Proposed restrictions on questions from the public at Langley School Board meetings have been softened in response to objections the new rules would violate constitutional freedom-of-speech rights.
The teachers’ union, support staff and Langley District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC) all filed letters of protest against two sections of the proposed new rules, one that would forbid any “individual or group” from raising the same topic more than once every three months during the public question period at the end of board meetings and one that would ban questioners from referring to matters “under grievance.”
The contentious clauses appeared to be an attempt to prevent interested groups from rehashing old controversies at meeting after meeting.
But the presidents of the Langley Teachers’ Association (LTA), Canadian Union of Public Employees local 1260 (CUPE) and the DPAC executive said the restrictions would result in violations of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees of freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and peaceful association.
The LTA said the proposed changes amounted to “censorship”, CUPE warned they would “limit citizens’ fundamental freedoms” and DPAC called it “bad policy” that amounted to “muzzling debate”
At their Tuesday, Sept 20 meeting, trustees voted to remove the one-topic-every-three-months limit and added language to make it clear the restriction on grievances only means union member complaints where privacy must be respected.
