Lycée Français de la Nouvelle-Orléans parents may soon have to abide by a new public comment policy at board meetings.

At a school known for its parent engagement, Lycée parents will have a chance to weigh in on the policy recommended by the governance and compliance committee.

The committee, which approved the policy Thursday, will make that recommendation to the charter school’s full board of directors on Monday.

Parents have been actively engaged with board activity, especially during the tumultuous last year in which the entire board membership changed as well as the school’s leadership.

The new policy would allow individuals to address the board for up to three minutes regarding a specific agenda item. The board would have the discretion to extend a person’s time.

A limit of 30 minutes would be placed on all comments for each agenda item, though that too could be extended by the board.

Members discussed a draft policy provided by committee member and attorney Michael Higgins, amending it in a few places and ultimately approving it.

The committee also took under advisement a public comment from parent Paula Griffin, who raised concerns over educating parents about the new policy.

“We want it to be user-friendly,” she said at Thursday’s committee meeting.

And after some discussion the committee amended its recommendation to include a sentence summarizing the policy on each meeting agenda. They also will likely post the full policy at each meeting, should it be adopted.

The public comment policy, as approved by the committee reads:

Individuals who desire to speak on an agenda item before that item is voted on by the Board may do so by submitting a fully completed and signed “Speaker’s Card” and submitting it to the Vice-Chair or Secretary of the Board prior to the start of the public comment period for that agenda item.  After the public comment period for that agenda item has begun, any further requests to address the Board may be denied at the discretion of the Board Chair.  In the case of a delegation wishing to address the Board, each delegation shall select one of its members to be its speaker and identify the speaker on the submitted Speaker’s Card.  Comments by any speaker shall be strictly limited to the agenda item before the Board.  Scheduled and unscheduled comment periods shall be limited to a total of one half-hour (30 minutes) with individual speakers limited to three (3) minutes, unless otherwise decided by the Board Chair.  Speakers shall refrain from making accusatory or defamatory comments about individuals by name.  Speakers who violate this policy may be denied the opportunity to continue to address the Board during the meeting.  The Board shall include a reference to this policy on future agendas.

The full board will meet Nov. 11 and consider the new policy as part of its scheduled meeting.