“…In theory, written public comments should increase public participation, especially among marginalized groups, because there are fewer barriers to submitting a written public comment either in person, online, or at a meeting. Additionally, written public comments, unlike verbal comments, enable communities of color to voice concerns without threat, white intimidation, or racial microaggressions (Collins, 2021;Sampson & Bertrand, 2020). Yet despite broader engagement in other disciplines (e.g., Livermore et al, 2018;Pang & Lee, 2008;Shapiro, 2011), educational policy scholars have underexamined written public comments to interrogate group expression in school policymaking.We critically examined 3,339 public comments from two neighboring school districts, one urban and one suburban, undergoing rapid demographic shifts where school board and district officials sought to address racial and/or socioeconomic diversity, among other priorities, through rezoning.…”