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Tennessee Conservative News Staff –
Montgomery County residents are criticizing the Clarksville-Montgomery County School Board for new limitations placed on individuals attending public meetings.
Changes to the Board policies regarding public comment and signs come after a number of tense meetings have taken place and individuals have been removed, specifically connected to people speaking to the Board about the Kenwood Middle School bus crash and the obscene materials charges against former teacher Matthew Vedder, husband of Director of Schools Dr. Jean Luna-Vedder.
At the school board’s June 16 meeting, the room was cleared of the public altogether after a number of disruptions.
Later during that same meeting, the Board voted in favor of changing the amount of speaking time given to an individual, lowering it from five minutes to three minutes. They also voted to no longer allow individuals to allot any of their remaining time to another speaker.
In July, an individual was removed from that meeting for disrupting the meeting multiple times, while other attendees walked the room, holding signs. The led Board members to adjust the rules a second time at their most recent meeting on August 18, prompted by a proposal from board member and State Representative Aron Maberry.
During the Board’s August 4 study session, Maberry proposed that new policies go into effect that would ensure that no individual can “disrupt, interrupt, distract from, or interfere with a recognized speaker’s presentation.”
As written, the new policy details that individuals can be removed from the meeting if they make loud comments or noises, hold up a sign behind or near a speaker, or block someone’s view of the meeting. It also requires that anyone choosing to hold a sign must remain seated while doing so.
The vote in favor of the new rules was not unanimous, with member Carol Berry voting against them and Kent Griffy choosing to abstain.
Berry stated, “I just think that the people are expressing themselves, and that’s a good thing. And we should not be afraid of them because they’re just like us. They have minds, they have hearts and they care.”
While Maberry stressed that the Board was simply trying to maintain decorum, County Commissioner David Shelton was critical of the change, stating that it seemed the Board was “far more concerned with how parents express their concern rather than addressing the concerns that the parents are upset about.”
Sources:
https://tennesseeconservativenews.com/?s=Matthew+Vedder
