Foster's ~ OR panel releases statement about principal vote, but meeting minutes stay sealed

OR panel releases statement about principal vote, but meeting minutes stay sealed

By RONI REINO
rreino@fosters.com
Wednesday, April 20, 2011


DURHAM — Oyster River School Board members have officially released their statement regarding the decision to not appoint a new high school principal, but nonpublic minutes from the April 13 meeting are still unavailable.

Earlier this month, School Board members were presented with two possible principal candidates. In a nonpublic session last Monday, superintendent Howard Colter nominated one candidate, but the board rejected the nomination on a 4-3 vote, with members James Kach, Megan Turnbull, Ann Lane and Jocelyn O'Quinn voting in the majority.

The decision to not chose a new principal caused outcry from the public, many of whom spoke at the Wednesday, April 13 meeting, saying they wanted answers.

School Board members said they wanted to present a public statement on why they made their decision, which caused some stir among members at the meeting to decide if they needed to go into a nonpublic session.

Diane Gorrow, of Soule, Leslie, Kidder, Sayward & Loughman, PLLC, who provides legal advice for the school board, was not present at the meeting and could not speak specifically on the April 13 meeting. However, she did say to go into a nonpublic session, board members would have had to conduct a roll-call vote, reading each name and either "yes" or "no" and provide a reason for conducting the meeting.

Members voted 6-1 to go into nonpublic session, with board member Ann Wright opposed.

Board members cited RSA 91-A: 3 II (c), "matters which, if discussed in public, would likely affect adversely the reputation of any person, other than a member of the public body itself, unless such person requests an open meeting."

At the meeting, Colter reminded the board multiple times to speak publicly about their statement.

"Editing of a public statement should be done publicly," he said. "If you are going to go into nonpublic, it should only be something to discuss something about candidates."

Brackett said he didn't want to be "inappropriate," and said the statement included information about the candidates.

"I'd like to do it in nonpublic and be told we can't bring that forth," Brackett said that night. "It might be an idea of what the public should be told. I want to be covered and not embarrass the candidates."

Colter had suggested the board would have to be careful, because they were getting close to going into a nonpublic session to discuss the statement, and possibly not the candidates.

Gorrow said for a nonpublic session, boards must abide by the RSA guidelines.

"A body cannot go into nonpublic just because they don't want the public to know what they are talking about," she said.

At the meeting, Chair Henry Brackett said they would be discussing the candidates who were presented for the high school principal position.

Nonpublic minutes from the April 13 meeting have not yet been released. RSA 91-A: 3 III states the minutes shall be publicly disclosed within 72 hours of the meeting, unless, by recorded vote of two-thirds of the members present.

No such vote has been noted to the public.

The Board has officially released the following statement:

"On April 11, 2011, the ORCSD School Board conducted two public interviews for high school principal candidates, both of whom had been vetted through a search committee. After the interviews, the School Board entered a nonpublic session, in which Superintendent Howard Colter nominated a candidate.

"After careful discussion and deliberation, the Board voted 4-3 against hiring the candidate nominated by the Superintendent. Many factors, including uncertainty about pending state budget cuts and the impact of the Superintendent's departure in June 2012, entered into this decision. While the Board recognizes that there are many questions about the deliberations that led to this vote, because these discussions occurred in a nonpublic session we are unable to share additional information.

"Moving forward, the Board will be discussing the impact of this decision and the future of the high school principal search at our next meeting, April 27 at 7 p.m. The Board continues to welcome input from the public via letters and e-mails and through public comment at meetings."

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