School Board Eliminates Second Public Comment In Bridgewater-Raritan

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — The Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education has removed the second public comment session from its agenda in an effort to save residents' time, according to Board Chairman Steven Singer.

"There is only going to be one public comment period and it'll be all-encompassing so it can be on action items or anything that the public wants to talk about at that time," said Singer at the Jan. 21 meeting. "It will still be a maximum of 5 minutes for that person. But this allows the public to give us feedback prior to our action items but also allows the public to present their thoughts to us earlier in the evening so that when we have a particularly longer meeting they are not forced to stay later on."

Previously, the public could comment on action items only from the agenda after Board committee reports. Then the public would need to wait until after the Board voted on agenda items before the second public session where they could speak on anything.

"Again this is something new that we are going to try out and see how it goes and hopefully it will be great," said Singer.

Have a news tip? Email alexis.tarrazi@patch.com.