Important Note Regarding Public Comment at Board Meetings
Per Board policy BEDH, time is scheduled during regular Board meetings for brief comments and questions from the public.
Public comment for the Board meeting is available via telephone and in person. If the room reaches the capacity limit, visitors will have to remain outside until the Public Comment portion of the meeting. Public comment may also be submitted by calling 970-613-6776 between the hours of 7:00 am and 3:00 pm on the day of the meeting. If public comment is via telephone, in order for your message to be played back at the Board meeting you must provide your name, city of residence, indicate if you are a Thompson School District student, and the topic of your comment. Provide a method of contact at the conclusion of your message in case you need to be reached. Please note that the personal information you provide will be played back with your message during the meeting. Due to procedures, if this information is not provided, the message will not be played back during the meeting.
Messages may not exceed three (3) minutes in length and a speaker may only record one message for consideration to be played at the next scheduled regular Board Meeting.
The nature and subject matter of in-person comments and recorded messages shall comply with the requirements of Board Policy BEDH-R and the Board’s public participation statement, including the following:
Priority Order of Speakers
The Board values the participation of students and acknowledges that the timing of regular meetings may not be conducive to student participation. As such, students of Thompson School District will be given priority in the order of speakers who sign up to participate in the regular meeting. All speakers who are District students will be scheduled to speak first, then all other speakers. Student speakers will be prioritized in the order in which the student speakers signed up to speak.
Orderly Conduct
- Speakers are responsible for their own speech.
- Speakers’ remarks should be suitable for an audience that includes kindergarten through twelfth grade students.
- Interruption or other interference with the orderly conduct of Board business by a speaker and/or audience member(s) will not be allowed.
- Any person who disturbs order may be required to leave the meeting.
Time Limit for Speakers
- No person should speak for more than three minutes
- When large numbers of speakers request permission to speak at the regular meeting, the Board may equally shorten the time limit for each speaker.
- When a large number of speakers request permission to speak at the regular meeting, the Board president may limit the amount of time for Public Comment at the start of the regular meeting and move the remaining speakers or groups of speakers speaking on a similar topic to the end of the regular meeting.
For public comment that is provided virtually, the Secretary to the Board of Education will review all saved recorded messages to verify compliance with Policy BEDH and BEDH-R these procedures. The Secretary to the Board of Education will cut any recorded message that unreasonably exceeds the allotted three (3) minutes at the most logical break in the speaker’s message. Recorded messages that otherwise do not conform to the requirements of Policy BEDH and these procedures will be disregarded and deleted. Only pre-recorded voice messages saved to the mailbox associated with the telephone number stated above prior to the expiration of the deadline established will be played during the time reserved for brief comments and questions from the public at the next scheduled regular Board meeting.
Students, families, staff and community members are always welcome to reach out to the Board via e-mail at any time. To do so, please send your message to: info@thompsonschools.org.
