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Parent Engagement
No Comment For You
LAUSD Board President Kelly Gonez leads the effort to silence speakers at the April 26th board meeting, violating the rights of her constituents.
- Overkill
In California, the Brown Act guarantees that stakeholders have the ability to address their representatives during public meetings. During “regular” meetings, public agencies like the LAUSD must include a public comment period for items not included on the agenda. There is no such requirement during “special” meetings, although this type of comment period is still permitted under the law as long as it is specified on the published agenda in advance of the meeting.
At all meetings, members of the public must also be given the ability to comment on items on the agenda. These comments are supposed to be relevant to the item being discussed by the public agency, but enforcing this rule is a slippery slope. To do so would require making a judgment call that the speaker is not only off-topic but that the contents have no relevance and that no effort will be made later in the speech to bring it back to the subject at hand. Who has the authority to make this decision and what assurance is there that it will be made without prejudice? Should a single person without oversight have the authority to diminish someone’s First Amendment right to address…