Manatee school board member hopes to curb ‘disparaging conduct’ at meetings

The School Board of Manatee County has struggled to find a balance between maintaining order and welcoming public input, especially from the most vocal critics. That debate is likely to resume as board members review their bylaws on Tuesday evening.

Florida law allows the chairperson to order someone’s removal for “interfering with the expeditious or orderly process” of a school board meeting, assuming the person has first been warned.

But what does that mean? Vice-Chair James Golden, the target of scathing public comments at past meetings, proposed a warning to the public in November. His warning listed the offenses that may lead to someone getting kicked out.

According to his original proposal, anyone signing up for public comment would have to agree to several rules, including no profanity, no personal attacks and no “discourteous, disrespectful or undignified conduct or remarks.”

One rule — the prohibition on “personal attacks” against board members — is already part of the board’s current bylaws. In response to questions from the Bradenton Herald in August 2019, several First Amendment experts said the term “personal attack” was subjective and could be used to silence valid criticism of board members.

In a follow-up response last month, Frank LoMonte, director of the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida, said Golden’s proposal was equally vague and could lead to further problems.

“Terms like ‘disrespectful’ or ‘discourteous’ are red-flag words, because they’re not legally defined terms,” LoMonte said at the time.

Golden’s warning has yet to be included on the school board’s form for public comment sign-ups. And on Thursday afternoon, the board member said he recently worked with Stephen Dye, the board attorney, to revise the proposed language.

The new proposal includes two rules on speech: no profanity and no vulgar language. The draft, made available to the Bradenton Herald on Friday afternoon, also removed the term “personal attacks” from Golden’s initial warning.

And perhaps the biggest change was the removal of one word: “remarks.” Golden said the last section is now focused on someone’s actions and not their words.

“No discourteous, disrespectful or disparaging conduct,” the warning now reads, omitting the word “remarks” after “conduct.”

WHAT HAPPENS ON TUESDAY?

The new language is among several proposed changes to the school board’s bylaws, a set of rules that guide board members in their duties. Tuesday’s vote will decide whether Manatee advertises the proposed changes.

With a successful vote at Tuesday’s meeting, the board would also schedule a public hearing for March 9, when the floor would open to public comments and the board would vote on whether to finalize the changes. The board would also welcome input in the time leading up to the hearing.

“It’s one thing for you to stand before the board and say, ‘Rev. Golden, you’re a scalawag.’ It’s another thing to stand before the board and give me what the young people call a ‘middle finger salute.’ You see, that’s conduct,” Golden said in a recent interview.

“I’m not trying to infringe on anyone’s right to speak,” he continued. “I am trying to curtail conduct.”

Golden pointed to an incident in October, when a public speaker began to curse and shout, leading to a five-minute recess of the meeting. It was not the first time Golden witnessed an offensive public comment, but it would be the last, he vowed.

“I have never felt so ashamed as I did when that guy, I mean, he was just belligerent,” Golden said on Thursday. “And those kids were sitting with their parents. it hurt me and nobody said anything.”

“We cannot have that as a model for governance,” he concluded.

Though his proposal focuses more on behavior than it does “remarks,” as it was originally written, some board members are skeptical of the current language.

Chairman Charlie Kennedy and the board’s newest member, Mary Foreman, both said a ban on “discourteous, disrespectful or disparaging conduct” was too subjective.

“Profanity and vulgarity is pretty well-defined,” Foreman said. “But what may be discourteous or disparaging to one person may not be to the other.”

In follow-up interviews on Friday afternoon, Kennedy and Foreman said the updated proposal was still a concern. However, they also shared Golden’s desire to bring peace and efficiency to board meetings.

“I think we want to avoid any language that’s going to get us in legal entanglements,” Kennedy said. “But I think we do need to find a way to hold board meetings in a way that doesn’t devolve into shouting matches and outbursts from the audience.”

The school board, Foreman said, could revisit Golden’s work and arrive at more precise language. They may find inspiration in policies that already exist, Foreman continued.

She pointed to a policy on “civility and conduct” between school district employees, parents and other members of the public. In part, it defines “disruptive behavior” as threats to do bodily harm, destruction of property, continuous threats to an employee’s job and the use of “loud and/or offensive language.”

“I think we need to be as precise as we can be,” Foreman said.

HOW TO SUBMIT PUBLIC COMMENT

The ejection of visitors — sometimes with a police escort — became commonplace in mid-2019, when former board member Dave Miner was serving as chair. He kicked people out at least four times over a three-week period, citing outbursts from the audience or public comments he deemed “out of order.”

At that time, all of the conflicts were between board members and supporters of Lincoln Memorial Academy, a charter school that was taken over by the school board. The takeover was upheld by an administrative law judge but supporters of the former charter school believe there was foul play by district officials.

Tensions came to a head on Oct. 22, 2019, when police arrested Rodney Jones, the ousted president of the Manatee NAACP and a vocal supporter of the former charter school.

Jones spoke out from his seat and police charged him with disrupting a school assembly, forcing him to leave the school board meeting in handcuffs. The state attorney’s office declined to pursue charges in December 2019, according to court records.

The strife between board members and citizens has continued, especially when it comes to the Lincoln Memorial Academy controversy. Unhappy with Golden and his support of the charter termination, some public speakers have called the board member a sellout and questioned his standing as a local minister.

“I did not give up my right to be treated humanely simply because I ran for public office,” Golden said on Thursday.

The need for better relations between the public and the school board was evident. The solution remains in question, however.

Board members will discuss the proposed bylaw changes, including Golden’s warning against discourteous conduct, on Tuesday evening. The 5:45 p.m. meeting will take place at the School Support Center, 215 Manatee Ave. W. in Bradenton.

Meetings are also televised live on Spectrum Channel 646 and Frontier Channel 39, along with the Manatee Schools Television website, mstv.us.

To submit a public comment in advance, email public_comment@manateeschools.net.

This story was originally published January 23, 2021 at 5:00 AM.