Open Meeting Report Complaints - Feel Like Filing One?

We recently requested copies of the Board Meeting minutes for September and the prior 6 meetings from Rick Veilleux. Mr. Veilleux denied a portion of our request, specifically related to Executive Session minutes. We take issue with this and question the legality of his denial and the purpose behind many of the Executive Sessions themselves. We believe that in an effort to gain the attention necessary to initiate positive change within our school, the more parents that send this letter, the more likely this issue is to gain their attention. We are asking that any parent feeling comfortable doing so, file complaints. After speaking with our contact at the Attorney General’s Office, the complaint procedure includes two options which we have completed the dialogue portion of (bolded text)

The first involves filing a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office using the complaint form located here (Attorney General's Complaint Form - Open Meeting. While some information will require your personal information, we have completed the dialogue portion of the complaint if you prefer not to compose your own.

The second option involves contacting the Supervisor of Records within William Galvins Office, Secretary of the Commonwealth. For this complaint we have included pre-written letters that require little more than the inserting of personal information.

~~~~~~~Should you decide to send your own request for minutes ~~~~~~~

October 26, 2010

Mr. Rick Veilleux

Mystic Valley Regional Charter School
671 Salem Street

Malden, MA, 02148

Re: Massachusetts Public Records Request

Dear Mr. Veilleux:

This is a request under the Massachusetts Public Records Law (M. G. L. Chapter 66, Section 10).

I am requesting that I be provided a copy of the following records:

            A copy of Board of Trustees Open & Executive Meeting Minutes Jan 2010 – Sep 2010

I recognize that you do charge reasonable costs for copies, as well as for personnel time needed to comply with this request.  If you expect costs to exceed $10.00, please provide a detailed fee estimate.

As you may be aware, the Public Records Law requires you to provide me with a written response within 10 calendar days.  If you cannot comply with my request, you are statutorily required to provide an explanation in writing.

Sincerely,

Your Name
Your Address
City, State, Zip Code
Telephone Number [Optional]

~~~~~~~~~~The Complaint Process -- Attorney General's Office ~~~~~~~~~~

The complaint form for the Attorney General’s office can be found at Attorney General's Complaint Form - Open Meeting law and requests your personal information along with the following:

OPEN MEETING LAW COMPLAINT FORM

Office of the Attorney General One Ashburton Place Boston, MA 02108

Organization or Media Affiliation (if any): Mystic Valley Regional Charter School

Are you filing the complaint in your capacity as an individual, representative of an organization, or media?

Individual

Public Body that is the subject of this complaint: Mystic Valley Regional Charter School

City/Town: Malden, MA

County: Middlesex

Regional/District: Regional

State: Massachusetts

Name of Public Body: Mystic Valley Regional Charter School, 770 Salem Street, Malden, MA

Specific person(s), if any, you allege committed the violation: Neil Kinnon, Chairman of the Board, Fran Brown, Treasurer, Tom Brennan, Secretary, Janice Bissex, Member, Leslie Williams, Member

Date of alleged violation: October 14, 2010 + ongoing

Description of alleged violation:

The Board of Trustees of Mystic Valley Regional Charter School has repeatedly and blatantly disregarded the laws governing Open Meetings of public bodies, specifically those governing Executive Sessions. Additionally, as the Chairman of the Board, Mr. Neil Kinnon is both a Malden City Councilor and Board Member and the school and city have entered into numerous agreements (including financial), I question the topics and issues discussed. Most recently the school and city have entered into an agreement regarding the Roosevelt Park redevelopment yet this topic was not found legal by the Malden City Attorney. Further, the Board has been cited in their Charter renewal by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for not adhering to the limited instances when they are legally able to convene under Executive Sessions. Finally, the school has refused to release financial records (specifically payroll records) as required under the Massachusetts Open Record laws and/or Freedom of Information Act when requested recently.

More recently, the Board circumvented the laws as in September the meeting announcement and agenda were posted on the City of Malden web site and an email sent to the parents of the school. For the October meeting, they failed to post on the City of Malden website and although claims have been made that the information was posted on the school website, I was unable to locate the information and it was only after phoning the school that they informed me of the meeting that evening (they transferred me to another person but at no time referred me to the schools website). A standing message is included under the information regarding the Board members stating that “Board meetings are held in the multi-purpose room in the annex building. Board meetings are usually held on the second Thursday of the month. The meetings are open to the public” yet does not include an agenda or confirmation that the meeting will actually occur. Additionally as noted below (requirement c), the school must be consistent with the posting location of the information and that they must notify the Attorney General if they have chosen to post in an alternative location.

What action do you want the public body to take in response to your complaint?

