Tuesday, May 10, 2022

Board Policy BEC - Makes no sense

Part of Board Policy BEC - Executive Sessions/Open Meetings makes no sense at all.

The Policy was issued in January 2017.

Paragraph 2 reads, "Before going into executive session, the board chairman will put the question of whether to meet in executive session to a vote. If such vote is favorable, the secretary will then announce the specific purpose [emphasis in the original] of the executive session (i.e., identifying the matter(s) to be considered in executive session), which will be reflected in the minutes."

Now, read that again and tell me what's wrong with it.

What's wrong is that the board would not know on what it is voting, if it votes before it hears the reason. A public body (ex., school board) can only go into executive session for a very short list of reasons. If the board votes first, before they know the reason(s), it would not know if it could legally enter executive session.

The applicable State laws are found at Sections 30-4-70 and 30-4-90 of the S.C. Code of Laws. 

The Board is not following Policy, when the Secretary makes the motion and states the reason(s). The Board should revise the Policy. Will it?

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