TPA attorney says school system’s version of public notice could erase its vote to sue

By Abby Frye

A decision by the Carter County Board of Education to file suit against the City of Elizabethton might not have been the most controversial aspect of a special called meeting held by the Board last week – the meeting itself may have violated state law.
Rick Hollow, general legal counsel for the Tennessee Press Association, said that based on how the notification of the meeting was handled, the legality of the meeting, and therefore any action taken during the meeting, could be in question.
“If all they did was post a notice on a bulletin board in a public place and leave a voice mail on a reporter’s phone then you do not have adequate public notice,” Hollow said. “Based on just those facts it is an apparent violation of the Open Meetings Act, so any action that they took, if they took any action, could be nullified if the meeting were challenged.”
Under the Open Meetings Act – also known as the Sunshine Law – governing bodies, such as the Board of Education, must give public notice of not only their regularly scheduled meetings but any special called meetings as well. “Any such governmental body which holds a meeting not previously scheduled by statute, ordinance, or resolution, or for which notice is not already provided by law, shall give adequate public notice of such meeting,” states a portion of Tennessee law regarding open meetings.
During a search on Monday, the Elizabethton Star could find no record of the special called meeting being advertised in any fashion.
Carter County Director of Schools Kevin Ward confirmed on Monday that the special called meeting was held on Wednesday, May 28, and that no advertisements for the meeting were placed.
“We didn’t advertise this,” he said, explaining that the meeting was needed on short notice due to the subject of the meeting being pending legal action. “We posted it at the office and notified (Elizabethton Star reporter) Ashley (Rader), which is what our attorney advised us to do.”
Ward said the notice for the meeting was posted at the school system’s administration building on Tuesday May 27, the day before the special called meeting. Rader said she received no voice-mail or other communication from anyone with the county school system regarding the special called meeting.
Hollow stated that even if Rader had received the message, it still would not have constituted “adequate public notice” for the special called meeting. “It would be very difficult for me to believe that a court would find that to be adequate public notice,” Hollow said.