The Depew Board of Education could vote on modifying its public forum policy soon — but there’s some dissension among committee members on what the policy should look like.

Three of them — President John Spencer and members Nancy Fumerelle and Diane Benczkowski — are on the committee in charge of reviewing the policy. They met Tuesday, along with Superintendent Jeffrey Rabey, to discuss it. While the meeting was open to the public, just four students, there as part of a class requirement, attended.

For the last couple of weeks, board members have been looking at other school districts’ policies for insight. Depew’s, Benczkowski said Tuesday, is restrictive and doesn’t encourage public participation during Board of Education meetings.

As it stands now, the policy says “district residents” who want to speak on non-agenda items “ shall submit their request in writing” to the district clerk by 1 p.m. one business day prior to the meeting. Residents “will be asked to provide their name, address, and telephone number, the topic of their comments and a brief explanation or narrative. District residents who wish to address the board on an agenda item for that particular board meeting do not need to notify the district clerk in advance of the meeting.”

Benczkowski, citing comments by Robert Freeman, executive director of the state’s Committee on Open Government, said the terminology “district resident” should be dropped so that any member of the public could comment.

But Fumerelle said there’s no need to hear from someone from another town or district since it doesn’t have anything to do with Depew.

Benczkowski would also like to see Depew do away with its requirement for speakers to state their addresses — it could intimidate them and keep them from speaking, she said — and she’d also like to do away with the narrative requirement.

Meanwhile, Spencer said that if someone is going to address the board, it’s important to know the person’s name and address. Having speakers sign up and identify their addresses for the record — and not publicly — is also an option the board members discussed.

Spencer said the meetings should not be “question and answer” sessions between trustees and the public. He also said he thinks the board should be notified in advance of topics that speakers plan to bring up so that board members and district leaders are prepared to address them.

Benczkowski, however, thinks the request for a narrative in advance is too restrictive and doesn’t allow for open dialogue. She said that if the board faces questions it is not prepared to answer, it can address them at a future meeting.

The current three-minute time limit allowed per speaker, which includes his or her comments as well as any response from a board or district official, was something that was supported by the subcommittee during Tuesday’s meeting. Another suggestion was requiring members of the public who want to address the board to fill out notecards about their topic before the meeting.

The suggestions will be presented to the full board either at its Feb. 28 or March 20 meetings. Any policy changes must be approved by a majority.