Washoe County School District Board of Trustees is removing one of their public comment opportunities after multiple meetings had run well after midnight. 

The Trustees have removed the public comment opportunity at the beginning of the meeting in order to get through the business items on the agenda. 

The board wants to assure everyone that public comment altogether is not being removed, there will still be chances for the public to speak after every agenda item and at the very end of the meeting. Many of the public were not happy about the change fearing they wouldn't get a chance to be heard, but the board reassured them they will all have a chance to speak.

The removal led to a protest outside of Tuesday's meeting. Those protesting say WCSD is attempting to silence parents. "Superintendent McNeil and President Angie Taylor have decided they decided they want to silence those who don't agree with them," said John Eppolito of Protect Nevada Children.

Additionally two people were removed from the board meeting due to disruptions.

The school district released a statement on the removal of the initial public commentary, saying the long meetings could cause hardship on members of the public who want to follow the business of the meeting. 

"In the past, the Washoe County School District Board of Trustees has provided an additional general public comment period at its regular meetings, above what is required by the Nevada Open Meeting Law. However, recent regular board meetings have been quite lengthy and such long meetings may potentially cause hardship on members of the public who desire to follow the noticed business of the District," officials said. "As a result, President Angie Taylor, in consultation with the Vice President, Clerk and legal counsel, made the decision to restructure the meeting to allow general public comment after the noticed business items are completed. As always, members of the public will be able to give public comment on specific action items as they are considered by the Board during the meeting." 

The District says the change complies with Open Meeting Law. 

Below are the lengths of recent regular board meetings: 

  • March 30 - 8 hours 48 minutes
  • April 13 - 4 hours 55 minutes
  • April 27 - 6 hours 42 minutes
  • May 11 - 6 hours 42 minutes
  • May 25 - 8 hours 44 minutes
  • June 8 - 11 hours 19 minutes

There were two other agenda items that were discussed. The first one was changing bell and starting times for students at school to bring to the communities attention as a future idea for the school year of 2022-2023. The other item was covering the Washoe County School District's new strategic "Response Recovery" plan. It's a two-year action plan addressing the system-wide academic recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Both items were passed by the board in unanimous 6 - 0 votes.