Here's what we know from the Board of Education agenda:
- The Board of Education will meet this evening January 5, 2011 at 6 PM.
- Superintendent Jerry Weast has written a resolution that says the purpose of the closed session meeting is:
Resolved, That the Board of Education of Montgomery County discuss collective bargaining negotiations and related matters, as permitted under Section 10-508(a)(9) of the State Government Article and Section 4-107(d)(2)(ii) of the Education Article;Remember that the Board of Education has to meet in the OPEN and vote to go into a CLOSED session. Will the Board members vote to go into CLOSED session or will this discussion proceed in the OPEN? You'll have to attend to find out. This meeting won't be televised or webcast!
What do you think Superintendent Weast wants the Board to discuss in a CLOSED session?
Remember that a Closed Session Resolution must be specific about what is to be discussed. The Board of Education was previously cited for failure to comply with the Open Meetings Act disclosure requirements.
On January 30, 2009, the Open Meetings Compliance Board cited the MCPS Board of Education for a violation of $10-508(d)(2)(ii) of the Open Meetings Act. The Open Meetings Board opinion stated that in order to close a meeting of the MCPS Board of Education, the Board must,
"not simply cite the statutory authority, but must disclose the topic of discussion in order to allow the public to access compliance by comparing the cited authority and report topic."..."Here the written statement provided the public no information except that the meeting was closed, among other reasons, for the County Board to receive legal advice. Thus, in closing the meeting of September 9, the County Board violated $10-508(d)(2)(ii)."
Post your guess as to the specific topic up for discussion this evening in the comments section below!
The purpose appears to be to discuss collective bargaining negotiations. Is it wise to discuss collective bargaining strategy in open session? I do not think so.
ReplyDelete@ Gary - Under the Open Meetings Act the public is entitled to more than an appearance of something. They are entitled to the topics to be discussed. The question is does this notice comply with the requirements of the Open Meetings Act?
ReplyDeleteAll this notice did was re-iterate the language of the statute. It did not give the topic to be discussed. You are entitled to more. Read the quote above from the Maryland Open Meetings Act Compliance Board decision on a prior MCPS Board of Education violation.