The North Andover School Committee welcomes the attendance of community members to observe and offer public comment to the Committee as we conduct our meetings and deliberate over public business. 

Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 39 Section 23C governs public participation at open meetings of municipal government bodies as follows,

Section 23c.  No person shall address a public meeting of a governmental body without permission of the presiding officer at such meeting, and all persons shall, at the request of such presiding officer, be silent.  If, after warning from the presiding officer, a person persists in disorderly behavior, said officer may order him to withdraw from the meeting, and if he does not withdraw, may order a constable or any other person to remove him and confine him in some convenient place until the meeting is adjourned.

The Committee’s goal is to set aside a period of time at each regular business meeting to hear from the public.

The following are general rules for the Committee’s public comment period(s):

• Public Comment shall be for a period of up to 15-20 minutes and shall generally follow the opening of the meeting.  The Committee reserves the right to rearrange the agenda to accommodate scheduled presenters.
  
• From time-to-time the School Committee may designate public comment for a specific item(s) contained within the agenda.  In this instance, the Committee asks that comments relevant to the item(s) be held until such time as designated. 
  
• Public Comment is not a discussion, debate, or dialogue between citizens and the Committee.  It is a citizen’s opportunity to express his/her opinion on issues of School Committee business. 
  
• Individuals may address issues/items that affect the school district and are within the scope of responsibility of the School Committee.  
  
• No member of the community shall speak until recognized by the Chair. 
  
• Any citizen wishing to speak shall identify themselves by name and address.  In general, speakers are asked to limit remarks to two to three minutes.  The Chair may allocate additional time to enable the speaker to sufficiently present substantive information.
  
• All citizens shall speak to the full Committee through the Chair.   The Chair shall rule out of order any individual who fails to honor the guidelines or who addresses a matter inappropriate for public comment.
  
• Any Committee member may direct questions to the speaker through the Chair in order to clarify comments of the speaker.
  
• A group of citizens appearing at a meeting to express favor for or opposition to a particular agenda item should designate one member of the group as a spokesperson to be heard on the topic.  Other members of the group may be heard if they feel that they can contribute additional information regarding the topic.
  
• The Committee may respond to a public comment by:
• taking it under consideration when deliberating on an agenda item;
• referring the item to the administration for appropriate action or response; or,
• if the Committee believes that an issue requires a dialogue with the school district community, the Committee may either place it on a future agenda or schedule a separate public hearing on the issue.

Participants should be advised that the Committee and/or administrator’s may not be prepared to directly respond to citizen questions posed in this forum but the Chair may request that citizens put the question in writing to the appropriate person or body so that the matter is given proper consideration.