Will the Real Superintendent Please Stand Up?

Nobody likes Saundra Hill.


There, I said it. It's out there. I feel better now that I got that off my chest.



*sigh*



Okay so that's not really true. And I'm a little bit sorry for saying it.
Lots of people like her. She has a family and friends who all think she's great. She probably has some co-workers and acquaintances who think she is all right too. So saying "nobody" likes her, isn't really fair.



But the truth is a very large part of Pasco who are well acquainted with her (namely teachers and parents) are not at all happy with the way things are going in Pasco School District.  And by "unhappy" I mean down right furious.  Torches and pitch forks angry.  Going on strike mad!

(I would like to add that the torches and pitch forks are metaphorical. Nobody even owns pitchforks anymore and I certainly wouldn't want people using them for anything besides good, old-fashioned straw chucking.) Ahem. Where was I...


Last winter when Ms. Hill announced her retirement there was a considerable amount of rejoicing. When we learned she wouldn't be leaving for another 18 months, there was a little less rejoicing. When we heard that Michelle Whitney was to be her successor, there was confusion.

We all like Ms. Whitney. We really do!
She is nice. She is very approachable. She is a great listener and a great teacher. She is intelligent. She appears to be sincere and thoughtful in every way.  But.... she's an insider.

When the district conducted a survey to find out what everyone wanted in a new superintendent, you know what people said? They wanted someone new. Someone different from Ms. Hill.

When asked: What qualification do you believe is important for a new superintendent?

"Willing to do differently than what has been done before."

"I highly recommend we get a new pair of outside eyes. Please do not hire anyone from Booth Building. We need a new look on things. There has to be some very successful supers out there in the wild."

"Bring new and fresh perspective to Pasco that will rebuild trust and between leadership and certified staff and the community."

And when asked: What do you see as the greatest challenges a new superintendent must be prepared to address?

"Continuing to do processes in the same way."

"An absolute mess of administrators with no leadership skills and no decision making power."

"A willingness to shake up the status quo and align stakeholders to a common vision to do what is best for kids."

Now we find ourselves in a rough spot. Parents and teachers are demanding curriculum. The district keeps trying to say we have it, or we're getting it, or we're going to see if we have it, or we might get some in the next five to six years, or, or, or.  Saundra Hill and the PSD bargaining team are refusing to come to the table and bargain in good faith. The teachers have just voted to strike. Teachers are forced to choose between spending time out on the picket lines in front of the Red Lion or going to their classes to get lesson plans ready. Parents and students have no idea when school will begin. What Pasco needs right now is a real leader.

Michelle Whitney, Pasco Parents needs you to stand up for Pasco's kids!

Will the real superintendent please stand up?

Ms. Whitney, we are begging you. This is your chance. This your your moment. You can stand up and be the leader we need. The leader our children and community deserves.

Saundra Hill is refusing to come to the bargaining table.
Ms. Whitney, don't be like her. Come to the table. Talk to the teachers' union. Find a solution. Do it with or without a mediator.  You can do it.

Saundra Hill isn't worried about a teacher strike because she thinks she can get a court injunction to force teachers back to work. But you don't want that. You know how much that will hurt teachers to have to go through with a promised strike. You don't want to be the leader of a district who filed charges against its own teachers. So tell Saundra Hill, and the PSD bargaining team, and the school board that enough is enough. You can do it.

Saundra Hill says we have comprehensive, district adopted curriculum. You know this isn't true. You know it. We know you know it. Stand up and say it. Admit that we are lacking adequate text books for some grade levels and some subject areas. Tell us the truth. You can do it.

Saundra Hill says it will take five to six years to study and assess the curriculum we have and improve it. You know our kids can't wait that long. You know it has to be done now.Right now. It will be hard. We understand that. But you can do it!

Saundra Hill hasn't been in a classroom in years. She doesn't really know what's going on in there. But you do. Stand up for our students. Stand up for our teachers. YOU CAN DO IT!

This is your chance. This is your moment. Not only can you be the leader Pasco needs, but you can put to rest any doubts that you weren't the right person for the job.  If you are going to be the future leader of Pasco schools, prove it now. Not in small ways. In bigs ways! Not in strategic plans or in lunch room discussions. Do it in public! Do it out loud! Do it in a way that lets everyone know things are changing in Pasco, the status quo isn't good enough anymore, and you are going to put Pasco's kids first! YOU. CAN. DO. IT.


There is a school board meeting next Tuesday at 6:30. What will you do? We'll be watching.


Will the real superintendent please stand up?

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The teachers quoted above were not alone. This is only a small sampling of the teachers who, while answering the superintendent search survey, begged for a new leader, one who didn't stick to the same methods and models. You can read more of them by clicking here.

