Be prepared for some even later nights now with the Wake County school board.
School board members agreed this week to begin starting the monthly regular/action meetings at 5:30 p.m. with public comment starting at 6 p.m. Those meetings have been starting at 3 p.m.
The new 5:30 p.m. start is supposed to make it easier on people who can't get off work to attend and speak at the 4 p.m. public comment sessions.
The change, which is being billed as an experiment, will begin with the Oct. 5 meeting. This time will only apply to the action meeting and not the work session.
As you guys recall, the board redesignated one of the two regular monthly board meetings into a work session. That change drew complaints from critics of the board majority because public comment is only available at the regular meetings.
Board minority members have talked about expanding the 30-minute public comment period to an hour at the action meeting or holding public comment at the work session. No decision has been made on that issue yet.
The new start time for the regular/action meetings will lead to some other changes.
The board had agreed to begin allowing online signup for public comment. It had been slated to begin at 1 p.m. on the day of the meeting. No word yet on when it will now be with the later start.
The board will also likely adjust the start of the committee of the whole meeting that's held before the regular meeting. They generally start at 1 p.m. now. The new time will depend on how much is on the agenda.
Board policy says the meetings should end at 11 p.m. But the board can choose to suspend that policy and keep on going.
