School Board Asks New Limits

The Ventura County Board of Education today will consider limiting the number of times an individual can address the board, one month after it placed other limits on public comments.

Board President Wendy Larner of Ojai will also ask board members to approve creation of an opinion form for audience members who prefer submitting comments in writing.

And she will also seek to allow an individual to speak only once at a meeting, a request she placed on today’s agenda. That meeting starts at 6 p.m. in the county school board’s meeting room at 5189 Verdugo Way, Camarillo.

Larner was not available for comment Friday. But in the past, she has said she will try to curtail public comment periods that drag on for hours.

Meetings in the past three months have gone well beyond the board’s appointed 9 p.m. adjournment time. People have packed the normally sparsely attended meetings since the board voted in March to suspend the use of Planned Parenthood and AIDS Care speakers at sex education workshops for teachers.

At its April 24 meeting, the board voted to limit public comment to a maximum of one hour. If more than 15 people have submitted cards stating that they wish to speak, the board agreed, the speakers’ cards would be randomly drawn until the time limit is reached.

The new restrictions do not sit well with some residents.

“They already restricted public comment last month and now they’re going to try to do it again,” said Rudy Petersdorf, a retired Ojai attorney. “Obviously, the reason is they want to gag us.”

Petersdorf is part of a group that is seeking to recall Larner. Another group is attempting to recall Larner’s board colleague, Angela N. Miller of Ventura.