Jefferson City Board of Education members snubbed an opportunity to help build trust when they went into closed session to discuss the format and priorities for an evaluation of the superintendent.
Although the appropriateness of the closed session is arguable, we believe the decision was unnecessary and conflicts with district officials' stated desire to be more transparent and accessible to tax-paying patrons.
Missouri's Open Meetings and Open Records Law, also known as the Sunshine Law, allows a closed session for: "Hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting of particular employees ... when personal information about the employee is discussed or recorded." The provision adds: "The term "personal information' means information relating to the performance or merit of individual employees."
During an open work session before the closed meeting, board members discussed using an evaluation format based on a Missouri School Board Association model to evaluate Superintendent Larry Linthacum, who has been on the job since July.
Under the new evaluation, the board selects seven goals and plans to collaborate with the superintendent to establish three priorities. In addition, reviews would be done quarterly instead of annually to allow the board to realign Linthacum's actions with the board's goals, if necessary.
We have no quarrel with the proposed format, but we align with district patrons eager to learn more about how the goals and priorities will be applied here.
The board's vote to go into closed session was unanimous, but member Pam Murray did question the need for a closed session to discuss priorities for new evaluation.
Board President John Ruth replied: "We'll discuss areas of improvement and those items will become a record of what will become part of his evaluation and part of his (personnel) record."
The comment raises the question: Was the board's closed session to discuss the evaluation format, goals and priorities; to evaluate the superintendent's performance; or both?
Patrons deserve to know the general direction or goals the board is asking Linthacum to attain. At a time when the superintendent has said that the district has had too many priorities and needs to narrow its focus on student learning, patrons deserve to know what the board's priorities are for the district.
The Sunshine Law requires that openness "shall be liberally construed and their exceptions strictly construed."
Sadly, public bodies tend to look for reasons to close meetings rather than emphasize the virtues of keeping them open. Among those virtues is promoting trust and credibility among the people who are patrons, taxpayers and voters.