1. ARRIVAL TIME - the meeting begins at 9:30am. Due to the small size of the board room and the recent uptick in attendance for these meetings, we STRONGLY encourage you to arrive no later than 8:00am (if not earlier) as we have been notified anti-public school activists will be arriving at 8. This will allow you to form a line outside the inside entrance to the board meeting. The door to that hallway will remain closed until right before the meeting. At that time, whoever is in line closest to that door will have first dibs on in-room seating and public comment sign up. Arriving early is key.

UPDATE: The State Fire Marshal has limited capacity to 49 in the board room (this will include media and the board members), single file seating in the hallway, and 49 in the lobby. We can not stress enough that if you want to speak, get there EARLY.

2. LOCATION - the meeting will be held at the Oliver Hodges building where the State Dept of Ed is located. The address is 2500 N Lincoln Blvd. It is NE of the State Capitol building. Due to the anticipated large number of attendees, you may have to park in overflow parking somewhere close to the bulding and walk over.

3. PUBLIC COMMENT RULES - Prior to the commencement of the Board meeting, a sign-up sheet will be made available for individuals desiring to provide public comment to the Board. YOU MUST SIGN IN TO BE ABLE TO SPEAK. The sign in sheets are located on a table next to the entrance to the board room. Make sure you pay attention to which sheet you sign in on. It is likely there will be a long line formed. You have to sign in BEFORE the meeting begins, so we suggest that once the line moves inside and is stable, you have someone hold your space in line and make your way down the hall to sign up. If anyone gives you any hassle, politely let them know you are only there to sign up and will return to your place in line.

Be advised that, at anytime, the Chair (Walters), may limit, terminate or cancel time for public comment if it impedes business or is disruptive or not applicable to agenda item (if you sign up for that).

• "Agenda Items" - Agenda will be posted on our social media channels 24hrs prior to the meeting. Patrons may speak to the Board on any matter set forth on the current board agenda. A time limit of four (4) minutes will be allowed for each speaker addressing an item set forth on the current board agenda. THERE IS NO LIMIT TO THE # OF PEOPLE THAT MAY SPEAK TO AN AGENDA ITEM. Agenda items are your best bet for getting a speaking slot.

• "Non-agenda Items" - 3 individuals per board meeting may speak to matters not on the current board agenda. Provided, however, a time limit of three (3) minutes will be allowed for each speaker addressing a matter not set forth on the current board agenda. Only the first three (3) individuals who have signed up to speak will be recognized during the Public Comment period and will be recognized in the order in which they have signed in. NOTE - sometimes they limit the # to 3 speakers on non-agenda items, sometimes they do not. They reserve the right to be able to do so, especially if there are a large number of people signed up to speak. They must be taken in order of sign in, so it is VERY important for public ed advocates to be at the first of the line to sign in, especially for non-agenda items.

4. PUBLIC COMMENT SUGGESTIONS/TIPS - If you are wanting to address the board, your most solid strategy is to speak to an agenda item since those speaker #s are not limited. We will post the agenda on our social media channels 24hrs before the meeting, so you will have time to prepare based off the items listed. If your topic is off-agenda, still come prepared to speak, but understand that those slots might end up being limited. We have created a system for those who are unable to speak to be able to securely send us your public comments via video for post meeting publication. This footage will be made available to the public via our media channels. You can find more out about that here.

• BE PREPARED - Agenda items get 4 minutes, non-agenda get 3 minutes. We strongly encourage you to either write up your comments ahead of time, or at least craft bullet points to help you stay on track.

• Be professional and respectful in your delivery.

• Speak clearly and into the microphone - since the room itself is small, many public comment participants don't do a good job of utilizing the mic and this inhibits the online audience from hearing what you have to say.

• IF YOU ARE A PARENT OR GRANDPARENT OF CHILDREN ATTENDING PUBLIC SCHOOL WE STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU INTRODUCE YOURSELF AS SUCH. The narrative in these meetings is consistently about “what parents want”. We need to send a VERY strong message that more parents in this state do not align with Walters’ policy vision than parents who do.

• IF YOU ARE REPUBLICAN, WE STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU INTRODUCE YOURSELF AS SUCH. Another false narrative coming from the Walters camp is that his opposiiton is only from the left. We know this to not be the case - Oklahomans from ALL political parties oppose his actions. It is strategically important that all Republicans attending in opposition make it know that they are there to combat this false narrative coming from the Walters camp. Remember, the key decision makers on impeachment will be Republican Legislators and their leadership. Those decision makers need to know Republican constituents also want him gone.

5. ATTIRE - We ask that attendees wear red public ed supportive attire or a shirt specific to your school district. Since not all attendees will be speaking, this will provide a strong visual message to the board, other attendees, those streaming online, and the media outlets that public school advocates are in attendance.

6. SHOW UP - Even if you are NOT planning on speaking during public comment, your attendance is VERY important. These meetings have not traditionally been attended by many parents or educators. Children and students are welcome and encouraged to attend, but keep in mind it can be very crowded and emotions were pretty tense at the last meeting.

If you are planning on attending simply to show support for public education, you will be surrounded by many friends with the same goal! Wear your pro-public ed gear and bring some awesome signs! Make sure you are peaceful and respectful and follow all rules - we don’t want anyone landing in a mess of trouble. Do not block entrance to the building or interfere with access to the meeting. We anticipate there will be a large OHP presence.

8. IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO SHARE YOUR PUBLIC COMMENTS DUE TO THE CROWD, we will be compiling public comments via video and publishing them via our social media channels. Please visit this link to learn how you can securely send us a recorded video of your public comments.