SCHOOL BOARD MEETING TREADS ON ILLEGAL

The Board of Education came close to an apparent illegal meeting on Monday night as they failed to schedule a public comment time during the special meeting to review the latest Strategic Plan action plans. 

Shortly after the meeting began, Board Member Johanna Wright took issue with the fact that no public comment had been scheduled on the agenda, citing a state statute that forbids such a meeting without a public comment portion.

"It's not legal in New Jersey to preclude the public from speaking at public meetings according to citation 10:4-12," Wright said. "At anytime you are having a public meeting or governmental meeting, you are allowed to have a public speaks before or after .. you are going to have an illegal meeting" 

See that portion of the statute HERE and below:

N.J.S.A. 10:4-12. Meetings open to public; exclusion of public; subject matter of discussion

a. Except as provided by subsection b. of this section all meetings of public bodies shall be open to the public at all times. Nothing in this act shall be construed to limit the discretion of a public body to permit, prohibit or regulate the active participation of the public at any meeting, except that a municipal governing body and a board of education shall be required to set aside a portion of every meeting of the municipal governing body or board of education, the length of the portion to be determined by the municipal governing body or board of education, for public comment on any governmental or school district issue that a member of the public feels may be of concern to the residents of the municipality or school district.

But Board President Elizabeth Baker, herself an attorney, disagreed.

"With all due respect, the agenda has been posted for several days, no comments have been submitted by any member of the board to me or the administration regarding the agenda or the meeting, counsel approved our bylaws and the agenda for the meeting," Baker said. "The purpose of tonight's meeting is to listen with open minds, open ears and open hearts. We have to be respectful even though we disagree."

Making the matter more difficult was the fact that no board attorney was present at the meeting, an odd situation for regular or special sessions of the board.

"Why are we going against the statute?" Wright said to Baker. "You are an attorney and you understand the Sunshine laws."

Baker responded by saying, "no action is being taken tonight, this is purely to listen."

But later in the meeting, after the presentations, Baker changed her mind and chose to hold a public comment portion, noting, "We don't have the benefit of having counsel here with us tonight so out of respect for Ms. Wright's point and an abundance of caution, and as you know I am very committed to following the law, we are going to have a brief public speaks section." 

Jonathan Busch, a partner with The Busch Law Group of Metuchen -- which represents 18 school boards in nine counties -- said the law is clear on public comment at all such meetings.

"As a matter of law, all public school boards are required to set aside at least one portion of their meetings for public comment," he said in an interview. "The courts have held that pursuant to the open public meetings act public entities should be as forthcoming with the public as possible."

It is unclear if holding the public comment was enough to counter possible claims of illegal activity given that the agenda did not include it and attendees who originally showed up were told there would be no public comment at first. 

"It does potentially raise some concern for a public entity to tell its community that there won't be public comment when in fact there ultimately is," Busch added.