Christina school board hit with fourth FOIA violation this year

The Christina school board has once again violated the Freedom of Information Act, the state attorney general’s office ruled this month.

The latest violation, the fourth this year, involves the way board members have cast their votes during the past few meetings.

Previously, the board used a traditional voice vote, in which a secretary called each board member’s name and that member verbalized his or her vote. After switching to a new online agenda management software earlier this year, board members began casting their votes electronically.

When the board president calls for a vote, the members sit in silence and use a button on their computer to vote. The results are supposed to appear on a screen, but some members of the public, especially those watching the meeting virtually, have complained they are not able to see the results of the vote.

One of those people, Connie Merlet, a Newark resident and former Christina board member, filed a FOIA complaint with the attorney general’s office. In her complaint, she wrote that she attended the board’s July 9 meeting but left not knowing the results of some votes taken.

“Several times during the meeting, the board took votes via computer but did not inform the public what those votes were or how individual members voted,” she wrote.

As is standard practice, the attorney general’s office began investigating the complaint and gave the board a chance to respond, which it declined.

Deputy Attorney General Dorey L. Cole noted that the public body has the burden of proof to demonstrate compliance with FOIA.

“As the board did not respond to the assertion that it did not adequately inform the meeting attendees about the results of several votes and how each member voted, we are compelled to find a violation of FOIA in this regard,” Cole wrote in her opinion.

FOIA expressly requires that “all voting on public business must take place at a public meeting and the results of the vote made public,” Cole noted.

“Public bodies cannot take a vote by secret ballot in an open meeting,” she added.

Cole recommended that the Christina board ratify any noncompliant votes from the July 9 meeting by conducting a roll call vote verbally in open session at a future public meeting held in strict accordance with FOIA.

Cole’s opinion was dated Aug. 9 and made available to the public Aug 13, the same day the Christina board held its monthly meeting. During that meeting, the board continued to use the electronic voting system.

Board member Doug Manley said he believes the new voting system was well-intentioned, even though it proved to be problematic.

“I think the thought was we don’t have to spend all this time going through and voice voting when you just press the button and see it on the screen,” Manley said. “But I think it’s pretty clear that you can’t really see it on the screen. The president can’t see the screen and has to have somebody tell him what the outcome of the vote was. And the public has no idea what’s going on.”

Manley said he wasn’t aware of the attorney general opinion until after last week’s meeting, but he and at least one other board member had already started verbalizing their vote as well as submitting it electronically.

He hopes the rest of the board members will follow suit.

“I’m hopeful that we can get everybody voice voting again, and if they want to press the button, they can still press the button, which makes the secretary’s job easier,” Manley said.

The latest FOIA violation comes as the Christina board is embroiled in controversy over the way it runs meetings and its recent decision to suspend Superintendent Dan Shelton. In June, the state legislature ordered the attorney general’s office to spend the next year monitoring the board and prepare a report detailing any violations of the Freedom of Information Act as well as any recommendations for legislative changes needed to ensure the proper operation of the board.

Cole previously ruled that the board committed three FOIA violations earlier this year.

In March, the board held a vote to rescind Shelton’s contract extension without properly providing public notice, Cole ruled. In May, the board’s no-confidence vote against Shelton was also done without proper notice, Cole added.

The third FOIA violation involved a closed-door session to address parliamentary procedure. That does not fall under one of the allowable reasons for holding a closed session.