How To Address The Board

If you wish to address the Board on an agenda item, please obtain a card that is on the table along with the agenda; fill the card out completely and give it and any supporting materials (e.g. copies of your remarks, charts or graphs, copies of articles or reports) to the recording secretary sitting at the desk next to the dais. Please turn your card in prior to the presentation of the item you wish to address. The recording secretary will see that your card and materials are presented to the President of the Board of Education, who will call upon you at the appropriate time during the discussion of that agenda item. At regular meetings, the Board will follow this format for major agenda items:

• staff presentation

• preliminary Board and staff discussion

• community participation (public comments)

• Board deliberation and decision, if appropriate

During study sessions and special meetings, this format may vary.

PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS

If you wish to address the Board on an item that is not on the agenda, you may speak during the "GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT"  which generally is held at the first opportunity before otherwise regularly agendized Board items. Board members are legally prohibited from discussing non-agenda items and, therefore, will not respond to items presented during General Public Comments.

Board agendas are very full and time is limited. For that reason, we request that you speak only once on an item and that you limit your remarks either when addressing an agenda item or when speaking in the General Public Comment to a maximum of three minutes. If numerous individuals request to speak on a particular item or in the General Public Comment, the Board President may limit the total time allocated to that item, thereby reducing the time for each speaker.

POTENTIAL SERVICE DISRUPTIONS OR TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES DURING TELECONFERENCE MEETINGS If a service or technical disruption prevents the District from broadcasting the meeting, the District will pause the meeting and take no further action until the live broadcasting and public access to the meeting is restored. (Please note that this only applies to service or technical disruptions that prevent the District from properly broadcasting the meeting and do not apply to internet service or technical difficulties that individual members of the public may experience at their home or other off-site location.)

REQUESTING ITEMS ON AN AGENDA

Any Board member or member of the public may request that a matter within the jurisdiction of the Board be placed on the agenda of a regular meeting. The request shall be submitted in writing to the Superintendent or designee with supporting documents and information, if any, at least three weeks before the scheduled meeting date. Items submitted less than three weeks before the scheduled meeting date may be postponed to a later meeting in order to allow sufficient time for consideration and research of the issue.

The Executive Committee shall decide whether a request to place an item on the agenda is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Board. Items not within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Board may not be placed on the agenda. In addition, before placing the item on the agenda, the Executive Committee shall determine if the item is merely a request for information or whether the issue is covered by an existing policy or administrative regulation.

If the Executive Committee denies a request from a Board member to place an item on the agenda, the Board member may request the Board to take action to determine whether the item shall be placed on the agenda.

The Executive Committee shall also decide whether an agenda item is appropriate for discussion in open or closed session, and whether the item should be an action item subject to Board vote or an information item that does not require immediate action.

For the full text of Board Bylaw 9322, please click here.

AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the District will make reasonable arrangements to ensure accessibility to this meeting. If you need special assistance to participate in this meeting, please contact the Executive Assistant at the Gilroy Unified School District Office 48 hours prior to the meeting at (669) 205-4091.