Starkville school officials addressed the issue of the public’s ability to participate in meetings at their Tuesday night meeting where they also took off the agenda an amended policy that would have instituted a uniform for teachers.

All board members were present for the meeting, which was attended by capacity seating in the board room and an overflow of at least 20 people listening in from the hallway outside the room.

The meeting began with Superintendent Judy Couey removing from the agenda the item asking the board to adopt the amendment to the dress code policy. No action on employee dress codes was taken.

The amendment originally proposed called for K-5 teachers to wear “outerwear consisting of black vests, black smocks, or black jackets with the School/Starkville logo. Teachers that [sic] do not wish to wear the identifying outerwear may wear black, white or gray shirt/blouse with identifying school/district logo.”

For teachers in grades 6-12, Millsaps Career and Vocational Center and the Quad County Alternative School, the dress code was the same with the exception of black, white or gold shirts with the school or district logo.

Lisa Spencer, president of the Starkville Association of Educators, was on the agenda to speak to the board, and when her turn arrived, she told them that she had come to address the teacher uniform. The board asked her to proceed with her comments even though the item had been removed from the agenda.

She said on May 5, the school board adopted a dress code for faculty, which was included in the handbook given each employee. The dress code calls for professional attire.

“What has happened so badly since then that warrants a faculty uniform?” she asked.

She questioned why, if there had been a problem, it wasn’t addressed by existing policies, and if there had not been problems, why the change was being made. She also asked the board why there had not been discussion with the faculty and staff about uniforms when the board at their last meeting said they would seek school-level input on this issue.

“Where did the recommendations come from and who made them?” she asked.

She said teachers are willing to do whatever it takes for their students to succeed, “but having us wear ... a uniform won’t make a difference for our students.”

Her comments were met by audience applause. There was no action for the board to take after she spoke.

Meghan Millea then spoke about the school board’s policy for public participation at a meeting. At the January meeting, three people spoke up from the audience about their inability to get on the agenda to address a topic at the meeting. Millea’s comments concerned that issue.

She said the board has a “logical inconsistency” between policy and reality. She said the policy requires individuals wanting to be on the meeting agenda to make their request by Thursday before the meting. However, the agenda is not posted by then, so people who may be interested in speaking to the board on a subject do not know when that subject will be addressed.

Millea proposed some solutions to the problem, including posting a draft of the board meting agenda a few weeks before the meeting and allowing a time for open discussion of items added to the agenda shortly before the meeting.

She also said the existing policy does not address whether the request means a person is automatically granted time to speak or on what grounds they can be denied a place on the agenda.

“The policy now is more a policy for public presentation, not participation,” Millea said.

She also referenced the large crowd kept by law enforcement from entering the full-to-capacity board room. She asked the board in the future to consider moving to a larger space when they expect a large audience.

Millea’s comments met with applause from those in the board room and those standing in the hallway.

Later in the meeting, the board discussed but took no action on this subject. Board president Walter Taylor had placed on the agenda a discussion of a board policy on public engagement. They talked about having a workshop on this subject led by a member of the Mississippi School Board Association.

In other business, the board paid its bills, handled personnel matters and a brief update on progress toward a studio school in the district.