The Accomack County School District acknowledged in court filings this week it violated Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act last fall in a special meeting where the school board fired then-Superintendent Rhonda Hall.
The filings say the violations were “inadvertent and unintentional.” Still, the board agreed to terms that would ensure it better follows open meetings laws.
Four Accomack County residents sued the board following the October meeting where the county school board voted to end Hall’s employment.
The chair of the school board called a special meeting the Saturday before the meeting, which was on a Wednesday, according to the court filings. The meeting was advertised on Monday, two days before the meeting, as “a closed special meeting”.
The board ultimately voted outside of closed session in a conference room to fire Hall.
Citizens said in their legal complaint that notice of the meeting to the public was not posted in a timely manner. Virginia’s law requires at least three days’ lead time for any meeting of an elected body, unless there is an emergency.
When given, the notice was “both misleading and legally defective,” the suit claimed. The board’s notice stated it was a closed meeting without noting there would be open, public sessions before and after the closed portion of the meeting.
“The public was and is entitled to an accurate description of the type of meeting to be held, and was misled into believing that there would be no opportunity to observe an open meeting, witness a vote on public business or observe any other public business to be conducted.” says the complaint.
The notice also identified the location simply as the School Board Conference Room, without listing an address. Plus the meeting place — the conference room — was not adequate to accommodate members of the public to be physically present, as required by state law.
The complaint goes on to say that the specifics surrounding the Oct.23 meeting are not the only times the board has failed to follow FOIA requirements. Other public notices of previous meetings also described them as “closed” and in the conference room without an address or location sufficient to house the public.
In the legal agreement filed this week, the board agreed to several provisions in line with existing state law, including ensuring special meetings are advertised at least three days in advance when possible, simultaneously notifying the board members and the public and not advertising them as ‘closed.’
They’ll also need to publish materials for special meetings for public review, take an open vote identifying reasons for entering closed sessions and hold meetings in places large enough to accommodate public attendance, not in the School Board Conference Room.
NOTE: Accomack County Public Schools is a member of HRETA, which owns the broadcast license for WHRO. Board members are not involved in making editorial decisions.
