KENTUCKY BOARD DECIDES TO FOREGO INTERIM; CONTINUE SEARCH FOR PERMANENT COMMISH

Following the Courier-Journal's recent questioning of the way the Kentucky Board of Education interprets the Open Meetings Law, I wrote to KDE Communications Director Lisa Gross, "As I read the two statutes that govern closed sessions in Kentucky, I’m not sure there is a valid basis for the wholesale closure of Saturday’s meeting as appears to have been planned."

I cited the law and asked for an interpretation.

The statutes: the Open Meetings Act, http://www.lrc.ky.gov/KRS/061-00/810.PDF, and a section of the Open Records Act, http://www.lrc.ky.gov/KRS/061-00/878.PDF, which is encorporated by reference.

She responded, "The closed session is only part of the meeting, not wholesale. The board will begin the meeting in open session, then, at some point, entertain a motion to go into closed session. "

That "point" came immediately after roll call. The board went into closed session...and emerged somewhere around 12:40PM; whereupon Chairman Keith Travis made the following statement:

"The board came to a consensus this morning that in our present search for a permanent commissioner, there is not a need to secure the services of an interim commissioner. (We have asked) Mr Noland to continue on, and we will continue our search, as such, and we will reconvene August 8th and 9th at our full board meeting and continue our deliberations on this important item.

Then the board immediately adjourned.

So the evidence is that in addition to whatever discussions were held regarding personnel, that are specifically excluded under the Open Meetings Act - there was also some amount of discussion about the process the board would follow.

Whether that discussion should have properly been held in closed session is much less clear.

This from KDE press release:

BOARD AGREES TO CONTINUE SEARCH

(FRANKFORT, Ky.) - At a special-called meeting today, the Kentucky Board of Education came to a consensus that, in its aggressive search for a permanent commissioner of education, there was no need to secure the services of a new interim commissioner.

The current interim commissioner, Kevin Noland, will continue to serve in that capacity until a permanent commissioner of education is selected.

The board did not set a specific timeline for the selection of a permanent commissioner, but agreed to continue deliberations at its regular meeting August 8 and 9 in Frankfort.