Wish I had a dollar for every time the law is violated

Another day, another violation. Today I hear that a school board in the state went into closed
session to discuss the process by which it will hire a new principal. The board discussed who
would have authority to interview candidates, the process and procedure for hiring this person
and how many final candidates will be presented before the board.

No one seems to have read to the board the provision under which they attempted to hold a
closed meeting. Meetings closed under Section 610.021 (3) are only permitted for a discussion
of hiring…of particular employees…when personal information about the employee is
discussed…. Seems pretty black and white to me. Maybe no one read the law to the board
members or the superintendent. But it’s just one more example of how public entities in the
State of Missouri flout the Sunshine Law on a regular basis. And there is no easy way to deal
with such clear offenses. The state Attorney General’s office has tried to conduct seminars to
educate bodies, as has the Missouri Press Association. But it appears that a some folks don’t
bother to attend, or read the wonderful books published by the Attorney General’s office. Or
maybe they just don’t care.