Freedom of Information Act

Published under Missy Crockett
Editorial Column
Van Buren County Democrat
October,1987


I had occasion to attend the October 19, school board meeting of the Clinton School district. It was my understanding that these meetings are open to all citizens that want to attend. But, the board seemed to take offense at the number of citizens present and went into executive session not once, but twice. I was curious about the behavior of these elected officials, so I did some research on the freedom of Information policies.

Section 12-2805 of Act 93 of 1967 states, "Executive sessions will be permitted only for the purpose of considering employment, appointment, promotion, demotion, discipline, or resignation of any public office or employee." And further it is stated, "Executive sessions must never be called for the purpose of defeating the reason or the spirit of the Freedom of Information Act."

The first motion for executive session state the purpose was for a personnel matter. After being out over an hour, the Board obviously and privately decided what business to carry on for the rest of the evening. Upon returning from the first executive session, the board stated that because they had so much business to take care of, they were going to table the rest of the agenda, but that the principals could have five minutes to report on progress and problems at their respective school. This brought several questions to mind:

1. What was the agenda NOT their most pressing business?

2. When was it decided that there was just too much new business to worry about with the agenda business?

3. Is the board's business not the business of the citizens of the Clinton School District? Should the business not to discussed in front of the people who elected these men to serve on the board?

4. Can principals really condense eight weeks of school into five minutes?

5. Is it not rude to invite people to present information to the board and then dismiss them without hearing from them?

There seemed to me to be some problem in the district judging from the number of teachers present. They were informed that if they had anything written down, they could leave it with the board. Otherwise, there was just too much board business to listen to the teachers. Maybe some of the same problems that forced the Little Rock teachers to strike are present right here in our district.

One teacher seemed to have come to discuss a particular problem. He was told to leave any written material he had. Obviously concerned about being "dismissed" without giving his side of the story or uncomfortable with leaving and having his problem discussed outside his presence, the teacher asked to be present to present his side if the problem was to be discussed. The board said he would be allowed this if necessary, but the audience got the impression that the problem would be discussed later when everyone left. The board then went into executive session again. This time no reason was given for so doing. The only thing the citizens present could figure out was that since the citizens did not make a move to leave, the board went into executive session to discuss things they didn't want to discuss in an open forum as prescribed by law. This executive session lasted several hours.

I later learned that the board did take care of agenda items after the second executive session, after all the patrons had left, and after eleven o'clock at night.

If it is true that a school board may not discuss matters other than the abovementioned occasions outlined, they did in fact NOT do so, then as a taxpayer, I must draw the conclusions that this district has some very bad personnel matters.

Citizens of the Clinton School district, take heed! The school board works for you. Have you been to see how YOUR BUSINESS is being conducted? I submit that when the problems of a district require three, four or more hours of secret meetings, something is wrong. I further submit that when the law is so openly ignored by your elected representatives, citizens had better get involved. Therefore, I urge all of you to attend the school board meetings. They meet every month on the third Monday at 7 p.m. in the newer high school building. It would be a shame for the district to have to spend money defending a law suit just because the board feels that the Freedom of Information laws do not apply to them. This law is especially applicable to them. But, who will make sure the law is followed? Who will make the public feel welcome at the board meetings? Who should be concerned about what goes on in our schools? The answer is the voters of the Clinton School District.