Piedmont School Board meetings, attended by students, teachers, and the community, are a place to discuss relevant issues. The topics at these meetings are discussed by all the School Board for the first time w. This is because of the Ralph M. Brown Act.
The Brown Act requires that local government agencies conduct business in public, promoting transparency and ensuring that community opinions are being taken into consideration, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
The Brown Act requires public agencies to post agendas in advance. Regular meetings must be posted at least 72 hours in advance, while special meetings require a 24-hour notice, according to the California School Boards Association. Agenda items must be clearly listed, and officials cannot take action on matters not included.
To avoid confusion, the board now tells attendees at the start of each meeting why officials can’t speak on certain items.
“If we’re not engaging on a topic, it really is not because we don’t want to talk about it,” School Board President Lindsay Thomasson said. “Often we are dying to talk about it, but we can’t.”
Superintendent Jennifer Hawn said that while most meetings must remain open to the public, closed sessions are allowed under certain circumstances, such as personnel issues, student expulsions, P.E. exemptions, or issues related to staff.
Additionally, the Brown Act prohibits more than two board members from talking about a topic that’s up for discussion or a vote outside of a board meeting, ensuring that a board member’s opinions are not being influenced by their counterparts.
“I think that [the Brown Act] helps ensure the independence of the decisions that each person voting does so based upon their own desires, backgrounds, and thoughts, rather than coming together and doing that as a group,” PHS Principal David Yoshihara said.
Brown Act restrictions can be difficult for both officials and the public. Hawn said that sometimes there are miscommunications and then the school board can’t tell the public what happened.
“The desire is to be transparent, and the Brown Act, the whole focus of it, is transparency, but there are certain conditions where we can’t be transparent,” Hawn said.
Hawn said that to ensure that all board members are following these Brown Act guidelines, members undergo training every year.
Violations of the Brown Act can result in decisions being overturned and civil penalties for officials, according to the Institute for Local Government. Because of this, officials take a cautious approach.
“Erring on the side of caution can often feel like barriers are being put up,” Thomasson said. “But in fact, it’s because if you do step over the line, there are serious repercussions.”
