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Search Results for: 54957 elected – Page 3

A&A: Legal Action Against a Board Member in Closed Session

firstamendment June 13, 2009

Legal Action Against a Board Member in Closed Session Q: Is it legal for the superintendent and board president to put under closed session anticipating legal action regarding a board member without notifying that board member of the reasons, etc.? A: Your inquiry raises two issues under the California Brown Act: (1) whether a closed session may properly be held under the Brown Act regarding anticipated “legal action” regarding a board member, and (2) whether

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A&A: City Council Action in Secret

firstamendment June 13, 2009

Q: Our city’s fire chief is on medical leave.  I heard the city council approved a search for an interim fire chief several weeks ago, but it was not disclosed to our paper. Is it legal for the city council to approve a search without notifying the public? A: Under the Brown Act, a city council is not supposed to take any action in secret, except where the matter can be discussed in closed session, and

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A&A: School refuses to explain why principal fired behind closed doors

FAC March 4, 2012

Q: An elementary school principal was forced to resigned after a closed session meeting with the school board. Board members say they CAN’T talk about the decision. I made a written request for the files. They say they don’t have to show me the file’s under government code 6250. I don’t believe that’s true. Most of the employees at the school agree with me, but cannot speak up. A: There seem to be a couple

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A&A: Teacher terminated after closed session

FAC October 20, 2011

Q: Last weekend our son’s 4th grade teacher was fired from her “at will” employment at a local charter school. The board held a Regular Meeting and decided “immediate action” had to be taken. The teacher did not receive 24 hours notice about the meeting but was asked if she wanted to speak for five minutes on her behalf when she happened to walk by the meeting. The board then held a closed session and

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A&A: Parent’s email complaint entered as a public comment by school site council

FAC May 3, 2016

Q: I am a member of our School Site Council. During a recent public comment period, our chairperson read aloud an email that contained a detailed complaint (disclosing the names of a staff member and the emailer’s child – neither of whom were present). Is it the case that we are obligated under the Brown Act to hear the full text of all emails directed to us as public comments, whether or not our committee

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A&A: Board member shared confidential information after closed session

FAC September 9, 2016

Q: I am an Associate Director at my charter school. I was recently informed by my Board that my contract will not be renewed for the next school year. This is an amicable separation and I am finishing out the school year. However, within a week of this decision, made and executed during a closed session, I learned from two different reliable sources that two Board members had shared this decision with at least three different

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A&A: Charter board meetings flout Brown Act rules

FAC June 7, 2011

Q: Can Charter Boards hold special meetings, with limited notice on just any subject? Can they go into closed session and report out publicly that no action was taken, then order the CEO to do what was decided in the closed session? Can a vote be taken to approve signature of a disclosure filing that contains conflict of interest information and then the board president refuse to sign it in a timely fashion? A: Addressing

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A&A: Council-elect make decisions, but claim documents are not public

FAC October 21, 2010

Q: I cover an unincorporated community that voted in June to incorporate. Voters approved incorporation and also elected a five-member council.  A committee has been formed to raise private funds to put on a celebration on mark the historic occasion. Two elected members of the city council-elect (who will not be sworn in until the day of the celelbration) serve on this committee. My questions: is this committee considered private? Am I entitled to the

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A&A: Should school superintendent’s goals be made in closed session?

FAC April 12, 2012

Q: Our City Council sets the City Manager’s goals in open session. The goals are public. The evaluation of the City Manager in meeting goals in done in closed session. In contrast, the School Board sets  goals for the Superintendent’s in closed session. Recently, the new superintendent made her goals available on the District web site. The Board President thanked her in a public column for choosing to be transparent since the goals are an

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A&A: School Board Voted In Secret to Pick New Superintendent

FAC December 10, 2018

Q: Our group plus hundreds of teachers, parents, and community activists protested against the secret meeting that the city school board to pick the new yet controversial superintendent. We believe that the closed and secret meeting violated several provisions of the Brown Act and we would like help in understanding how the Brown Act applies and in finding an attorney. A: I am sorry to hear about the lack of transparency associated with the hiring

