Roberson v. Bacon County School District – Removing barriers to public comment

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Georgia law, O.C.G.A. § 20-2-58, requires county school boards to allow for public comment during their regularly scheduled meetings. Prior to this lawsuit, Bacon County School District’s policies operated to frustrate or deny the efforts of plaintiff Gregory Roberson, and other engaged community members and school district employees, to publicly address the Board.

For example, the policies required members of the public to submit a request to speak at least 24 hours prior to the meeting, even if the agenda for the meeting was not yet posted. The request form required speakers to provide detailed information about the content of their intended remarks, opening the door for their request to be denied based on dislike of the speaker’s views.

Potential speakers were also forced to comply with a lengthy “chain of command” procedure that required them to schedule and attend up to four separate meetings with different District officials before they could request to speak at a Board meeting. This procedure contained no time limits for when District officials had to hold the required meetings, giving them a vehicle to effectively prevent community members from ever being able to publicly comment at a Board meeting.

Additionally, the policies prohibited members of the public from publicly commenting about individual employees, students, or pending litigation, although the Board often positively recognized individual employees and students during its meetings. Viewpoint discrimination where only positive remarks are allowed is prohibited under the First Amendment.

The polices also empowered the School Board Chairperson to stop a commenter from speaking for “disruptive or otherwise unacceptable behavior, including, but not limited to abusive, profane, or vulgar language; threatening behavior or words; personal attacks on Board members, school district employees, or other citizens; intimidation, [or] taunting.” These terms like “otherwise unacceptable behavior,” “abusive,” “vulgar,” “personal attacks,” and “taunting” were undefined by the policies, leaving their interpretation to the unfettered discretion of the Chairperson. This meant that the terms could be used to shut down speakers whose views the Chair or the Board members did not care to hear.

After multiple unsuccessful attempts to persuade the Bacon County School District to voluntarily revise its public comment policies, plaintiff Gregory Roberson filed a federal lawsuit, followed closely by filing a motion for a preliminary injunction, seeking immediate court intervention to stop enforcement of the unconstitutional public comment policies.

At the court’s direction, the School District entered into settlement negotiations. The resulting agreement required the School Board to make significant policy reforms, that have now been implemented, including:

• Elimination of Chain of Command: The Board removed all references to the “chain of command” procedure from its public comment policies and website, ending the requirement that citizens navigate a multi-step bureaucratic process before addressing their elected officials.
• Revised Code of Conduct: The Board enacted a new Code of Conduct negotiated with plaintiff’s counsel that protects citizens’ right to speak on agenda items added shortly before or during meetings, and makes other reforms to ensure reasonable access to public comment.
• New Sign-Up Procedures: The Board implemented a revised Public Participation Sign-Up Form that no longer requests detailed information about what the speaker plans to say, removing the ability to screen out would-be public commenters based on their viewpoint.

The District also agreed to pay $1 in nominal damages to Mr. Roberson and attorneys’ fees.

Why It Matters

School board meetings are critical venues for democratic participation in local governance. Parents, school employees, taxpayers, and community members have a statutory right under Georgia law to address their elected school board about education policies, budget decisions, personnel matters, and other issues affecting their schools and children. When government officials erect procedural barriers, exercise censorship through content screening, or grant themselves unlimited discretion to silence speakers, they violate core First Amendment principles of freedom of speech.

Mr. Roberson reflected on the case and its outcome:

“My decision to sue the school board was made after multiple public attempts to point out illegal and unconstitutional aspects of the policy. . . From August 2024 through August 2025, I continued to raise concerns through emails and conversations with board members, while both myself and another citizen were denied the opportunity to speak at board meetings in violation of state law. After exhausting those efforts, I filed suit in October 2025.It is alarming that a private citizen had to take legal action to force the Board to change its policies . . . I am pleased to have been able to affect policy change that protects the constitutional freedoms that each board member and the superintendent swore an oath to uphold. Freedom must always come first.”

Co-counsel Gerry Weber adds, “With thanks to the students and team at the UGA First Amendment Clinic, and with the dedication of our client, we have made the public comment period at Bacon County School Board meetings a better place for citizens to raise concerns and public officials to hear directly from constituents.”

The case was litigated by First Amendment Clinic students Jacob Levy, Benjamin Privitera, Clinic fellow Christina Lee, and Clinic director Clare Norins. It was co-counseled with the Law Offices of Gerry Weber, LLC.