The Newburgh Enlarged City School District Board of Education discussed proposed revisions to Policy 12-30, which would increase individual public-comment time from three to five minutes and shift nonagenda comments to an earlier point in meetings, then voted to send the item back to the policy committee for further review. Board President John Duray introduced the changes and described them as an effort to make meetings more community-focused.
The item was not adopted. After a period of discussion and legal clarification, the board voted to table the proposal and return it to the policy committee for additional revision and consideration at a future meeting.
Board members debated three main issues: the length of time allotted per speaker, whether to retain a second comment period at the end of meetings, and how the policy would treat comments mentioning individual employees or students. Duray said changing the allotment to five minutes reflected his long experience as a speaker: "I've always had 5 minutes ... 5 minutes to me is a fair amount of time for someone who shows up at a meeting, pays their taxes, works hard, sits there and waits for us, and gets to speak." Board member Mister Howard objected to shortening the end-of-meeting opportunity and warned that a two-minute end period would be insufficient for substantive remarks: "If you're gonna do it, make it substantive and give them 3 minutes."
Legal counsel provided a briefing on liability and privacy. Counsel said the district is immune from defamation claims arising from public speakers at a government-run public forum but noted that inconsistent enforcement (allowing praise by name while cutting off negative comments) could create municipal liability. Counsel also reviewed that parents generally control FERPA rights for their own children and that the board should be careful about follow-up conversations that stray beyond a parent's comments about their child: "The district isn't liable for defamatory comments made by a public speaker."
Members who serve on or lead the policy committee urged more work before adoption. The committee chair asked for the item to return to committee for further drafting and legal review; the board then voted to table the policy and bring a revised draft back at a future meeting. The roll call on the motion to table showed a majority in favor and recorded Miss Politi voting No. The precise votes were recorded in the board roll call during the meeting.
The board did not adopt Policy 12-30 at this meeting; the item will return to the policy committee for additional revision and legal review before a future vote.