VALDOSTA — If the public wants to discuss matters with the Lowndes County Board of Education, they’re now on a deadline. 

The new policy requires the public to put in a request to address the school board no later than noon the Friday before a regularly scheduled Monday meeting.

The previous policy allowed the public to sign up and speak the night of the Monday meeting.

The public participation policy change was first read by Superintendent Wes Taylor at the Sept. 10 work session.

He said he believes the policy change would make problem solving between the public and the school system “more effective and productive.”

“Board meetings are meetings for the board conducted in public — they’re not really designed to be public meetings,” Taylor said. “We’re not trying to take away their right to participate in public.”

Taylor read the policy change for a second time during the meeting Monday. 

All but one board member supported the new policy. Some members were vocal about their feelings toward a Valdosta Daily Times editorial against the new policy.

“I was really disappointed at the editorial in The Valdosta Daily Times,” said Brian Browning, District 3 board member. “It made it look like we were trying to stifle the public’s comments here in this boardroom. That’s not the intention at all.”

Browning said the policy would make it so issues are more likely to be resolved at the school level before coming to the superintendent or the board.

He said he would give the policy his “100 percent support.” That was not the case for Glenn Gregory, District 6 board member.

“We’re answering to the people out there,” Gregory said. “We have to be careful and sensitive to that so we don’t give anybody the impression that we are trying to discourage them from bringing something to the board.”

Gregory was the only board member to vote against the consent agenda, which included the new public participation policy as well as an item that allows the Lowndes High School construction project to move forward with JCI, a construction management firm.

The next meeting will be held 6 p.m., Oct. 1, at the Lowndes County Schools board office.

Katelyn Umholtz is a reporter with the Valdosta Daily Times. She can be contacted at (229)244-3400 ext. 1256.