From the Daily Reflector (11/17/2009): A proposal to keep deliberations and voting for Pitt County Board of Education panel hearings confidential has stirred up some debate among board members.
The Pitt County Schools Policy Committee introduced the policy during the board’s Nov. 2 meeting. It states that all closed session deliberations and voting will remain confidential.
School System Attorney Rob Sonnenberg said the school system is legally entitled to make the deliberations and voting private for hearings related to discipline, transfer requests and promotions. But some board members say they are concerned about why the system needs such a policy.
The board is expected to make a decision Monday nightduring its regular meeting.
“In most school systems that I have worked with, the practice has been that the panel members meet in private and deliberate in private so they don’t feel any pressure or outside influence in reaching an objective, fair decision about what is appropriate during a hearing,” Sonnenberg said. “We have that right under North Carolina law to do that.”
Education law in North Carolina permits closed sessions in order to prevent disclosure of information that is privileged or confidential based on state or federal laws and is not considered a public record within Public Records Law.
Board Member Benjie Forrest and Billy Peaden during the last meeting questioned the legality of the policy, but Sonnenberg said it is permitted by state law.
“If you are asking in any way does Robert’s Rules (of Order) require us to make our deliberations public, it does not in any way,” Sonnenberg said. “It does not require us to make anything public that happens in a closed session.”
Sonnenberg likened the confidential voting and deliberation to that of jurors during a trial.
Jill Camnitz, policy committee chairman, said parents, students and employees still have the right to request an open session. It is up to the hearing panel to grant such a request.
Other items on Monday night’s board of education agenda include:
An update on the election of Pitt County Board of Education members.
The board during its last meeting asked Sonnenberg to find out more about the process for changing the timing of the election. Currently, board members are elected in May and begin their terms in December.
A proposed revision of the school system’s goals.
Officials are looking to add a fourth goal of reducing the dropout rate by 50 percent in four years.
Goals in place now include: having all schools meet expected growth and 50 percent make high growth; increasing the number of No Child Left Behind subgroups demonstrating proficiency by 10 percent; and decreasing by 5 percent the number of students accumulating 10 or more unexcused absences in grades K-8 and the number of students accumulating 8 or more in grades 9-12.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. on the third floor of the Pitt County Office Complex.
by Brock Letchworth, Reflector Staff Writer