Duval County School Board: Restriction of public comments at school board meeting

At a July 10, 2023, board meeting, the Duval County School Board in Jacksonville, Florida, cut off public commenters who criticized a board member’s affiliations with Moms for Liberty and the Florida Conservative Coalition of School Board Members, telling the commenters they could not “attack organizations and people.” FIRE wrote the board on Sept. 11, explaining that the First Amendment protected the commenters’ remarks, and calling on the board to eliminate its unconstitutional bans on “personal attacks,” “attacks on organizations,” and “profane or vulgar language.”

Although a Duval County School Board official originally expressed interest in working with FIRE to amend the constitutional defects of the board’s public comment policy, FIRE received no substantive response from the board after sending a proposed amendment. On November 6, 2024, FIRE wrote to the general counsel of Jacksonville urging him to work with the board to correct its policy.