Public Comment

The Board views public comment as an opportunity to hear concerns of the public, with the understanding and expectation that it is not considered a question-and-answer platform with Board members. Consequently, the Board will not provide a response to public comment presented in its meeting or by submission of a written comment, although it may follow-up with the individual as may be appropriate.

Public comment will be received by the Board on issues relating to the school system, except those that pertain to individual personnel issues, complaints identifying individual students, matters that are on appeal, or advertising or solicitations for products or services. If individuals have specific concerns relating to actions of staff members, such concerns may be communicated to the Superintendent.

Allocated Public Comment Time:

• The Board will provide a maximum of 60 minutes for public comment at its meeting - 15 minutes for student comments and 45 minutes for general public comments.
• There is also an opportunity for public comment prior to the vote on any action item on the agenda, which shall be announced at each meeting. 
• There will be no additional time added for public comment at the end of Board meetings.
• In order to have an orderly presentation of comments by the public and to maximize the opportunity for public comment, students, individuals and organization representatives shall be limited to three (3) minutes for their public comment.

Pre-Registration:

For those persons wishing to speak, the Board will provide the opportunity to pre-register for public comment. The window to pre-register will open five (5) days in advance of each scheduled Board meeting concurrent with the public posting of the meeting agenda and will close two (2) days before the scheduled Board meeting. A person wishing to speak may pre-register by completing the form below or by calling (301) 696-6965.

Same-Day/Walk-In Registration:

For those persons wishing to speak who do not pre-register or who are not selected to speak from those who do pre-register, the Board will provide the opportunity to sign-up for public comment thirty (30) minutes prior to the start of the regular evening meeting. Speakers will be asked to provide the same information as those who pre-register by completing the registration form electronically on a device that will be made available by the Board for such purpose. Registration will close no later than five (5) minutes before the start of the meeting.

Written Comments:

Individuals are provided the opportunity to and encouraged to submit written comments electronically and email them to BoardPublicComment@fcps.org. Written comments must be submitted as a PDF attachment (strongly preferred) or a Microsoft Word document with the .doc or .docx extension and will be uploaded to BoardDocs as part of the official meeting record. Comments in the body of an e-mail will not be accepted.