* Sadly, the regularly scheduled school board meeting was canceled. Instead an early morning meeting was hastily scheduled in an attempt to prevent parents and teachers from speaking out. I guess we'll never know what Ms. Whitney would have said.

Curriculum Mysteries: With special Guest Host, Michelle Whitney!

Welcome to Curriculum Mysteries! I am your host, Alice and I’d like to welcome our special guest host, Michelle Whitney from Pasco School District, whose credentials include Leadership in Curriculum & Professional Development and Deputy Superintendent!

Recently the whole city has been abuzz with a single question: Where is the curriculum in Pasco school district? To address this issue Pasco’s deputy superintendent has gone to the trouble to create a post specifically addressing this on PSD1.org! You can find the post here!

http://www.psd1.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&ModuleInstanceID=7456&ViewID=7b97f7ed-8e5e-4120-848f-a8b4987d588f&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=10746&PageID=1

*update*  Unfortunately this link is no longer valid.  Just days after this blog was posted, PSD removed Michelle Whitney's original letter and posted something else in its place.

The specific question Michelle is answering for us today is: “Is it true that Pasco doesn’t have any curriculum?” We’ll be talking about her answer on the show today, but you can follow along by reading her very words!

PSD indicates that “Information surrounding this topic can be found here: http://bit.ly/1NvxTjv”

Michelle, take it away.

Michelle Whitney: 
“Since my transition into my new position I have been asked specific questions regarding curriculum, materials and instructional approaches in our district.  
I have been doing some intensive research in an effort to provide answers.”

Have you really? Michelle Whitney, your previous position in PSD was director of teaching and learning. Curriculum and instructional materials should have been in your specific purview during the entire course of your employment and you have been working here for 19 years. Have you really only begun intensive research about this topic recently? Surely you jest. But please, do continue.

Michelle Whitney: “First, our content and instructional approaches are outlined in our strategic plan.  They are Balanced Literacy, Developmental Writing Continuum, Inquiry Science, Problem Solving Math, Guided Language Acquisition Design, High Yield Instructional Strategies, Danielson Instructional Framework, Literacy Squared and Instructional Framework including Interventions.”

Hmm. So you say "content" and "instructional approaches," but all I see here are instructional approaches and no content. I assume you are trying to refer to curriculum here, since that is what you say this entire post is supposed to be about, correct? I’m sure you know that instructional approaches are not curriculum. Teachers know this, though your average layman may not. It appears as though you are attempting to pull a fast one by counting on the average citizen’s ignorance of this disparity. But you wouldn't do that would you? 

I suppose you don’t want to get too specific here, hence your use of generic terms. If you’ll forgive me though, I will get specific here for just a bit.

For example, the Danielson Framework you refer to here was presented to our teachers, by yourself, as a system used for teacher evaluations. Teachers all know what this is, and supposedly you do also. Why is a tool designed for teacher evaluation being presented as part of the argument for complete curriculum? 

Balanced literacy and Guided Language Acquisition are both approaches, not curriculum, which I’m sure you know. 

Literacy squared is still in a research and development phase, it certainly is not current and complete curriculum. But of course you know all this too, this is all part of your job. So, sorry to get specific on you, but it appears this list appears to be padded. But excuse me, you were talking about your content and instructional approaches?

Michelle Whitney: “These were identified in 2008 as part of the strategic planning process and approved by the board.  They have been part of the strategic planning process, and have been refreshed and renewed since that time.”

Ah. Strategic planning processes are wonderful aren’t they? But are they universal curriculum for the whole district? Here we read that content and instructional approaches were adopted in 2008 and have been renewed since this time. Nowhere is it indicated that curriculum has been adopted or renewed. I’m sure it was somewhere in there, but reading this doesn’t clarify that for me. Also, I hate to mention it, but not everything in the strategic plan is related to curriculum, and it might be considered a misrepresentation to present these tools to the public in a way that implies they are curriculum. I’m sure that’s not what you meant at all! But please, do go on.

Michelle Whitney: “We have instructional materials that philosophically align with the expectations of our content and instructional approaches.  The transition to the new Washington State Learning Standards has created a context requiring us to be reflective about the extent to which our existing content/instructional approaches and materials align to the new academic expectations.”

Whoohoo! Slow down there, Michelle! You’re using a lot of fancy terms for me, the average layman/parent/taxpayer. If I didn’t know any better I would think you were trying to make yourself difficult to understand! So if I understand this correctly, you just said we ‘have some stuff that fits our plan.’ And then you said ‘new standards are telling us to check to see if our stuff still fits with the new standards.’ Did I paraphrase that correctly? I would like to point out that neither of these statements actually address your original question of Is it true that Pasco doesn’t have any curriculum? But I’m sure you’ll be getting to that soon.

