Open Meeting Reports Anyone?

     We feel all parents and members of the MVRCS community, as permissible by law, are entitled to view a copy of the minutes from both the Open & Executive session meetings. We have been working towards obtaining them but have hit a road block as the school has refused to turn release the Executive Session minutes stating that they are protected from publishing. We go into the law that they are basing their actions on but feel that the minutes should be reviewed by the Attorney General to ensure that they not only exist but that the discussions are refined to the subject matters permissible under the Executive Session laws. We feel that this would be best obtained by having numerous parents make the request and go through the progress so that the matter receives the attention we feel it deserves. If you would be interested and willing to file a complaint, please see below for the required steps.
    Under Mass State laws, the school is required to keep minutes on both the open portion of the meeting, as well as the Executive Sessions.Individuals may request a copy of both minutes and the school must provide them within 10 days with the exception of portions of the Executive Session "may be withheld from disclosure to the public in their entirety.....defeat the lawful purposes of the executive session, but no longer" (see actual law below). Additionally, the Board may only enter into Executive session under a very limited number of certain circumstances (i.e. to discuss specific issues). We have included a list of these ten purposes along with the law in its entirety further down within this post.
       That being said, we have been volleying back and forth with Rick Veilleux from the school regarding getting copies of the minutes from not just the last meeting, but from the last 6 meetings. The school has chosen to require us to pay .20 per page for a copy of these minutes (which  is permissible by law) and that we are willing to pay for. We are unaware and unable to locate Agenda's for past meetings (they are not posted online as this one was) but apparently they do exist.  We do have a copy of the Agenda from the September 15, meeting and it reads as follows regarding the Executive Session:

Purpose: to discuss legal matters with counsel involving bloggers, slander, and libel, Malden School Committee liability; negotiations; RFP responses re: Roosevelt Park and South Broadway. (Neil Kinnon to recuse himself from certain items for discussion)."

Since we have requested copies of both the Open and Executive sessions minutes for the past 6 months, the school may be able to justify keeping the minutes closed for this meeting but would find it hard to imagine that all of the past 6 meetings contain item matters that would  "defeat the lawful purposes of the executive session". Additionally, the minutes from the last meeting must be published before the next board meeting or within 30 days, whichever occurs first, As for the last meeting, the 30 day mark is quickly approaching yet no mention has been made regarding an upcoming meeting.When questioned about the previous 6 Executive session minutes Mr. Veileux stated the following:

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).

This sounds similar to the discussions that Brenda Buote and the Boston Globe had with the school many moons ago. And, just as they attempted to circumvent the laws then, it appears as though they are attempting to do the same. As we have difficulty believing that all aspects of the past 6 meetings are protected or still active, we have been in contact with an attorney at the Attorney General's office regarding this issue and that they have informed us of the following:

At this juncture you have two options. You can pursue the request with the Secretary of State as a public records request. Your other option is to  file an Open Meeting Law complaint, using the form found at our website: www.mass.gov/ago/openmeeting. This form would need to be filed with the Charter School Board, and they would have 14 business days to respond. If you are not satisfied that their response resolved your complaint, you may, 30 days after first filing with Board, file the complaint with our office. At that point we would review the complaint and determine whether to open an investigation. In an investigation, we would work with the parties, and likely review the executive session minutes to determine if the purpose for executive session still exist

****We would like to have a variety of parties pursue one or both options. Please contact us or follow the above instructions to require MVRCS to stay within the law and do as they are required to do (yet are once again attempting to circumvent).

 Here are the relevant sections of the Open Meeting Law which apply to your request for meeting minutes:

(1) “Minutes of all open sessions shall be created and approved in a timely manner. The minutes of an open session, if they exist and whether approved or in draft form, shall be made available upon request by any person within 10 days.” G.L. C. 30A, Sec. 22(c).

“Upon request by any person to inspect or copy the minutes of an executive session or any portion thereof, the body shall respond to the request within 10 days following receipt and shall release any such minutes not covered by an exemption under subsection (f); provided, however, that if the body has not performed a review pursuant to paragraph (1), the public body shall perform the review and release the non-exempt minutes, or any portion thereof, not later than the body’s next meeting or 30 days, whichever first occurs.  A public body shall not assess a fee for the time spent in its review.” G.L. C. 30A, Sec. 22(g)(2)

 The law and complaint form can be found at www.mass.gov/ago/openmeeting but we have provided the pertinent information below (our comments are in italics and red type):

The aspects of the law that are specific to this post:

Section 21.  [EXECUTIVE SESSIONS]
(a) A public body may meet in executive session only for the following purposes:

(1) To discuss the reputation, character, physical condition or mental health, rather than professional competence, of an individual, or to discuss the discipline or dismissal of, or complaints or charges brought against, a public officer, employee, staff member or individual. The individual to be discussed in such executive session shall be notified in writing by the public body at least 48 hours prior to the proposed executive session; provided, however, that notification may be waived upon written agreement of the parties. A public body shall hold an open session if the individual involved requests that the session be open. If an executive session is held, such individual shall have the following rights:

i. to be present at such executive session during deliberations which involve that individual;
ii. to have counsel or a representative of his own choosing present and attending for the purpose of advising the individual and not for the purpose of active participation in the executive session;
iii. to speak on his own behalf; and
iv. to cause an independent record to be created of said executive session by audio-recording or transcription, at the individual’s expense.

