Following months of raucous meetings during which public comment has at times gone on for upward of seven hours, the Washoe County School District (WCSD)’s legal counsel and board of trustees decided to have only one public comment period to follow the addressing of agendized board items.
After seeing that the agenda for the June 22 board meeting lists only one public comment period as one of the final agenda items, This Is Reno contacted district staff to verify that only one public comment period will be allotted.
WCSD spokesperson Vickie Campbell confirmed, saying, “In the past, the Washoe County School District Board of Trustees has provided an additional general public comment period at its regular meetings, above what is required by the Nevada Open Meeting Law. However, recent regular board meetings have been quite lengthy and such long meetings may potentially cause hardship on members of the public who desire to follow the noticed business of the District.
“As a result, President Dr. Angie Taylor in consultation with the Vice President, Clerk and legal counsel made the decision to restructure the meeting to allow general public comment after the noticed business items are completed. As always, members of the public will be able to give public comment on specific action items as they are considered by the Board during the meeting.
“This public meeting format complies with Open Meeting Law and will allow the Board to conduct a more effective business meeting.”
WCSD board of trustees meetings have, in recent months, gone on for more than 11 hours.
