Board members approved the change by consent Nov. 17, amending the policy to limit the amount of time speakers have to address the board from three minutes to two, and it will no longer allow speakers to address the board virtually.
Trustees amended the local policy to refer to the regulation version of policy BED, which will allow public comment that previously would have been shared virtually to be taken via recorded phone message—in essence, a voicemail.
"I know last month, we told you that we were going to be doing the new public comment system where you called in and made your recordings ahead of time," board President Amber Feller said. "There are actually policies that did not jive with that. We had to actually make some changes to our policy to jive with what the board wanted to happen. Otherwise, we would have implemented a procedure that was going against our own policies."
RRISD General Counsel Cindy Hill said an explanation of the new policy is forthcoming and will be shared with the community once it is ready.
"Basically, there's not going to be our virtual video call-ins," Hill said. "You can either show up here and speak in person, or you can record on a phone, and we will play that back."
The new policy for recorded messages will go into effect at the board's Dec. 13 meeting, Feller said. In the meantime, for meetings scheduled Nov. 22 and Dec. 8, speakers will only be able to address the board in person.
