Andover School Committee Chair Susan McCready opened Thursday night’s meeting by saying the committee is “doing something a little different” regarding the public input period that’s on each meeting agenda.
Going forward, the committee will put a 10-minute cap on the public input period at the start of each meeting, and continue its policy of asking individual speakers to limit their comments to three minutes. If more time is needed, public input will resume after New Business and before the consent agenda at the end of each meeting.
“That will afford three people to come and give public input,” McCready said. “We want to be sure the folks who are coming to present to us are able to do that in a timely fashion, and so we felt this is something we should try.”
The committee did not vote on the change, and none of the other four members offered comment.
There were no speakers at Thursday’s meeting. Public comment periods at municipal meetings can be lengthy affairs when the board or committee is discussing a divisive local issue.