Mr. Spivey, while each state has their own version of open meeting laws, they are pretty much the same.

Elected and appointed officials (think school boards, city councils and county boards of supervisors) are required by law to conduct the “public’s business” in public. If elected officials violate these laws, they can face both civil and criminal penalties (including fines and prison).

When newly elected officials who talked big and tough and made all kinds of promises during their campaigns take office, then do and say absolutely NOTHING you can be sure their ignorance of parliamentary procedures is the reason.

Unfortunately, local officials who DO know open meeting laws, can and do abuse them in full public view and very few citizens even know it is happening. Take note of this: whoever chairs the board also controls all the board member who do NOT know parliamentary procedures. Conversely, people who know parliamentary procedure make very powerful elected officials.

In my estimation, the greatest weakness of private citizens, civic groups, and non-profits is their lack of knowledge regarding parliamentary procedures. The most effective organizations and citizens that I’ve worked with shared parliamentarians. You become a parliamentarian by studying your state’s open meeting laws. Once you understand parliamentary procedure, you can serve your community really, really well.

Agenda - the law establishes strict procedures for informing the public when and where and what their elected officials will be discussing or voting on.

Minutes – inform the public of what was discussed and voted on during the previous meeting.

Non-agenda items – elected officials can NOT discuss or vote on any item that is NOT on their agenda. If they did, they would be violating the rights of citizens who were NOT told what their elected officials were considering.

Public input – provides the public an opportunity to tell their elected officials their opinions, ask for information, make suggestions, request support, etc. The board can listen and ask questions, but they can NOT vote on an item someone brings to their attention or engage in discussions with members of the public (that could be interpreted as consideration of a matter). AND this is where it gets really, really tricky.

Since the board’s agenda belongs to the board, a citizen can NOT place an item on the board’s agenda – only board members can do this. Even if a board member does request an item be placed on their agenda, the board chair decides when to place it on the agenda. Board chairs often abuse their responsibility by waiting months to put an item on the agenda. By then, it is too late to change directions.

Unfortunately, people do not realize how much power the board’s chair/president holds.

• Power # one – the board’s chair/president controls the agenda, for part of their responsibility is to work with the superintendent to prepare the board’s agenda.

• Power # two –the board chair also serves as the board’s liaison with legal counsel.

In elected office I got into several public battles with a board chair over my requests to agendize items brought before us by citizens during public comments. To overcome this challenge, I learned to speak up fast and loud and clear enough that the public held the board chair responsible for putting their item on our agenda.

Closed-session. Open-meeting laws also govern matters that can ONLY be discussed in closed-session and include personnel matters, union negotiations, legal matters and litigation, business contracts with vendors and suppliers, real estate negotiations and anything that might violate the privacy of an individual.

Based on my experience, closed-session meetings are a frigging nightmare for honest, decent and fair-minded officials. The sh-t I heard in closed-session meetings where elected officials were guaranteed I could not repeat it would make you sick.

In my last year in office, the death of a student finally convinced the district attorney to depose me. Once I was under oath, I was able to report what had been said and done in closed-session meetings (without fear of criminal charges against me, for violating our state’s open-meetings laws).

In regards to this Florida superintendent, the school board is required by law to discuss all personnel issues in closed-session.

School district superintendents answer to school boards who have the power to hire and fire them. Usually about half the members of a school board face an election every two years. This rotation schedule maintains some stability on the board. However, the election of just one new board member, can move the board minority into the majority position. For that reason, superintendents demand contracts that guarantee them a steady income should an election jeopardize their jobs. Usually school board’s grant 3-year contracts. However, school boards determined to make big changes offer longer contracts to superintendents who share their vision.

While school boards, by majority vote, can terminate a superintendent anytime they please, the contract requires them to pay the years that remain under contract.

One way out of paying off the contract is to fire a superintendent for “cause” – meaning the superintendent did something illegal. If this Florida board had fired him for “cause” they would have been required to make that “cause” public. Disagreeing with school board members, or disrespecting them, does not constitute “cause” – hence this school board paid the full contract, because they fired the superintendent without “cause”.

There are other ways out of this, but most school boards are not aware of them, or even care enough to use them.

I don’t know if I am being helpful or not, but here’s what I would be asking the Florida board.

If you look at the closed-session minutes, the board is required to report individual board member votes on any matter they vote on in closed-session. In my experience, these votes are rarely unanimous, and knowing who voted or against termination will tell you which board members are on which side of the issue. This is important to know, because you might find you have allies on this school board. If they have NOT recorded their individual votes in the minutes, you have a right to ask which board members voted for and against the superintendent’s termination – and they are required, by law, to tell you.

Keep in mind, that school board presidents hold a lot of power and challenging their use of power is the key to accountability. Again, one of those powers is that school board presidents interact with legal counsel on behalf of the board. If a board member wants a legal opinion, he/she has to go through the board president to get it. I was lucky, thanks to years of activism, several people who provided legal counsel to public entities were happy to help me navigate my board position.

Next, I would ask the board president when he/she first met with the school district’s legal counsel regarding the superintendent’s termination? Then I would ask the board president if he/she initiated these discussions on his own, or did so at the request of the board? If the board made this request, was it a majority of the board, or just one or two members? If it was a minority of the board, by what authority did the board president initiate contract with legal counsel? Was the full board advised of these meetings – and if yes, how and when? You want to see this item on the board's closed-session agendas.

Next, I would request a copy of the board’s hiring plan for the next superintendent. Who will oversee the process and how can they be reached? Exactly what qualifications are they looking for in a candidate? What is their plan for public input into the hiring process? How will they protect the district from another contract pay-off next year, of the year after?

This district is paying a LOT more than the superintendent’s contract, and I would zero in on this fact.

To that end, I would ask them for a report showing exactly how much they are spending on consultants, legal counsel and an interim superintendent to help them through the hiring process?

Next, I would ask exactly what budget item is being billed for these costs? Is it coming out of teacher, classroom aides, janitorial, school nurses, speech therapists, guidance counselors, bus drivers, cafeteria staff, and security salaries? Or is it coming out of administrative staffing costs (like assistant superintendents of finance, curriculum, etc. all of whom, earn 6-figure incomes).

School districts have very little discretionary funds – the vast majority of funds are categorical – meaning they can ONLY be spent on specific things like facilities, salaries, aides, technology, safety, books, equipment, etc. If it were me, I would direct these questions directly to the superintendent of finance and request these costs be posted on-line where the public can track them.

Anyways, that’s my two cents for the day. Keep fighting the good fight Mr. Spivey, we need every one like you all the time.

Oh my, this got really long.