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You are Here: Fairfax County
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Board > School Board Information > Request
to Speak at a School Board Meeting
Request to Speak at School Board Meetings
The School Board welcomes comments from Fairfax County residents and provides an opportunity at each School Board regular business meeting and scheduled public hearings. So that the Board and the staff may have the advantage of further review of your comments, please bring 20 copies of your remarks to the meeting and give them to the Deputy Clerk upon your arrival. Your written remarks will be posted to the web page [in the Citizen Participation portion of the agenda] following the meeting.
If you wish to submit written testimony instead of speaking, please mail your comments to the School Board Office, 8115 Gatehouse Road, Suite 5400, Falls Church, VA 22042, or e-mail the School Board at SchoolBoardMembers@fcps.edu. Please provide your full name, home address, and home and work telephone numbers as applicable.
Regular Business Meetings
Ten (10) speaker slots are available at regular business meetings. Requests to speak at a regular business meeting on matters that are on the agenda for new business or action or that have been introduced for new business at a previous meeting, and have not yet been acted upon, must be submitted either online or by calling 571-423-1075 no later than 4:30 p.m. on the last business day prior to the meeting date to ensure your place on the speakers list.
The speakers list opens the Monday prior to the meeting (or the first business day of the week) at 6 a.m. and closes when the ten speaker slots are full or at 4:30 p.m. on the Wednesday prior to the meeting, whichever occurs first.. Online registration for speaking at regular business meetings is limited to one person per IP address (computer). If additional family members would like to register to speak and another computer (with a different IP address) is not available, they should call the School Board Office at 571-423-1075 no later than 4:30 p.m. on the last business day prior to the meeting date to ensure their place on the speakers list.
If ten speakers have not signed up by 4:30 p.m. on the last business day prior to the day of the meeting, an individual wishing to speak about matters not on the published agenda may come to the meeting and complete a request form, listing name, address, telephone number, organization represented (if appropriate), and the topic to be addressed. Such request forms are available from the Deputy Clerk of the School Board during the 30-minute period preceding the start of the meeting. Individuals may call the School Board Office on the day of the meeting to determine if slots are available.
Each speaker on the list shall limit his or her remarks to three (3) minutes. The Board expects that speakers deliver their comments with the decorum and respect appropriate to the conduct of the public's business. The School Board will not hear statements involving issues that have been scheduled for a public hearing [such as Capital Improvement Program, budget, and boundaries], or personal attacks on any person. Complaints regarding individual students or school-based employees should not be raised at public meetings. Any such concerns should be directed to the appropriate school principal or other school official.
Request to speak at a School Board business meeting.
Public Hearings
The School Board schedules public hearings on specific topics, such as Boundaries, Budget, and the Capital Improvement Program. Requests to speak at a public hearing must be submitted either on line or by calling 571-423-1075 by 4:30 on the last business day prior to the meeting date to ensure your place on the speakers list. If a public hearing is scheduled for a Saturday, the speakers list will close on the Thursday prior to the public hearing. The School Board Chairman shall decide when the speakers list is full, as it may require additional nights.
Only individuals who have signed up in advance will have an opportunity to speak at public hearings (unless a speaker who has signed-up agrees to permit someone to substitute on their behalf). Each speaker on the list shall limit his or her remarks to three minutes. The Board expects that speakers deliver their comments with the decorum and respect appropriate to the conduct of the public's business. Speakers at public hearings must limit their remarks to the topic germane to the public hearing. Public hearings scheduled for 2009-2010.
The sign-up for the public hearing on the FY 2011 Advertised Budget, scheduled on January 25, 26, and 27, closed at 4:30 p.m. Friday, January 22, 2010.