Board Drops Plan to Limit Speakers
The president of the Ventura County Board of Education on Monday withdrew a plan to limit the number of times residents could address the board, a proposal that had drawn criticism from some as an attempt at censorship.
Wendy Larner did not explain why she withdrew her proposal, which would have limited the number of times an individual could speak at any one meeting. But speakers at Monday’s meeting had urged the board to reject the proposal, saying it was illegal under the state’s open-meeting laws.
Those laws, contained in the Brown Act, state that residents be given an opportunity to speak on a subject before a board takes action on it.
A limitation on the number of times an individual can speak could have precluded that right, said Rudy Petersdorf, an Ojai attorney who opposed Larner’s proposal.
The board also decided to table another proposal to create an opinion form on which residents could write their comments, instead of addressing the board.
The board will take up that matter at its June 12 meeting.
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