommending this change?”

Director Diane Serfass said the Policy Committee considered dropping the time down to 30 minutes, because of the public forum added to the district planning meetings and the public response added to the website.

There wasn’t any vote taken concerning the changes to the policy, because it was the first reading of them. The school board votes at its next meeting when it is the second reading of a policy change.