copyright 2007 by Micki Nellis
Reprint only with permission
May 30, 2007

The Cleburne ISD School Board met illegally the night of May 12, according to provisions of the Texas Open Meetings Act published at http://www.oag.state.tx.us/opinopen/2006oma_text.pdf

In this document, a meeting is defined as, among other things, a gathering at which a quorum of school board members is present. (Section Bii)

The law also says that notice of meetings must be posted at least 72 hours prior to the meeting, and the meeting must be open to the public. No notice was posted. No minutes were taken.

Every school board member gathered at the CISD Administration building to await and discuss the announcement of school board election results. Present were school board members Brad Allen, Brad Mead, Jennifer Dugger, Donna Boles, Stu Madison, Brent Easdon, and Teddy Martyniuk. Also present was school superintendent Robert Damron.

The Texas Open Meetings law does exempt social functions. The exact wording in Section B(iv) is “The term does not include the gathering of a quorum of a governmental body at a social function unrelated to the public business that is conducted by the body…”

However, since board members discussed the election, the results of the election, and openly cheered when news of the two incumbents’ re-election was announced, this would seem to place the discussion squarely in the realm of school business and not a social function.

Violation of the Open Meetings Law is a misdemeanor punishable to a fine of from $100 to $500 or imprisonment in the county jail from not less than one month nor more than six months, or both a fine and imprisonment.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott obtained the state's first criminal indictment by an attorney general of the state's Open Meetings law in June of 2005. It was against a school board president in Upshur County. John Wesley Moore allegedly had private conversations with several school board members to gauge support for a possible severance package for then-Superintendent Dan Noll in return for Noll's resignation, according to Abbott's office.

Texas law prohibits officials from knowingly trying to circumvent the act by secretly deliberating with as few as one other member of the public board. (Reference http://www.rcfp.org/news/2005/0601-foi-openme.html)

At the Mayor’s forum last year, the city declared the forum an official meeting so that councilmen could attend without violating the Open Meetings Law. The forum featured the mayor answering questions from the public. Although no city business was conducted nor voted on, it was necessary to declare it an official meeting. Otherwise it would have been illegal for a quorum of councilmen to attend.

Easy explanations of open meetings laws, nepotism laws and conflict of interest laws can be found at the Attorney General's site at http://www.oag.state.tx.us/newspubs/publications.shtml