D.A. Won’t File Charges : Moorpark School Board Violated Secrecy Rule

Moorpark’s school board broke the state’s open meeting law earlier this year but will face no criminal charges because the violation was not intentional, the Ventura County district attorney’s office said Monday.

The five-member Moorpark Unified School District Board of Education violated a provision of the Ralph M. Brown Act during a Feb. 9 closed meeting when it agreed to spend public money for counseling to settle differences among board members, Deputy Dist. Atty. Roger A. Inman said.

The state’s open meeting law prohibits closed-door discussions of public business by elected boards or city councils. Criminal violations carry a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine per board member.

No criminal charges will be sought against the school board because members “did not intend to violate the law,” Inman said. Criminal violation requires that policy-makers act “with knowledge of the fact that the meeting is in violation” of the open meeting law, he said.

“In this instance, the subjects discussed were beyond the scope of those permissible in closed session, but the individuals were not aware of that at the time,” Inman said.

The investigation by the district attorney’s office was prompted by a complaint by board member Cynthia Hubbard-Dow, Inman said. Hubbard-Dow said she was opposed to the counseling decision and discovered later that the action violated the Brown Act.

At the Feb. 9 closed session, the school board had been discussing whether Michael R. Slater, district superintendent, should continue to provide the board with weekly written reports on district issues, some of which contained confidential information, board member Patty Waters said. An information item in an earlier report had been leaked to a local newspaper and Slater wanted to know whether board members would be displeased if he stopped writing the reports, she said.

When acrimony surfaced among board members about who may have leaked the item, Slater suggested that the group seek counseling to settle their differences, Waters said. “The idea came up innocently; it was the kind of thing like, ‘Let’s work on this before it develops into something big,’ ” she said.

A majority of the board agreed to participate in a formal counseling session--a decision that under the open meeting law should have been made in open session because it involved spending public money, Inman said. The counseling would have been in the form of a seminar tailored for policy-makers.

Waters said that the board had not decided whether to discuss counseling for board members in a public meeting.

Slater would neither say why he suggested the board seek counseling nor comment on any other aspect of the district attorney’s investigation.

The district attorney’s office has sent copies of the Brown Act to members of the school board, Inman said.