OMA Advisory Opinion (#OOG-2024-0011) – Board of Trustees for Sela Public Charter School

On July 21, 2025, Director Allen issued an Advisory Opinion #OOG-2024-0011, in response to a complaint which alleged that Sela Public Charter School Board (“SPCSB”) “seem to violate at least the spirit” of the Open Meetings Act (“OMA”) because of a directive with certain public comment requirements posted by the chairperson of SPCSB concerning the latter’s open session meetings. The complainant expressed concern that the public comment guidelines provided by the chairperson of SPCSB “would seem to constitute viewpoint discrimination.”

The Director found that SPCSB did not violate the OMA, because while the statute requires a public body’s meetings to be open to the public with specific exceptions, the OMA does not require a public body to allow public comment at such meetings. Further, SPCSB’s Bylaws do not address public comment. Content of speech permitted by a public body in public session is also not addressed by the OMA. As such, the Director found no OMA violation and dismissed the complaint pursuant to 3 DCMR §10403.1(b).