Individuals are invited to attend School Board meetings and become informed about the operation of Prince William County Public Schools or address the Board during Citizens Comment Time. Citizens may request to be placed on the list of speakers by submitting the Citizen Comment Time Form or contacting the Clerk at 703-791-8709 starting at 8 a.m. on the Saturday immediately preceding the School Board meeting at which the citizen wishes to speak. Speakers will be signed up on a first-come, first-served basis, ending at noon on the day of the meeting. The sign-up list will close once the total number of speakers reaches 30, and there will be no sign-up thereafter, nor at the meeting. The citizen comment period for regular School Board meetings is limited to one hour for comments on agenda items or other topics germane to the operations and policies of PWCS. Speakers are limited to three minutes each. If more than 20 citizens request to speak at a meeting, the time allotted to speak shall be adjusted to two minutes each. Additional time allowance may be provided for speakers requiring translation assistance, as determined at the discretion of the Chairman At-Large. Speakers who require interpreter services must notify the Clerk of the same and provide their name and contact information at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting.
All speakers must provide their address, business or organization’s mailing address, and phone number or email address in order to verify their residency in Prince William County and permit the Clerk to contact residents if necessary. Residents of the county with no fixed address may also add their name to the list of speakers and shall provide the Clerk with a means to contact them. Personal contact information provided to the Clerk for this purpose is not available to the media or members of the public requesting the same under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), unless citizens have indicated their approval for such release when signing up to speak. (The substance of emails and videotaped comments are considered public records subject to disclosure under FOIA.) Speakers must also identify the agenda item or issue of public concern upon which they will be speaking.
Speakers who require interpreter services must notify the Clerk of the same and their name and contact information, either by phone or email, at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting. Citizens who may require other reasonable accommodations to access a School Board meeting or Citizen Comment time should make their request by submitting their information using the Reasonable Accommodation Request Form for Citizens Form. Please note that completion of the Reasonable Accommodation Request Form does not constitute completion of the Citizen Comment Time form. Citizens may request to be placed on the list of speakers by submitting the Citizen Comment Time Form or contacting the Clerk at 703-791-8709 starting at 8 a.m. on the Saturday immediately preceding the School Board meeting at which the citizen wishes to speak.
Alternatives to addressing the Board during Citizens Comment Time are also available. Written comments may be presented to the Board at any time by mailing such materials to the School Board Office, P.O. Box 389, Manassas, VA 20108, or by delivery to the Edward L. Kelly Leadership Center, 14715 Bristow Rd., Manassas, VA 20112.
Electronic communications may be addressed to the entire Board at [email protected], or to individual School Board members using the contact forms listed on the School Board website. Citizens are also strongly encouraged to provide the School Board with their input on matters relating to the school division through the Citizen Public Comment Form. In addition, videotaped communications are welcomed and may be submitted to the Prince William County School Board through the procedures provided by the Office of the School Board Clerk and published on the School Board website.
For further information, please refer to Policy 134, "Citizen Participation."