University Legal Clinic Calls On School Board To Change Policies

Representatives of the First Amendment Clinic in the School of Law at the University of Georgia are asking the Oconee County Board of Education to change its policies to recognize the first amendment rights of Oconee County community members.

In a nine-page-long letter sent to an attorney for the School Board on Friday, the clinic members asked the Board to live stream its meetings, provide video captioning of uploaded videos of meetings, and provide access for community members who wish to attend meetings virtually.

They also ask the Board to post “adequate notice” of special meetings and “adequate meeting minutes” of those sessions.

The team also calls on the Board to unblock community members excluded from the Board’s social media accounts and to “instruct officials” of the schools to take steps to guarantee that punitive action is not taken in response to “protected expression.”

The letter, signed by Clinic Fellow Samantha Hamilton and second year law students Davis R. Wright and Mark Bailey, ask for the policy changes to avoid the need for “further legal action” or involvement of the Office of the State Attorney General.

The letter gives attorney Phil Hartley until Feb. 22 to respond.

For more on this story, pleases go to Oconee County Observations.