You can listen now to our latest Boardhawk Podcast episode, either by clicking on the embed below or through your preferred podcast service.
In this episode, Alan Gottlieb and Alexis Menocal Harrigan debate the recent decision by the Denver school board to place stringent limits on monthly public comment sessions. Until public comment has been the most direct and effect means by which members of the public could address the school board. Until the fall of 2023, public comments had no time limits, other than a three-minute limit on individual speakers. Now, not only are speakers limited to two minutes, but other limits have been placed on topics that can be addressed and the amount of time devoted to each topic.
Some board members now say they believe they went too far with their limits, and will revisit them in April. Others say that newly implemented community conversations (two per board member per year) will prevent an opportunity for members of the public to engage in dialogue with board members in a smaller, more intimate setting.
As Gottlieb says in this episode, the timing of these limitations is especially unfortunate, given the unsettling national political environment. “When we have an increasingly authoritarian federal government trying to limit dissent, and limit free speech, for an ostensibly progressive school board to be also limiting public access, curtailing the amount of time people can speak, is just a bad look and they really shouldn’t be doing it.”
