Schools must keep meeting records

Members of the Sisters School Board and superintendent Elaine Drakulich are fine tuning their understanding of public meeting law.

Oregon School Boards Association (OSBA) leadership services directors Gregory McKenzie reviewed the records-keeping practices required by law during a workshop last week.

The subject is of particular concern to the district currently, as on April 9 Sisters resident Mike Morgan filed suit in the Deschutes County Circuit Court against the Sisters School District and the directors of the Sisters School Board.

In his action Morgan contends that the school board must keep written minutes and/or a sound or video tape of all its meetings, including executive sessions.

During the workshop McKenzie explained that Oregon law requires that minutes at executive sessions be kept "in the same manner as a regular meeting - and that's all it says."

"Written minutes or audio, video or digital recordings of executive sessions are required," the OSBA's pamphlet "Board Executive Sessions - Why, When & How" states.

McKenzie pointed out that executive session are not independent meetings. They are a part of an open public meeting when board members adjourn into a private, non-public session to discuss specific topics outlined by the law such as: employment matters; discipline and dismissals; evaluation of the top executive; the review of records that are not open to the public; labor negotiations; and real estate transactions.

The board must reconvene in its public session to take any action on matters discussed during the executive session.

Morgan's suit is an outgrowth of a January 8 request he made to Sisters School District board members for copies of records from several executive sessions. Morgan's request for these records was denied by High Desert Educational Service District (HDESD) attorney John Witty, who is on retainer with the Sisters School District. Morgan subsequently took his request to Deschutes County District Attorney Michael Dugan.

Dugan ruled that he had no jurisdiction over Morgan's complaint and found that his office did not need to take further action regarding the status of the records because the school district, through Witty's direction, had determined it would release the requested records to Morgan. Dugan also directed Morgan to contact the Oregon Government Standards and Practices Commission. (See "DA denies records request," The Nugget, February 14, page 29.)

Morgan contends that Witty misled Dugan, as the records Morgan was requesting do not exist.

McKenzie was clear that though the district must keep records of executive sessions those records are not public.

"There's not much that happens in the executive session; (action) occurs in the regular meeting, so the minutes become much briefer," McKenzie told The Nugget. "You need to identify who is there. That's required. Executive sessions also need to describe actions taken, but you don't get to take any actions in there, so that's not part of the minutes. It also says the substance of the discussion, but it doesn't say how much of the substance you need to keep. They (executive session minutes) become much less detailed and much more general, and then they are embargoed anyway because it is the executive session," McKenzie said.

According to McKenzie the only right the public has to the access of executive session minutes is if ordered by a court.

It is not clear whether the Sisters School Board's failure to take minutes constitutes anything more than a procedural error.

McKenzie declined to comment on that aspect of the matter.

"I am going to decline to answer only because I know there is a lawsuit pending. I haven't followed what the Sisters board did or didn't do. I haven't seen the allegations of the lawsuit," he said.

According to Morgan, a court date has been set for later this fall.

"It will probably be pushed back," Morgan said.