Sunshine lawsuit against Loudon County school board dismissed

knoxnews.com-A judge threw out a lawsuit Wednesday claiming the Loudon County school board met in secret to write its open records policy.

Richard Truitt sued the board last year, saying the board met in an illegal secret session on Aug. 31, 2017, to discuss the policy. Ninth Judicial Circuit Judge Mike Pemberton granted the school board's motion to dismiss the case without a trial.

Lawyers for the board argued members made up for any violations by holding a public meeting two weeks later that was announced days in advance to adopt the same policy.

"We're very disappointed," said Truitt's lawyer, Linda Noe. "The troubling thing about this is, why should a resident even bother to file a lawsuit if this is the result?"

A written copy of the decision wasn't immediately available. Schools Director Jason Vance didn't return a phone call Wednesday afternoon.

Notice not given

Noe said Truitt never had a quibble with the policy itself. He wanted board members to admit they broke the law in the first place and be placed under court supervision, as provided under the Tennessee Open Meetings Act.

Last year's meeting followed a round of text messages. Tennessee legislators had mandated that all local governments, school systems included, set public records policies in keeping with the state's requirements.

Vance texted board members on Aug. 28, 2017, a Monday, to ask for an executive meeting on the specifics. By the following day, they'd settled on Aug. 31, 2017, a Thursday.

"I think this is the only policy that has caused much issue over the past year and I would like for us to come to some sort of agreement and be able to move forward at the September meeting," Vance wrote in the 2017 texts.

But the board published no public notice of the planned meeting in the county's local newspaper, the News-Herald, and posted no notice on the school system website or at the central office. State law requires "adequate public notice" of all meetings of any government body, even emergency meetings.

Consensus or cure?

Eight of the board's 10 members showed up for the Aug. 31, 2017, meeting, joined by Vance. One board member also tipped off Pat Hunter, a local activist for open government and frequent requester of public records.

Truitt, a frequent attendee at school board and county commission meetings, didn't learn about the meeting until it was over.

Video of the meeting posted to YouTube shows the board opening with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance before diving into a roughly 50 minute discussion of policy specifics. No one cast a vote, but Vance suggested during the discussion that members reach a "consensus" ahead of the board's next regular meeting.

Truitt filed his lawsuit within a week of the meeting. The board responded by meeting again on Sept. 14, 2017, in public to discuss and vote on the policy.

The Sunshine Law forbids government bodies from deliberating in unannounced meetings. Agencies found in violation — such as the Knox County Commission, found to have met in secret to discuss filling government posts at its infamous Black Wednesday 2007 meeting —  can be placed under court supervision and required to file periodic reports to satisfy a judge that all legal requirements are being met, or risk be held in contempt.

Courts have ruled Open Meetings Act violations can be "cured" by reconsideration of issues in the public eye, and the school board argued it met that standard. That provision often leads to frustration for residents who want to see officials held accountable, said Deborah Fisher, director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government.

"Government needs to get better about this, because the public expects it," Fisher said.

Noe said Truitt hadn't decided whether to appeal.