Post-press story update: The Monroe School District, through its board president, announced Monday, Feb. 6 that its legal counsel determined Barnes did not violate open government law.
MONROE — A school board member became accused of violating the open public meetings act (OPMA) by soliciting
input from a private Facebook chat group’s members while the board was in a confidential, closed-door session discussing the merits of the three finalists for superintendent.
Was this illegal when the meeting is closed to the public?
No, say open government experts.
Morgan Damerow, the open government ombudsman in the state Attorney General's office told the Tribune he was "having a hard time finding an OPMA problem here because it sounds like the board member wasn't sharing information" out to that Facebook group, such as leaking a play-by-play of the board's conversation or private documents. Disclosing what's behind closed doors would be an unambiguous violation.
The nonpartisan Washington Coalition for Open Government (WashCOG) tweeted
its take that the "school board member
more likely broke the school district's own
ethics and confidentiality rules than the
state Open Public Meetings Act, which is
silent on this issue."
School board member Molly Barnes
gathered feedback from participants of a
Facebook chat group of local conservative
women, including asking them to tell her
their top pick for superintendent.
Parent Melanie Lockhart discovered and
documented all of it. Lockhart explained
she had a backdoor channel to see it.
Lockhart said Barnes didn't disclose
what the board was discussing to the
group, but emphasizes that a closed meeting
should mean completely closed to all
members of the public.
Lockhart took her concerns to school
board president Jennifer Bumpus and also
went public to Facebook with a portion of
screenshots from the chatroom.
The district is talking with legal counsel
to determine if this violated OPMA, district
spokeswoman Tamara Krache said
last week. No determination has come out
as of Thursday, Feb. 2.
Ultimately, the board voted 4-0 to hire
Shawn Woodward as superintendent.
WashCOG, the nonprofit
group, said the age of smartphones
means a situation like
this is new to them but was
"bound to occur.”
The topic split school district
watchers. Some are
calling for Barnes to resign.
Some are defending Barnes.
Former school board
member Debra Kolrud said
Barnes didn't violate the law
and instead should be applauded
for seeking more
public input on deciding who
to hire as Monroe's schools
chief.
To Barnes' critics, soliciting
a specific demographical
group's input tears apart
the integrity of the decision
process.
The state's advisory group
for school boards, the Washington
State School Directors'
Association (WSSDA),
refrained from weighing in
on this matter, but spoke generally
to best practices.
School board members
shouldn't be on social media
during open or closed sessions,
said WSSDA's Director
of Policy and Legal Services
Abigail Westbrook, to keep
their attention to the board
meeting. Communicating
with people not in the room
goes against the spirit of the
OPMA, and could be considered
rude, but "while not
desirable, it is not illegal if
no confidential information
was shared by the board
member," Westbrook said
by email.
Barnes could not be reached by phone for comment.
What can happen in a closed-door session
School boards and other government boards have limited authority for setting a closed-door session where the public can't attend. More commonly known as an executive session, these are reserved for discussing sensitive items such as a pending lawsuit, evaluating an employee, or discussing real estate.
By its essence, Lockhart contends, a closed-door session is meant to exclude the whole public the whole time. "The pure definition of an executive session is to exclude the public," Lockhart said.
Damerow, the state's open government ombudsman, disagreed that it's that distinct.
"The reason I can't get to that point (to say it's a violation) is you're not 'locked in' at the executive session, they can step out" of the room and might interact with the public, he said.
But if this is permissible, Lockhart said she thinks the law should have firmer separations to uphold excluding the entire public when a closed-door session is called.
Otherwise, certain people might have "insider access" to elected officials during a closed-door meeting by text message or over social media.
Attempts to interview WashCOG’s president for this story were not returned.
Kolrud said when she was on the board, she recalled during one executive session the superintendent phoned a real estate appraiser.
Kolrud likened that "if they can make a phone call" to someone outside the room during a closed-door meeting, it's no different than asking around for comments.
Can hiring interviews for public positions be done behind closed doors?
Members of the public questioned how the school board interviewed the superintendent candidates outside of public view.
The closed-door employee interviews are acceptable in this case, said Damerow. Only interviews for candidates for elected office must always be public, the law says.
Typically, area school boards have interviewed their candidates in the open. It's how Monroe interviewed candidates a year ago to select interim superintendent Marci Larsen.
This time, Monroe's only public interview time was a panel where community members asked the candidates questions before an audience.
Each candidate rotated in for the community panel, while a different candidate was being interviewed in private by the school board.
The public was asked to give feedback on the candidates for a window of time from what they saw in the public panel, including a while after the panel concluded.
