Lessons for the school board to learn

The Wharton Independent School District is getting a lesson in public information.

The bold, banner headline on the front of Saturday’s paper, “School board votes behind closed doors,” should serve notice to the district that it is continuing to screw up and should alarm residents about the monumental mistakes the board is making.

At the May 15 special meeting to canvass the May 6 election results and to reorganize the board, the trustees committed at least two breaches of the state’s open meetings law. The first was to go into executive session (closed door) to debate selection of the board’s president, vice president, and secretary. The second – and most egregious – violation was to vote on the positions while in the closed-door session.

In going into executive session, the board cited Texas Government Code Section 551.074, which allows the board to go behind closed doors to discuss personnel matters. The problem is that statute relates to employees, not elected officials. Elected officials are held to a different standard than district employees. They are elected by the people and are thus accountable to the public, meaning actions such as this must be conducted in the open.

As far as I know, the state’s open meetings law does not allow an elected board to vote on anything while behind closed doors. There are several legitimate reasons for a board or council to hold closed door meetings, but any formal action must be taken in open session. How the board of trustees did not know this is beyond me.

At the time of the vote, the board was under the leadership of then-president Curtis Evans. I’ve written before about his leadership gaffs, but this takes the cake. Since the president is responsible for setting the agenda and running the meeting, I have to assume this was his blunder. I don’t know if it was done out of ignorance of the law or to intentionally hide the deliberations, but someone on the board should have known that what they were doing was wrong and spoken up about it.

In looking at the district’s website, I see that a special meeting has been called for Thursday, June 8, at 6 p.m. to vote for officers. Not to be arrogant, but I assume this is in response to my story. It is the right thing for the board to do. With the district facing so many problems, it’s vital that its leadership not make any more missteps and lead from a position of openness and integrity.

In the column I wrote earlier about Evans’ leadership problems, I also addressed an issue with the district providing me public information. I had requested the filing papers from each candidate for election to the school board so I had their contact information to do pre-election profiles. I was denied and forced to go through the Texas Public Information Act to make my request, followed by the district sending my request to the attorney general’s office for an opinion.

That process took us well beyond the election date and made my request moot. But there is a lesson for the district to learn here and I renewed my request last week and finally got the papers on Monday. By sticking to the principle of the matter, the district now knows that those papers are public information and not to be withheld.

I want to be clear that I’ve held this hard line on the district not to belittle it or its leadership, but to hold it accountable and hopefully coach it on openness and transparency. I really do want to see Wharton ISD succeed, as should every person that lives in the district. We don’t want failing schools and we don’t want to let our children down. But we can’t right this ship if we’re steering in the wrong direction.

Since this is my last column (again) and I will be moving away next week, I leave in the hopes that the district will strive for excellence, rise above the din, and take the high road of openness, honesty, and integrity. I also hope that the editor who replaces me will continue to hold not just the district, but all public officials to a higher standard.

Wharton is a great place with great people, and great potential. I hope someday to come back and see the shine on this diamond in the rough.