I feel that it is a conflict of interest for Neil Kinnon to serve as both a Malden City Councilor and Chairman of the Board of Trustees for a school located within Malden. As such, I believe that he should be required to step down from one of the positions. As the Board continually calls Executive Sessions that are not within the scope of the laws that permit them, it is requested that they discontinue this practice and when feel they must meet within Executive sessions be required to have an unbiased, state appointed observer present. It is also requested that the Board be required to follow the laws governing the posting of both the specific meeting details and agenda. The Board has justified their actions in the past by stating that the school attorney, Jordan Shapiro, attends the meetings to ensure they adhere to the laws that govern them. Unfortunately, Mr. Shapiro has served on Malden Boards with, at the very least, Neil Kinnon resulting in yet another conflict of interest.

~~~ Secretary of the Commonwealth, Supervisor of Records Complaint Letter ~~~

October 25, 2010

William Francis Galvin
Secretary of the Commonwealth

Supervisor of Records
Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth
McCormack Building, Room 1719
One Ashburton Place
Boston, MA 02108

Re: Massachusetts Public Records Denial – Mystic Valley Regional Charter School

Dear Supervisor of Records:

Please find attached a copy of the response from Mr. Rick Veilleux of Mystic Valley Regional Charter School dated September 21, 2010. Mr. Veilleux has denied my request for copies of the Board of Trustees Open & Executive Session minutes for September 15, 2010 as well as the past 6 Board of Trustee meetings. Mr. Veilleux has denied the request for release of the minutes for the Executive Session under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 4, §7(26)(a) and ch. 30A, §22(f), which provides authority for preserving the confidentiality of these records and exempts them from disclosure.

The Board of Trustees of Mystic Valley Regional Charter School has repeatedly and blatantly disregarded the laws governing Open Meetings of public bodies, specifically those governing Executive Sessions. Additionally, as the Chairman of the Board, Mr. Neil Kinnon is both a Malden City Councilor and Board Member and the school and city have entered into numerous agreements (including financial), I question the topics and issues discussed. Most recently the school and city have entered into an agreement regarding the Roosevelt Park redevelopment yet this topic was not found legal by the Malden City Attorney. Further, the Board has been cited in their Charter renewal by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for not adhering to the limited instances when they are legally able to convene under Executive Sessions. Finally, the school has refused to release financial records (specifically payroll records) as required under the Massachusetts Open Record laws and/or Freedom of Information Act when requested recently.

More recently, the Board circumvented the laws as in September the meeting announcement and agenda were posted on the City of Malden web site and an email sent to the parents of the school. For the October meeting, they failed to post on the City of Malden website and although claims have been made that the information was posted on the school website, I was unable to locate the information and it was only after phoning the school that they informed me of the meeting that evening (they transferred me to another person but at no time referred me to the schools website). A standing message is included under the information regarding the Board members stating that “Board meetings are held in the multi-purpose room in the annex building. Board meetings are usually held on the second Thursday of the month. The meetings are open to the public” yet does not include an agenda or confirmation that the meeting will actually occur. Additionally as noted below (requirement c), the school must be consistent with the posting location of the information and that they must notify the Attorney General if they have chosen to post in an alternative location.

(1) Requirements Applicable to All Public Bodies

(a) Except in an emergency, public bodies shall file meeting notices sufficiently in advance of a public meeting to permit posting of the notice at least 48 hours in advance of the public meeting, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, in accordance with M.G.L. c. 30A, §20.  In an emergency, the notice shall be posted as soon as reasonably possible prior to such meeting

(b) Meeting notices shall be printed or displayed in a legible, easily understandable format and shall contain the date, time and place of such meeting and a listing of topics that the chair reasonably anticipates will be discussed at the meeting.  The list of topics shall have sufficient specificity to reasonably advise the public of the issues to be discussed at the meeting. The date and time that the notice is posted shall be conspicuously recorded thereon or therewith.

(c) Notices posted under an alternative posting method authorized by 940 CMR 29.03(2)-(5) shall include the same content as required by 940 CMR 29.03(1)(b). If such an alternative posting method is adopted, the municipal clerk, in the case of a municipality, or the body, in all other cases, shall file with the Attorney General written notice of adoption of the alternative method, including the website address where applicable, and any change thereto, and the most current notice posting method on file with the Attorney General shall be consistently used.

It is for these reasons I feel that the minutes must be either published as required by law or, at the very least, reviewed by the Office of the Supervisor of Records and/or the States Attorney General’s Office to determine if they are exempt from publication. I appreciate your assistance and attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Your Name
Your Address
City, State, Zip Code
Telephone Number [Optional]

~~~~~~~Copy of Denial Letter From Mystic Valley Regional Charter School ~~~~~

Copy of Email from Mr. Rick Veilleux, Business Manager, Mystic Valley Regional Charter School, dated September 30, 2010:

            In response to your email of Tuesday, September 28, the unofficial minutes of the September 15th Meeting of the Board of Trustees for Mystic Valley Regional Charter School (the “School”) are the only ones in existence at this time.  Usually the first iteration is in longhand.  If a typed (but unofficial) copy is available at the time the School responds to your request, we will provide you with a copy.  If your request has changed, so that you would like to wait for a copy of official minutes, we ask that you renew your request following the next meeting of the Board, when those minutes will likely be reviewed and adopted.  Please clarify for us which of these options you would like to pursue.  If the former, you may pick up a copy (once the copying charges have been paid) or review a copy of the unofficial minutes at the School’s office at 671 Salem Street.

As to your new request for a copy of the minutes of the “past 6 Board Meetings,” we understand that to mean the six prior to September, 2010.  Again, fees for copies of these minutes are $.20 per page.  We will provide these minutes, with the exception of any minutes for executive sessions for which the Board has not deemed the basis for executive session to have expired.  Please see my last letter to you referring to Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 4, §7(26)(a) and ch. 30A, §22(f), which provides authority for preserving the confidentiality of these records and exempts them from disclosure at this time.  Because we are denying this portion of your request, we must inform you of your right to seek redress through the administrative process administered by the Supervisor of Records pursuant to 950 CMR 32.00 and Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 66, §10(b).

Finally, it is our policy, which aligns with the requirements of the Public Records Law, that any request for copies of documents be picked up at the School or, if you would prefer, please provide an address and payment for copies made so that we may send them to you by first class mail.

Sincerely,

Rick Veilleux

School Business Manager