A citizen’s request for public comment was interrupted by board members at the Limestone County Board of Education Meeting on Tuesday, March 14.

John Witt, who has regularly spoken at public board meetings, had requested to address the board about an issue concerning water coming off of the new Elkmont Elementary construction site onto his property causing problems with the Sulphur Creek watershed.

While the public work session was not recorded, at the meeting District 7 Rep. Earl Glaze did interrupt Witt, and several other board members asked questions that interrupted Witt’s time. The reason they stopped him was because he was addressing items other than the environmental issue.

Witt was recently sent a letter by the board superintendent about having a gun on the new Elkmont Elementary construction site, which he wanted to address as he said it was related to the environmental issues.

There was confusion on the part of board about if his time could be restarted due to the interruptions, but ultimately when the original timer went off he began to sit down. Witt and the board engaged briefly after his time had ended as they asked him more questions. Finally, he was asked to leave, which he did — accompanied by a sheriff’s deputy hired routinely for meetings.

“[Tuesday] night was about as un-American as anything I have ever experienced. I have been in former Soviet republics and fought in Third World counties for this nation in over 27 years of service, and I know what corruption looks like — and last night was a perfect example,” Witt said. 

The News Courier asked the district about procedure for public comment and Superintendent Dr. Randy Shearouse said under section 2.5.4 of the Board Policy Manual, public comment is addressed. It reads in part, “the matter must have been discussed with appropriated staff and administration prior to the Board meeting.”

Shearouse said, “My understanding from my meeting with Mr. Witt on Monday was he was going to focus his comments on the construction project at the new Elkmont Elementary School. The form that Mr. Witt turned in requesting to speak to the board also indicated the subject would be ‘Elkmont Elementary Site.’ … The form that is utilized for public participation at a board meeting should have the correct reason for addressing the board.”

The board’s policy on public participation does require advanced request submitted at least five days prior to the meeting, but the policy does note that it can be waived. Work sessions are not an open forum for public comment as they are in many other governmental board meetings.

While it is within BOE policy for matters of public comment to be discussed with the board before the meeting, Witt said he has not always been asked to do so but did so once before. Prior to this week’s meeting, Witt said he met with Shearouse to discuss his comments.

Witt said that his comments, while planning to mention the Sulphur Creek watershed issue from Elkmont Elementary as discussed, were not limited to that alone. He told The News Courier he had other issues he wanted to address. He said he talked about many items with the superintendent, and said he would hit a few of his main points during his public comment.

“Mr. Witt and I have met on several occasions and discussed various topics related to the school system. In my recent meeting with Mr. Witt, I did agree to reach out to our engineering firm to discuss his concerns,” Dr. Shearouse said. “The purpose of the pre-meeting is to hear the concern and hopefully address the concern before it ever goes to the Board of Education. In some cases, the concern may be clarified or resolved.”

The superintendent also said the pre-meeting gives him an opportunity to gather additional information on a topic, if needed.

“It’s just so they can censor and screen what you say,” Witt said. “All this has done is motivate me to continue to do the right things on behalf of my community and the people of this county.”

The current policy provides the speaker three minutes of time at the meeting. The policy notes the board may “establish such other lawful and reasonable rules, procedures, and limitation on public presentations as it may deem necessary and appropriate. …” It says the board president or other presiding officer has the authority to “terminate” a person’s comments which are defamatory, invade other’s rights, cause disruption or cause substantial disorder.

Witt said the only people causing disorder during his public comment was the board itself, namely Glaze, who indicated multiple times that Witt’s comments were not what had been discussed prior to the meeting. The superintendent agreed.

Letter complicates the issue

Witt explained more about why he believed he was banned from speaking. On March 8, he provided to The News Courier a letter he received from the superintendent dated March 6 stating that he had a gun on the new Elkmont Elementary property.

The letter asked him to refrain from bringing a weapon onto school property again and that “failure to comply … could result in a permanent ban from all school property.” In the meeting, although Witt was not able to fully give his comments, he did say he took an Alabama Department of Environmental Management inspector to the construction site on February 22. 

Witt has not said if he did have a gun on the property. He said that the school board has told him they have two witnesses, but he said they no evidence and he wanted time to defend his character at the meeting. He said as a military service member he is exempt from the policy. While this may be true of Alabama’s code in legal terms, the school board policy in section 4.2.1 does not provide this same exemption.

“This BOE policy applies to students, employees, and other persons. To the best of my knowledge, this policy is applied equally across the district,” Shearouse said.

Witt said he feels his comments were being censored by the board because he is asking questions and looking for more transparency from the board.

“People should feel as they can participate in the process of free governance and the Limestone school district is a perfect example of why more do not,” Witt said.