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Modesto school board members may be forbidden from speaking to the press

Modesto City School Board members are considering a new set of protocols that would prevent them from speaking with members of the media.

MODESTO, Calif. -- There is a new superintendent in charge of Modesto City Schools. Dr. Sara Noguchi is hoping to make some changes, the first of which, may prevent board members from speaking to the media.

The Modesto City School Board is made up of seven board members voted for by residents based on individual neighborhoods. A newly-proposed protocol says six of which, must stay silent when reporters like call.

"It doesn't limit that conversation, but it limits the voting and deliberation in public and that was the intent of this," Noguchi said.

If this passes through, only the board president and superintendent can speak to the press, according to their set of rules.

"We didn't want deliberations through the media, because potentially you could have something that's going to come up for a vote. The media could then call all seven and you know how the vote is going to go before you ever have the vote. That's a violation of the Brown Act," she said.

Noguchi took over three months ago. It was under her direction that these board protocols get an update.

"There wasn't a catalyst to this, it was just part of the work that you do and you start with a new superintendent, as far as, how are we going to work as a team?" she said.

But some parents have questions.

"Is that a standard policy for most school boards?" Bill Engelhardt, a grandparent said.

Engelhardt has a granddaughter at Modesto High School. He wonders if this could violate board member's First Amendment rights to free speech.

"I think it all ought to be transparent, absolutely. If you can talk to members of the council and those other political people, why can you talk to school board members?" he said.

Noguchi says her intent was not to put a muzzle on her board members.

"The intent was never to silence anyone or to gag anyone or to limit free speech," she said. "It was really to support the board and we have a couple new board members, but it's really to support the board as they work through the media."

And she says there are exceptions.

"On individual issues relative to the needs of their particular trustee area or items that pertain to them relative as a board member," she said.

This idea was only brought up for discussion on Monday. It is going to come up for it's first official reading on October 22. Watch the school board meeting here.

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