OLNEY INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT
809 W. HAMILTON
OLNEY, TX 76374
DR. GREG ROACH, SUPERINTENDENT
(940)-564-3519
Public Comment Period

The public comments period is the time for citizens, staff, or students to provide their comments to the board. The Texas Open Meetings Act requires that every meeting of a governmental body be open to the public, except for closed sessions as permitted by the statute.
A meeting that is “open to the public” under the Act is one that the public is entitled to attend. However, the Act does not give the public a right to speak at such public meetings, except to redress their grievances through the proper channels. As a courtesy to the public, the Olney I.S.D. Board of Trustees allows time for Public Comments at regular meetings of the board. Statements and questions from the audience will not be permitted during other portions of the meeting.

The Board requires that comments on any subject be courteous and respectful. As noted in its policy, the Board will not tolerate disruption of the meeting by members of the audience, this includes public comment speakers.

It is also a caution that your public comments should not complain about individual school employees by name or position, pursuant to Tex. Gov’t Code 551.074, unless that employee requests a public hearing after you have followed the District’s grievance procedures which are found in Board policy. The presiding officer is obligated to determine whether a person addressing the Board has attempted to administratively resolve any complaints or grievances about which they want to address the Board that involve District officers or employees; if that person has not sought to do so through the dispute resolution channels established by policy, he or she will be referred to the applicable policy in order to do so before addressing the Board at a future meeting. Complaints and concerns of employees are covered by policy DGBA; those of students or parents are covered by policy FNG; and those of the general public are covered by policy GF.

Olney I.S.D. Policy BED (Local) limits each speaker to 5 minutes to complete his or her comments, up to a maximum of 30 minutes for all of the Public Comments. If more than six speakers sign up, there will be a reduction of each speaker’s time to less than 5 minutes and delegations of more than five persons on one side of a particular subject will be asked to appoint one person to present their views.

With respect, all time limits will be strictly enforced. By law, the Olney I.S.D. Board of Trustees cannot lawfully discuss, deliberate, make comments, or make a decision on any matter raised in the public comment period which is not specifically listed on the Board agenda for this meeting.