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Godley Independent School District - Empowering Students

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Meeting Protocols

Facilitating a safe and transparent environment at school board meetings

In Godley ISD School Board Policy BE(LEGAL), under Recording By Attendee, School Board Policy states:

“A person in attendance may record all or any part of an open meeting of a board by means of a recorder, video camera, or other means of aural or visual reproduction. A board may adopt reasonable rules to maintain order at a meeting, including rules relating to the location of recording equipment and the manner in which the recording is conducted. A rule adopted under this provision may not prevent or unreasonably impair a person from exercising a right granted under this provision. Gov't Code 551.023”

The primary responsibility of a school board meeting is to conduct the business of the school district. Facilitating a safe and secure environment for our board members, administration, employees, students, and community attendees is vital to that charge, and helps ensure that all stakeholders, regardless of their background, can actively participate in the meeting without fear of discrimination, intimidation, bias, or ridicule. When stakeholders feel safe and secure, they are more likely to express their opinions, concerns, and ideas openly and honestly. We believe this transparency will promote effective communication, collaboration, and decision making, which can lead to better outcomes for our students.

Unfortunately, facilitating a safe and secure environment in today’s politically charged, polarized, and sometimes divisive climate can be challenging. As a district we do not believe our students or school district should be politicized or used to advance radical agendas, especially from individuals who don’t have a student in GISD or who don’t live in our district. In some cases, stakeholders or participants may face harassment, intimidation, or personal attacks if meetings are not conducted in an orderly fashion. Participants are more likely to attend and engage in meetings if they believe their contributions will be heard and respected, not ridiculed.

To help ensure our Godley school board meetings are safe, secure, and orderly for our district stakeholders, we have developed the following expectations and standards to help promote efficient and effective meetings.

1.    Godley ISD values community stakeholder input, and the district shall have multiple methods for stakeholders to communicate with the district and school board. Some methods for community stakeholders to communicate with GISD include, but are not limited to, directly speaking with a district representative closest to the situation, email, telephone, parent square direct message, submitting a question or feedback on the GISD website via “ASK Godley ISD,” direct social media message on an official GISD social media page, community Wildcat Talks event.

2.    All community attendees shall sign in when entering the meeting.

3.    Godley ISD recognizes GISD students, GISD student parents & guardians, GISD teachers, residents, and community business owners whose businesses reside inside GISD boundaries as community stakeholders. GISD does not recognize individuals who reside outside of the district boundaries and who do not qualify above as GISD stakeholders.

4.    Although GISD values community input, a school board meeting is not usually the best place to provide feedback or input to the district. Board meetings are for the purpose of the school board and superintendent to carry out the business of the district.

5.    Godley ISD recognizes that the Texas Open Meetings Act is an attendance law, not a participation law.

6.    Public input during a board meeting will be confined to the public comment portion of the meeting governed by BED(LOCAL). Outside of the public comment portion of the meeting, attendees will not be permitted to interrupt a meeting with comments, questions, or audible utterances.

7.    Godley ISD administration may designate a specific area(s) for attendees to sit/stand during the meeting to allow for the public to be present for an orderly meeting without any unnecessary distractions. Attendees must stay in the designated area at all times.

8.    Godley ISD administration may designate a specific recording area to allow free recording access of all or any part of an open meeting to public attendees, without distracting the other members that are there to observe the meeting or interfering with the District’s recordings that are required by law. All public recordings must be made from the designated area.

9.    Godley ISD records all board meetings and we post recordings conveniently on the GISD web page. We encourage our general public that are not able to attend a meeting in person to view the official recording of our school board meeting from our district website. Other unofficial recordings could be compromised or edited.

10.  Godley ISD is committed to providing our Godley community with access to school board meetings. If an attendee causes a disruption to a board meeting, GISD will attempt to exhaust every avenue prior to removing an attendee from a meeting. Disruptions could include, but are not limited to, use of foul or abusive language, side conversations that disturb other attendees, blocking the view of another attendee, interrupting the meeting with interjections, comments, questions, or audible utterances, harassing or intimidating other attendees, acting in a non-professional manner, or other frequent or flagrant disruptive behaviors.

11.  If an attendee exhibits disruptive behavior, GISD may exercise the following strategies in order of disruption, unless the behavior is egregious in nature and requires immediate removal:

a.    Issue a Verbal Warning

b.    Issue a Written Warning

c.     Remove from the meeting

d.    Assign attendee to an alternate remote location

e.    Issue a Trespass Warning