Carroll school board discusses political implications of fundraising policy, seeks public input

The Carroll County Board of Education is seeking public input on proposed changes to its policy on school-related fundraising.

The school board updated its policy in September, but the revisions create more questions than they answer, Superintendent Cynthia McCabe said about maintaining a limited open forum under the U.S. Equal Access Act, which requires school systems to be fair in governing student clubs and noncurricular organizations.

Board legal counsel Edmund O’Meally said at the May 8 meeting that the policy limits the fundraising abilities of student groups that may not have a staff sponsor, such as religious groups.

“Largely, those revisions, the first in many years, were meant to allow some greater flexibility in school-related fundraising,” McCabe said. “Following adoption, questions have arisen regarding the interaction of a limited open forum under the Equal Access Act and selling advertisements under the policy and regulations. As a result, we wanted to return the policy and regulations for further board discussion.”

A limited public forum limits free speech only in that it bans ads depicting drugs, alcohol, and other salacious products, O’Meally said.

“It’s either a limited open forum or no forum,” Assistant Superintendent of Operations Jon O’Neal said May 8, “but it’s hard to find a middle ground. So, if we’re selling advertisements, then they may be sold to, with certain exceptions, most groups.”

Anyone who wishes to provide feedback on proposed policy revisions may fill out the form at http://bit.ly/3R8LFBZ.

The same form may also be used by anyone who wishes to provide feedback on the system’s public participation policy and 2024-2033 Educational Facilities Master Plan. The board may vote to approve each of these items at its regular monthly meeting June 12.

Discussion of political speech restrictions

Board member Steve Whisler said at the May 8 meeting that he would like to see updated language in the policy to shield schools from political “nonsense.”

“I don’t want our schools to be in the middle of a political debate, the political issues that we see going on on social media,” he said.

The advertising and fundraising policy must be content-neutral and viewpoint-neutral, O’Meally said, meaning it could not restrict one political group from advertising while allowing advertising from those that support a rival idea. Political speech is also among the most protected forms of speech in the U.S.

“I am recommending that you not restrict political speech,” O’Meally said.

Whisler’s idea would also ban people from passing out flyers at school-sponsored athletic events, which the school system has allowed for a long time, O’Meally said at the May 8 meeting.

“The idea is, I don’t want to, and I don’t care about suppressing them,” Whisler said, “I just don’t want the schools to be the battleground of ideas.”

Sahithya Sudhakar, a senior at Liberty High School and the school board’s student representative, said Whisler’s idea is based on a worst-case scenario of a political kerfuffle becoming overblown.

“The further we get into the discussion of trying to identify what something political is, the more we get into legal issues,” Sudhakar said, “and the more we get borderline censorship. We don’t want that, especially for students. Students themselves have rights to be politically active and be politically engaged in whatever side they choose, and I know that we want to keep that away from our schools, but it’s pretty much impossible to do that.”

The system’s current political neutrality policy only restricts school employees in schools from engaging in political speech, O’Meally said.

School board meetings are open to the public and live-streamed on the Carroll County Public Schools YouTube channel and viewable on the right side of the Board of Education’s website at carrollk12.org/board-of-education/meeting-information, under CETV Livestream. Meetings are also broadcast throughout the month on Carroll Educational Television, Channel 21.

Anyone who wishes to participate during the public participation portion of school board meetings must fill out an online sign-up form at https://www.carrollk12.org/board-of-education/meeting-information or call the communications office at 410-751-3020 by 9 p.m., on the Tuesday before a meeting.