The rights of an individual set forth in this paragraph are in addition to the rights that he may have from any other source, including, but not limited to, rights under any laws or collective bargaining agreements and the exercise or non-exercise of the individual rights under this section shall not be construed as a waiver of any rights of the individual. (We would be very interested in hearing if any past or present employees have ever had this courtesy extended to them. As we have heard that the school is less than ethical and legal in their handling of employee issues. We would welcome additional comments or feedback regarding this subject for those with insight or experiences.) (This subject matter was not mentioned in the Agenda)
2. To conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with nonunion personnel; (We were and are under the impression that the Board does not negotiate with any employee at any time).(This subject matter was not mentioned in the Agenda)
3. To discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares; (While the last meeting did make mention of discussing legal action against this blog, discussion within an open meeting session would not have had a 'detrimental effect' of the schools litigation position).
4. To discuss the deployment of security personnel or devices, or strategies with respect thereto; (This subject matter was not mentioned in the Agenda)
5. To investigate charges of criminal misconduct or to consider the filing of criminal complaints; (This subject matter was not mentioned in the Agenda)
6. To consider the purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property if the chair declares that an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the public body; (Roosevelt Park deal that also wasn't discussed in open meeting law or revealed to the public until the deal was in place?).
7. To comply with, or act under the authority of, any general or special law or federal grant-in-aid requirements; (This subject matter was not mentioned in the Agenda)
8. To consider or interview applicants for employment or appointment by a preliminary screening committee if the chair declares that an open meeting will have a detrimental effect in obtaining qualified applicants; provided, however, that this clause shall not apply to any meeting, including meetings of a preliminary screening committee, to consider and interview applicants who have passed a prior preliminary screening:(This subject matter was not mentioned in the Agenda)

9. To meet or confer with a mediator, as defined in section 23C of chapter 233, with respect to any litigation or decision on any public business within its jurisdiction involving another party, group or entity, provided that: (This subject matter was not mentioned in the Agenda)

(i) any decision to participate in mediation shall be made in an open session and the parties, issues involved and purpose of the mediation shall be disclosed; and
(ii) no action shall be taken by any public body with respect to those issues which are the subject of the mediation without deliberation and approval for such action at an open session; or

10. To discuss trade secrets or confidential, competitively-sensitive or other proprietary information provided in the course of activities conducted by a governmental body as an energy supplier under a license granted by the department of public utilities pursuant to section 1F of chapter 164, in the course of activities conducted as a municipal aggregator under section 134 of said chapter 164 or in the course of activities conducted by a cooperative consisting of governmental entities organized pursuant to section 136 of said chapter 164, when such governmental body, municipal aggregator or cooperative determines that such disclosure will adversely affect its ability to conduct business in relation to other entities making, selling or distributing electric power and energy. (This subject matter was not mentioned in the Agenda)

(b) A public body may meet in closed session for 1 or more of the purposes enumerated in subsection (a) provided that:

1. the body has first convened in an open session pursuant to section 21;
2. a majority of members of the body have voted to go into executive session and the vote of each member is recorded by roll call and entered into the minutes;
3. before the executive session, the chair shall state the purpose for the executive session, stating all subjects that may be revealed without compromising the purpose for which the executive session was called;
4. the chair shall publicly announce whether the open session will reconvene at the conclusion of the executive session; and
5. accurate records of the executive session shall be maintained pursuant to section 23.

(1) “Minutes of all open sessions shall be created and approved in a timely manner. The minutes of an open session, if they exist and whether approved or in draft form, shall be made available upon request by any person within 10 days.” G.L. C. 30A, Sec. 22(c).

 

(2) “The minutes of any executive session, the notes, recordings or other materials used in the preparation of such minutes and all documents and exhibits used at the session, may be withheld from disclosure to the public in their entirety under subclause (a) of clause Twenty-sixth of section 7 of chapter 4, as long as publication may defeat the lawful purposes of the executive session, but no longer” G.L. C. 30A, Sec. 22(f).

“Upon request by any person to inspect or copy the minutes of an executive session or any portion thereof, the body shall respond to the request within 10 days following receipt and shall release any such minutes not covered by an exemption under subsection (f); provided, however, that if the body has not performed a review pursuant to paragraph (1), the public body shall perform the review and release the non-exempt minutes, or any portion thereof, not later than the body’s next meeting or 30 days, whichever first occurs.  A public body shall not assess a fee for the time spent in its review.” G.L. C. 30A, Sec. 22(g)(2)