Response received Education 📍 Jacksonville, Florida

Restore public comment before board votes, not after

Addressed to Duval County School Board · Signature threshold 1,000 · Created April 14, 2026

Example initiative. This petition is a template written by the JFK Debate editorial team to show how the process works. It has not been filed with Duval County School Board and no signatures have been collected. Copy the structure for your own community.

Public comment scheduled at the end of a meeting, after votes are taken, is a formality. Comment taken before the vote is participation.

This example petition asks the board to place general public comment before the action agenda, to allow item-specific comment when an item is called, and to keep a consistent three-minute limit applied equally to everyone.

It is written as a model for any school board. Check your state’s open meetings law: several states already require that the public be allowed to address a body before it acts.

The ask

Schedule public comment before the board votes on action items
Allow item-specific comment when each action item is called
Apply the same time limit to every speaker
Publish the sign-up procedure and deadline on every agenda

Response

Example response: the board's governance committee agreed to pilot item-specific public comment for a semester and to report back on the effect on meeting length, while declining to move general public comment ahead of the consent agenda. This text is an illustration of how a response is recorded on the platform, not a real board statement.

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Progress

Example petition — no signatures collected

0 of 1,000 signatures

Status pipeline

Apr 14, 2026Example petition created
Apr 28, 2026Signature collection opened
Jun 9, 2026Submitted to the board clerk
Jul 21, 2026Placed on the board's workshop agenda
Aug 18, 2026Written response received

Where it goes

Duval County School Board
Meets: Second and fourth Tuesdays, 5:00 p.m., Council Chamber, City Hall at St. James, 117 W. Duval St.
Agendas
Jacksonville directory entry

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