Walker County School Board accepts new Public Participation Policy

WALKER COUNTY, Ga. (WDEF) – In a planning session Tuesday night, the Walker County School Board voted to accept a new Public Participation Policy for people wanting to address the school board.

A policy, Superintendent Damon Raines said that they feel will not be challenged in court, like the old policy.

“The whole policy was challenged. The one point they ruled on, we changed tonight. So we feel very confident. That that’s not going to be challenged in the future. That’s a good place to be. That gets us back to where we have the ability for the public to speak without having to worry about whether or not that’s gonna go to court again,” Raines said.

Raines said the previous policy did not have a time frame.

But a time frame is laid out in the draft of the new one.

It reads that the Superintendent or designee shall meet with a concerned citizen or employee within five days of a written request.

“I have five days to set the meeting, then I have five days to get back with them and it may not last five days. It maybe one day. It may be at the initial meeting that I say there’s not a solution I can come up with, if you want to be on the board submit that in writing, I’ll put you on the board agenda,” Raines said.

The Walker County Association of Educators President Dr. Jim Barrett filed the complaint a couple years ago saying the old policy was unconstitutional.

And, This new policy drafted up he said is “a step toward another lawsuit.”

“When the chain of command is the issue and employees need to speak up on behalf of students, this policy makes it much more restrictive and its opened up a very wide interpretation of what public interest is, all of which is going to get challenged eventually,” Barrett said.

Parent Buddy Presley said he’s happy there is now a policy in place and plans to address the board soon.

“I’m glad. I’m thrilled that we have one now, because we haven’t had one and I’m glad that they finally got the energy enough to do it, to get it finished,” Presley said.

Raines said they have not had a policy since the old one was in litigation.