Michelle Whitney: “Our approach is two-fold.  First, is to provide a support system for teachers in the short term.

·      ELA Pacing Guide/Math Curriculum Guide

·      Aligned interim assessments

·      Vetting process for units, lessons, materials and strategies”

It looks like your short term system includes supporting teachers and vetting your materials. I do hate to nit-pick, but neither pacing guides, math guides nor interim assessments, aligned or otherwise, are really full curriculum. Who do you plan to vet these materials with? That is something that I’m sure all the teachers would like to know. Also, again I hate to split hairs but do you have a timeline for this “short-term” approach? I've heard the teacher's union is asking for a 1-2 year plan, but the district is countering with a six year plan. Is that true? That would be a fairly pertinent thing to let us all know, I’m sure you’d agree. It seems to me that for a question answering session your information seems to be creating more questions than it’s answering.

Michelle Whitney: “Second, a plan of reviewing instructional materials K-12 will be developed in coordination with principals and teachers.  This systematic approach to materials review will begin with K-8 Literacy in the fall of 2015. “

You refer to multiple plans of reviewing processes as a "systematic" approach. I do not think that word means what you think it means. Systematic is a fun word meaning methodical, organized or orderly, but your proposed plan looks more like a systematic method of eternally putting off some fairly urgent needs in the district. But I’m sure that’s not what you meant. You’d certainly never drag out an important process like this so long that our current 6th graders will graduate from Pasco Schools without ever having had a universally adopted and current curriculum. That would be crazy. What else do you have for us?

Michelle Whitney: “This Excel workbook outlines our adopted and supplemental materials K-8.  There are also spreadsheets outlining the Literacy Library titles at each building and materials provided for our bilingual classes by grade level.  A similar document for 9-12 is under review and will be provided as soon as possible.”

Information! Exactly what we were hoping for! Oh.... I hate to get specific on you again, but this list seems to be different than lists previously provided to the Tri City Herald, the teachers' union, and the public when the district was asked about curriculum just a few months ago. You left out a lot of things that you included on the other list. I’m looking through this and nowhere in your current list are the sections of science curriculum that were adopted in 1997. I also can’t find the social studies book for third grade; you know, the one originally printed in 1990 and no longer available? It seems to have been left off, I can’t imagine why. One would think you were selectively representing the adopted curriculum to the public, but you wouldn't do that.

I also don’t see these spreadsheets outlining the Literacy Library titles. I’m sure, since you’ve provided the other spreadsheet to us that you could certainly make it available online. That’s easy as pie and much more convenient for information seekers. And I just cannot wait to see this document you’re talking about for our 9-12 students. Do you have any idea about when that might be available? No?

Well, it appears as though Michelle Whitney is out of information for us. As usual, the mystery of curriculum remains unsolved as we have done a perfect job of truly surrounding the topic with information but never actually saying anything specific that could definitively answer Pasco School District’s self imposed question! I think I could answer for Ms. Whitney when I say it was a pleasure relaying this to all of you and I hope you join us again for another show in the near future!

 

Please feel free to peruse Michelle’s recently released list of K-8 materials, with their link at the bottom of the page on PSD1.org’s site.

http://www.psd1.org/Page/7624

Then if you like, take a moment to compare it to the list of adopted materials and curriculum previously released to the teacher’s union and the Tri-City Herald.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4y0Myz3brEieFh4WmxTamVib2R5dkljbXBhNEhZcE5rY2lF/view?usp=sharing



 

*              *               *

If you, like many of us, felt like Pasco School District's post didn't really answer the question of whether or not PSD1 has curriculum or not, allow me to take a stab it it. 
The answer is yes, Pasco has a limited amount of adopted curriculum. It is scattered in grade level, completion and age but there is some. Therein lies the problem. Some  of our kids have access to quality resources. Some of our teachers get to use books.  But only some. With our curriculum in the state it is in, each child in Pasco is dependent on the dedication of their teacher, the building they are learning in and the random whims of fate for what kind of education they will receive in Pasco. Some is just not good enough anymore. We love ALL of Pasco's kids, and we think they ALL deserve access to quality curriculum in EVERY school in the district, at ALL grade levels and in ALL subject areas.

We could say a lot about what we think of this but we think the teachers said it best. The following quotes are from Pasco School District's own survey conducted this winter during the superintendent search. This was a survey specifically about a superintendent, but what it reveals about the teachers' needs is very telling in answering the question of curriculum in Pasco.

*              *               *

"I would like to see the new superintendent embrace curriculum. We can no longer teach this amount of students, with a growing range of abilities and language skills, with these extensive requirements with theory alone. