A new state law in Arkansas requires each public school district to afford members of the public with a stake in the school district an opportunity to address matters “within the powers and duties of the board of directors.”
Senate Bill 90, sponsored by state Sen. Jane English, R-North Little Rock, was signed into law April 21 as Act 902 and allows a member of the public who resides within the district; is a parent, legal guardian or one who stands in loco parentis to a student; or is employed by the district to offer public comment within the first 30 minutes of a school board meeting. If the public comment period exceeds 30 minutes, the board may move comments that are not on the agenda for action to a later time in the meeting.
The Pine Bluff School District will begin public comments July 1, Board President Sederick Charles Rice said during Monday’s board meeting. Superintendent Jennifer Barbaree said the district currently has a policy for public comment that allows for anyone who wants to speak to submit a request to the board president or superintendent, but under the new law, a sign-up sheet will be available to the public until the start of the meeting. Board meetings in the PBSD usually begin at 6:30 p.m. every fourth Monday of the month.
Public comment has rarely, if ever, been included in school board meetings within Jefferson County in recent years. The Arkansas Board of Education reinstated PBSD’s board in late 2022, four years after it was dissolved due to fiscal distress, and the board has met every month since January 2023. The board obtained full local control in September 2023.
Rice brought up the idea for incorporating public comment in school board meetings months earlier but introduced a policy for the PBSD in response to Act 902 at Monday’s meeting.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“We want to make sure we maintain the integrity of this board and also the public perception as a board,” Rice said. “I’ve seen policies like this documented in different communities across the United States, and unfortunately some of those cases have led to cases. You have people from either different cities or different counties coming in and making inflammatory comments.”
Rice issued a revised policy on public comment for the PBSD:
“There should be one opportunity for the public to address the school board during any given school board meeting. The time limit for these presentations should be three minutes for each speaker. Any person who desires to make a three-minute presentation as a public speaker shall sign before the meeting, and a speaker list will be given to the chair to read at 6:30 p.m., and speakers will be invited to the podium, in order to sign up. If any speaker signs up before the meeting and they are not present, they will not be allowed to provide public comments if they return after their name is called.
“No action should be taken on a speaker’s topic unless otherwise indicated on the agenda. The chair should request that each member of the public speaking should address the board and state their first and last name for the record. Speakers’ remarks should be directed to the presiding officer of the board as a whole and not any individual board member; otherwise the speaker may be ruled out of order and asked to yield the podium. Board members will not engage in dialogue with speakers.”
Any speaker who comments on anything other than the topic for which they have signed up or a matter not related to the school board may be ruled out of order, Rice added. Speakers are also asked to avoid slanderous or profane comments.
“All comments should be made in a manner that respects the citizens as a form and should not be made in a belligerent, demeaning or sarcastic manner,” Rice continued. “All remarks should be directed to the Pine Bluff School District board of directors as a body, rather than any member of the board, superintendent, Pine Bluff School District staff, student or member of the audience and should only be limited to only matters the Pine Bluff School District board can influence.”
Rice said the law is very important to offer the public an opportunity to speak but wants the board to make sure decorum is maintained.
Other pieces of legislation signed into state law were highlighted during the PBSD meeting:
Act 503, sponsored by Rep. Brit McKenzie, R-Rogers, alters the length of board terms from “three to five years” to “four or six years” and moves elections to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March each year.
The PBSD drew election lots for its board members, each of whom represents one of seven boards, in the fall of 2023, with each term on the board to last five years. Last November Bonita Corbin, who succeeded a departing board member, kept her Zone 6 seat after running unopposed, and Patrick Lockett won the Zone 7 seat after the incumbent announced she would not run for reelection.
According to the current election schedule, Jomeka Edwards in Zone 1 is up for election this November, LozAnne Calhoun in Zone 2 in November 2026, Ricky Whitmore Jr. in Zone 3 and Charles Colen in Zone 5 in November 2027 and Rice in Zone 4 in November 2028. Under the new law, a term expiring in 2026 will still expire in 2026, a term expiring in 2027 will expire in 2026, and a term expiring in 2028 will still expire in 2028. The expiration of each term is to be arranged so that an equal number of positions are filled every school board election, according to the new law.
Barbaree said she has reached out to the Arkansas School Boards Association for more guidance on the new law. She said the association is to meet with the school board in a work session Tuesday.
Also, Act 53, which was House Bill 1236 sponsored by Rep. Joey Carr, R-Blytheville, allows a public school employee to be released from his or her contract by May 15 upon written request, or if May 15 falls on a weekend, the “signed, written request” is to be submitted before the end of business the Friday before that date.