TOPEKA — The Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach’s office fined a rural, seven-member school board for repeatedly violating the Kansas Open Meetings Act.
The Chautauqua County school district board, a 380-student district in southeast Kansas, inappropriately used executive sessions, made improper motions for executive sessions and failed “to comply with nearly every statutory requirement for such motions,” the attorney general’s office said in a news release Thursday. The board’s meeting minutes also did not accurately reflect the board’s verbal motions during its meetings.
As a result, each board member must pay a $100 fine and attend further Kansas Open Meetings Act training.
No evidence suggests the seven-member board intentionally violated the meetings act, said Amber Smith, an assistant attorney general, in the news release.
But, she added, “it is necessary to recognize that their actions and practices fell far short.”
The open meetings act mandates public bodies — from sewage districts to the Legislature — conduct governmental business in a manner that is open to the public. Executive sessions, however, are closed to the public and only can be convened during a public meeting under specific circumstances, such as discussing confidential information, employee relations and property acquisition. Formal decisions must be made in open sessions.
Smith said the board already attended training while the attorney general’s office conducted its investigation.
The president of the school board, Jamie Morris, declined to comment for this story.
