A federal judge’s ruling last week against the Augusta School Board’s public comment policy could have wide-reaching implications for hundreds of other school districts in the state, according to the law firm that represents most Maine school departments.

Nicholas Blanchard, a conservative activist who goes by the nickname “Corn Pop” and appears frequently at school board meetings around the state, sued the Augusta school board in February, arguing the district’s public comment policy violated his First Amendment rights.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Stacey Neumann ruled mostly in Blanchard’s favor, and said the city school department cannot enforce aspects of the comment policy aimed at limiting gossip, abusive or vulgar language, nor a section prohibiting complaints, allegations and “personal matters” involving school employees and students. 

Only the Augusta School Board is legally obligated to change its policies, something it took steps to do this week.

However, attorney Isabel Ekman, who leads the school law group at Portland law firm Drummond Woodsum — which represents a majority of Maine districts — said the ruling will make it easy for people to bring claims against other districts over their policies.

“Almost every, if not every, school district is going to be implicated by this ruling,” she said.

As a result, districts may want to proactively amend their public comment rules, and the statewide association that provides model policies for Maine school boards told its members last Thursday it would consult with legal counsel to determine if any modifications are necessary to its public comment policy.

Augusta’s policy was based on an older version of the Maine School Management Association’s sample, and differed meaningfully in some ways, while overlapping in others.

Maine school districts were not required to offer a public comment period at board meetings until 2019, when the Legislature passed a law compelling it. MSMA’s sample policy, last revised in 2023, includes suggested time limits of three minutes per speaker and 30 minutes overall, says speakers are expected to follow “rules of common etiquette and decorum” and limits discussion of personnel matters.

It’s unclear exactly how many of Maine’s 262 school districts use the association’s policies, and the organization is explicit that its samples are meant only to be a starting point for districts, intended to be modified to meet a district’s needs and not for verbatim replication.

But the association is seen as setting the standard that defines best practices for school boards across the state. Districts from Caribou to Kittery have public comment policies on the books that closely mirror MSMA’s model.

Ekman expects MSMA to issue an updated sample policy soon in response to the ruling. A spokesperson for the association declined an interview, citing the ongoing nature of the court case, but shared the memo it sent to school districts following the court case.

“Neither MSMA nor Drummond Woodsum believes that this ruling means that members of the public have free rein to say and do whatever they please at board meetings or that boards lack the ability to control public comment sessions,” the memo reads.

But the decision could make it harder for board leaders to maintain order and civility at meetings, which have become increasingly contentious in recent years, Ekman said.

“I think that’s just a natural outcome, and that’s unfortunate because school board meetings have become challenging and unproductive in many parts of the state,” she said. “However, I still think there are a lot of tools that they have at their discretion.”

Ekman pointed to time limits, which boards are allowed to set, and prohibitions on “defamatory comments” which Neumann allowed Augusta to continue enforcing.

Justin Silverman is the director of the New England First Amendment Coalition, a nonpartisan advocacy group. His organization sent a letter to Augusta in April, sharing its concerns about the comment policy. Silverman said he was glad to see the judge make the call in favor of First Amendment interests.

He said Maine’s law provides tools for school boards to make sure meetings proceed in an orderly fashion, but many districts have adopted policies that go too far.

“The intent here isn’t always to make sure there’s an orderly meeting, but instead it’s to silence specific views and to restrict protected expression in a way that makes the meeting not just orderly, but more comfortable for the officials leading it,” Silverman said.

Blanchard’s attorney, Nathan Ristuccia, told a reporter last week that he was thrilled by the outcome. Melissa Hewey, attorney for the Augusta board, said she was weighing whether there were grounds to appeal the ruling.

However, on Monday night, the board’s policy committee agreed to recommend revised rules to the rest of the board, removing references to “gossip,” “abusive or vulgar language” and “personal matters.”

The board could approve the new policy as soon as May 13.

Staff Writers Ethan Horton and Jake Freudberg contributed to this story.