ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Trashing Spirit of Meeting Law
State law requires public boards and agencies to conduct the public’s business in public.
Orange Unified School District board members may not have violated the letter of that open-meeting law. But they surely trashed its spirit when they met in Palm Springs in August and voted, 4 to 3, to change school boundaries.
The trustees have come under fire from a group of parents who believe that the vote created racially segregated schools. The change allows a group of predominantly white parents to send their children to an elementary school that has a 90% white enrollment, instead of another school that is 49% Latino.
Board Vice President Ruth Evans said the board “did not break the law,” ostensibly because the meeting was open to anyone who cared to make the long journey. But obviously, no parents thought the long trip was necessary, with an agenda that described the board’s Palm Springs “retreat” as a study session.
The board is legally bound to do the public’s business in public. It should also do it in the district, not 100 miles away.
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