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Labor negotiations and the Brown Act

firstamendment June 13, 2009

Labor negotiations and the Brown Act Q: Our public school board evaluated the principal and voted to give him a raise, in a closed session, which I understand is legal since the evaluation is confidential. Should the vote on the bonus remain secret? I asked to know the breakdown of which board members voted which way on the bonus. Is that information protected against public disclosure? I did not ask the amount of the bonus,

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75 Ops. Cal. Atty. Gen. 14 Local Board Can Use Closed Session to Discuss Litigation Settlement (1992)

firstamendment June 13, 2009

Office of the Attorney General State of California 75 Ops. Cal. Atty. Gen. 14 Opinion No. 91-803 February 5, 1992 THE HONORABLE MICHAEL D. BRADBURY DISTRICT ATTORNEY VENTURA COUNTY THE HONORABLE MICHAEL D. BRADBURY, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, VENTURA COUNTY, has requested an opinion on the following question May a local agency such as a county board of supervisors use the “pending litigation” exception of the Ralph M. Brown Act to go into closed session to deliberate

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Board of Directors Closed Session

firstamendment June 13, 2009

Board of Directors Closed Session Q: Our Board of Directors met in Executive, closed session to discuss amending our By-laws to reduce the number of directors. When I questioned the closed session, I was told that the Board of Directors were considered personnel and as so covered under the personnel matters exception in the Davis-Sterling Open Meeting Act. I read a pamphlet from the California Attorney General’s office that was very clear that board members

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Closed Session on Employee Performance

firstamendment June 13, 2009

Closed Session on Employee Performance Q: I am hoping you can tell me whether language that appears in an upcoming school district agenda meets the requirements of the Brown Act. This the language as it appears in the agenda: • Public Employee, to consider appointment, employment, performance evaluation, or dismissal of employee pursuant to GC §54957, as cited in the Brown Act (2 cases). I understand from talking with two members of the Board of

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Texas cities can’t challenge state’s open-meetings law

FAC July 29, 2010

Four Texas cities cannot join more than a dozen elected officials in a lawsuit aimed at overturning the Texas Open Meetings Act, a federal judge ruled yesterday. July 29, 2010 By The Associated Press PECOS, Texas —U.S. District Judge Robert Junell said the cities of Alpine, Pflugerville, Rockport and Wichita Falls cannot sue Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and the state over the act because the issue involved revolves around individual rights. The open-meetings law

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Tehachapi superintendent responds to allegations of Brown Act violations

firstamendment June 2, 2009

In defending his district against allegations made by the Kern County Grand Jury of open government violations, the school superintendent said that the school board published their agendas sufficiently and took public comment on the reassignment of a middle school principal. -DB Tehachapi News May 28, 2009 STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO GRAND JURY REPORT As you know, the Tehachapi Unified School District Board of Trustees made a decision to reassign a principal. The result of

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Censure not a First Amendment violation against college board member

donal brown March 29, 2022

The U. S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that an elected public college official in Texas was not was not protected from censure through the First Amendment. The man’s colleagues on a community college board censured him for suing them, setting up robocalls against them and hiring an investigator to prove one didn’t live in the college district. Judge Neil Gorsuch wrote that a verbal censure was not a free speech violation, that in any case,

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First Amendment scholar hopes Supreme Court does not limit public employee free speech rights

donal brown January 13, 2011

First Amendment Center’s David Hudson hopes that in deciding whether voting by elected officials is a form of free speech, the U.S. Supreme Court does not apply Garcetti v. Ceballos which severely limits employees’ free speech rights. -db First Amendment Center Jandudary 11, 2011 By David L. Hudson Jr. The U.S. Supreme Court will decide in Commission on Ethics of the State of Nevada v. Carrigan whether voting by elected officials is a form of

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A&A: No vote on new superintendent, but of consensus reached in closed session

FAC August 26, 2016

Q: The School Board announced last night that they had narrowed the field of candidates for superintendent to one finalist when reporting out of closed session. But no vote was taken. The board president emailed me today that they had reached consensus. How can they do that without a vote being taken? Is that legal? A: The Brown Act contains a few narrow exceptions to its general requirement that meetings be open to the public.  One

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