The Capistrano Unified School District board of trustees met without notice on a Sunday for a closed meeting on employee negotiations. It’s legal in most cases but does not promote public confidence. -db
Yes, the Capistrano Unified School District trustees met Sunday. But apparently it wasn’t illegal.
Trustees indeed met Sunday for a closed session without any public notice. That seems unusual, but there’s actually a section of the government code that allows such closed-door meetings for employee negotiations.
The meeting was called to order at 6:15 p.m., with all trustees in attendance — although Anna Bryson attended by telephone.
Superintendent Bobbi Mahler and the district’s lead negotiator were the only other attendees. No action was taken.
The meeting was called quickly as the deadline nears for the release of the independent mediator/fact finder’s report on the district’s impasse with the teachers. The 30-day deadline comes at the end of this month.
That is the report that will recommend a settlement. It will be a public document. The fact-finder was mutually agreed on by the district and teachers and travels the state doing the work, so it will be well versed in the current complications of school financing. The district will have 10 days to respond to the report.
Here’s the code:
California Government Code Section 3549.1 All the proceedings set forth in subdivisions (a) to (d), inclusive, are exempt from the provisions of Sections 35144 and 35145 of the Education Code, the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act \ (Article 9 (commencing with Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2), and the Ralph M. Brown Act (Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 54950) of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 5), unless the parties mutually agree otherwise:
(a) Any meeting and negotiating discussion between a public school employer and a recognized or certified employee organization.
(b) Any meeting of a mediator with either party or both parties to the meeting and negotiating process.
(c) Any hearing, meeting, or investigation conducted by a fact finder or arbitrator.
(d) Any executive session of the public school employer or between the public school employer and its designated representative for the purpose of discussing its position regarding any matter within the scope of representation and instructing its designated representatives.
That’s apparently OK, but unusual, Californians Aware attorney Terry Francke told me. He’s one of the top public-meeting laws experts in the state. “They can step out from under the Brown Act,” Francke told me. “But I have never seen a school district use it.”
I emailed six trustees — everyone but Larry Christensen (I just couldn’t put my hands on his email) — and only heard back from Trustee Ken Maddox. Maddox admitted it was a hastily called meeting, but said trustees are under the gun with the approaching deadline for the release of the independent report.
“None of us are working on Sunday,” he added.
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