Richland 1 says proposed board policy doesn’t impede free speech. Some critics disagree

Richland 1 gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a policy that would regulate how school board members speak publicly about district affairs.

The policy, which prevents any school board member except the school board chair from speaking publicly on behalf of the entire board, is similar to a policy that has been in place since 2000, board Chair Cheryl Harris said.

The actual text of the policy, which also appeared on the March 8 meeting agenda, was not critics’ primary concern. The concern, primarily from two school board members who voted against the policy, came from how they believed the policy would be applied.

The proposed policy says: “When individual board members receive requests from news media representatives for information about board meetings, members may refer the information seekers to the board chair or the superintendent’s designee. The board chair will be the official public spokesperson for the board,” the proposed policy reads.

Before the March 22 meeting in which the policy received preliminary approval in a 5-2 vote, the following line was added: “Unless designated as indicated in this policy, board members shall state that their comments are not stated on behalf of the school board but they are individual comments made by the board member.”

While the language was changed in the proposed policy, “The meaning did not change,” Harris told The State.

After facing criticism of the proposed policy, which was part of an annual policy review, Harris said, “The review of the policy may have been misconstrued.”

It’s not uncommon for public bodies to allow only the board chair to speak for the entirety of the board. When Lexington-Richland 5 replaced former Superintendent Christina Melton last year, board members directed questions from the media to the board chair. The University of South Carolina also has a policy of only allowing the board chair to speak to the news media.

During Tuesday night’s Richland One board meeting, one particular exchange, between Harris and Robert Lominack, the newest member of the school board elected in October, highlighted Lominack’s concerns with the policy being used to block criticism.

Harris: “I’m not telling you you can’t talk to the media, I am saying that when you talk, you need to speak exclusively for you. You can’t speak for me.”

Lominack: “I’m not speaking for you.”

Harris: “You can’t even criticize me to them because you don’t know me, you just got here.”

Lominack: “I can criticize you.”

Harris: “You cannot criticize me.”

Another exchange prompted concerns from the proposed policy’s critics that it could limit free speech.

“What if I said this to a reporter? ‘I don’t think we listen to teachers enough,’” Lominack asked.

Harris responded, saying, “But you can’t say the board and the administration don’t listen to teachers enough because you don’t know that.”

During a separate part of the conversation, Harris said, “When we say that we are not having the conversation, you have now included this entire body in that, so what you really need to say as a board member is ‘I feel I need to talk more to the teachers,’ or ‘I feel I.’ You can’t say ‘we’ because many of us talk to faculty and staff.”

For board member Beatrice King, Harris’ interpretation of the policy went beyond telling board members they could only speak for themselves.

“Of course it’s a threat to free speech,” Beatrice King told The State. “Ms. Harris thinks nobody should be allowed to say anything bad about the district.”