When did the executive session on April 28, 2022 start?
The starting time is important, in order to determine whether the disagreement that became public should be in the public record.
When the motion to go into executive session was made by trustee-elect Amelia McKie and seconded, the board voted to go into executive session, and the school board members rose from their seats. That moment is when the executive session started.
Why? Because the board chair did not declare a recess for the purpose of moving to another room.
This timing is important, because the disagreement arose during executive session. And the information is privileged. Everyone was duty-bound to hold the contents of the executive session in confidence. No one should have recorded any portion of the meeting. No one should have spoken about what happened in that room. And certainly no one should have delivered the recording to the sheriff's department.
On the other hand, if the executive session was illegal, then nothing is confidential. And everything becomes immediately and publicly available.
It can't be both ways.
Why might the executive session have been illegal?
The motion made by McKie was faulty. She stated the purpose of the executive session was for a "safety and security meeting". In other words, they were going into a meeting for a meeting. State law requires more detail.
Holmes wrote to the trustees on May 9, 2022, in part: "Lastly, executive session had not technically started yet. Dr. Davis was just going over what we were going to cover. The guest for the meeting had not been called in yet, which, was the purpose of executive session. Additionally, when a crime has been committed, as it was here, by Mrs. McFadden with her repeated threats to do me bodily harm, it has come to my attention that, confidentiality, can be waved [sic] in these type of events."
Holmes often speaks at board meetings about her truth. That's her truth. Did she write truthfully?
1. The executive session HAD started.
2. If the superintendent is speaking to them, the executive session definitely had started.
3. Presence of an invited guest doesn't make it an executive session. When McKie made the motion, she made no reference to a guest.
4. Whether Mrs. McFadden committed a crime will be determined in court. Teresa only alleges a crime. Teresa fails to report her own participation; i.e., her own condescending remarks that added fuel to the fire.
5. Holmes failed, as acting Board Chair, to detach herself from the argument and restore order.
5. Teresa puts forward an unsupported claim that confidentiality can be "waved" [sic].
Teresa touts her pride as a "product" of Spring Valley High School. Is that where she learned to write? Look at the spacing, the punctuation, her wording. Didn't she ever learn that the unfamiliar word she was stretching for is spelled "waived"?
Did she believe on April 28, 2022 that she could violate the confidential requirements in Board Policy and State law, when she went to sheriff's department? Or did that "come to (her) attention" later, when she was trying to figure out how to avoid having violated Policy and law?