Iowa City school board hopes to adjust community comment

The manner in which community members can address issues in the Iowa City Community School District could change if a new proposal to adjust community comment passes over the next few months.

The Iowa City school board presented a first reading of a proposal Tuesday that would move community comments to the beginning of the meeting, rather than allowing three minutes for each person after every agenda item.

The new proposal would allow people to address agenda and non agenda items during the community comment period. Under the new proposal, each person would be allotted four minutes.

Board member Brian Kirschling said the proposal comes after extensive research of other boards and districts. He said he was surprised to see that Iowa City's allowance of community comment is more when compared to other districts.

'We've taken the time to study other school districts across the state,” he said. 'We've done a study of what, as a public entity, we are supposed to do.”

According to the data collected by the Iowa City school district's Policy Engagement Committee, in the Des Moines Community School District, community members are only given 15 minutes total during a public forum before the meeting begins. In the Davenport Community School District, each person is only allotted two minutes during the open forum or during 'pre-arranged approved presentations.”

Jackie Chace, a resident of North Liberty who has had kids in the school district for 15 years, spoke to the board Tuesday, waiting through the nearly five-hour meeting.

The wait is what Chace thinks could be improved by a new plan.

Since there is no limit to how many times a person can speak during a meeting, a handful of people speak after each agenda item, which, Kirschling said, can make for a very long meeting when the agenda is full.

'We want people to engage, we want people to speak,” he said. 'We also don't want people to wait to speak for four hours.”

While Chace said she thinks it's not a bad idea to revisit how community comment is conducted, she said she won't be happy if the current proposal is approved. She said she thinks the opportunity to speak after each agenda item is discussed is the most beneficial model.

'It's useful to have it with agenda items … so you [can] hear what they're saying,” she said.

It may be more helpful, Chace added, to place the more popular items that will garner the most discussion at the top of the agenda or limit the amount of times one person can speak during a meeting.

Kirschling said the plan will come back to the board with updates for a second reading in two weeks.

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