In the Public Eye

It is often difficult for relatively new public officials to realize that they really do have to perform their work in public.

That's why it was disheartening, but not surprising, that Bethel School Board Chair David Allen called public scrutiny a "technicality." Allen was disgruntled when The Herald protested a school board meeting that occurred last week, because it was improperly warned and thus, illegal.

The school board meeting was a "special" meeting because it wasn't at the regularly scheduled time and place. That's important, because the public and press know when and where regular meetings take place, and can decide whether or not to attend. A special meeting, however, held at an unusual time or place, is not likely to be visited by the public or press—because they don't know about it.

Vermont law has special requirements for special meetings. They must be publicized by postings in three prominent public places, and if there is a local newspaper, the newspaper must be informed.

That didn't happen last week in Bethel. The school board apparently thought it would be more convenient to meet and talk without public or press present.

Again, we sympathize. It would indeed be more convenient.

Trouble is, the law wasn't written to optimize the convenience of public officials. The law was written to optimize public access and awareness. The law demands that when public officials meet and talk about policy, the public must be not just tolerated, but invited. Every time.

And notifying the public is not a mere "technicality," as School Board Chair Allen unfortunately characterized it. It is a central part of a public board's public duty.

That point was driven home recently in Randolph, when a judge struck down a Selectboard decision simply because after a hearing, the board went into executive (secret) session for just five-minutes before making its decision. Because the executive session was improper, the entire work of the board that evening had to be thrown out and done all over again.

Secretary of State Deborah Markowitz made clear this week that she doesn't consider it a technicality, either. If boards are meeting without telling people about it, her office has a problem with those boards, she said.

The Herald makes an issue of this situation, but not to focus attention on one school board, which has generally been very cooperative in its press relations. This newspaper covers 15 towns that have something like 50 public boards. It's important that all of them understand their public role, and their responsibility to the public to let them know when they are meeting, why they are meeting and where they are meeting, every time they are meeting.