Board of Education

The community is encouraged to attend Board of Education meetings, and contribute during the community participation periods. In all regular Board of Education meetings, the Board follows a set agenda that include two opportunities for community participation. Committee meetings and special meetings may have different community participation opportunities.

Meetings follow Robert’s Rules of Order. Based on those rules and District 109 Board policy, here are the procedures for public comment:

1. Members of the community who address the Board during community participation will speak from the podium or other speaking platform provided in front of the Board. You should introduce yourself and describe your relationship with the District (e.g., “Parent of children who attend Wilmot and Caruso,” or “Community member with no children in District 109 schools”).
2. Community participation is your opportunity to present information to the Board. The remainder of the meeting is for Board discussion.
3. You can comment once during each community participation period. During the first community participation period, please only address topics that are listed on the agenda so the Board can hear discussion about items on which they may take action during the meeting. The second community participation period, at the end of the meeting, is open to discussion of any topic. If you have questions or comments about what you heard during Board discussion in the meeting, please share it during the second community participation period.
4. If there are many people who would like to speak or other time considerations, the Board may choose to limit the first community participation period to 45 minutes; if there are a significant number of community members who would like to speak, the Board may also limit each individual’s comment period to two minutes in order to allow everyone an opportunity to be heard. The second community participation period will have no time limit. 
5. The Board will offer quick answers when possible. When questions require research or longer responses, or if time gets short, the Board or administration may follow up with answers either via email or by posting information online if appropriate.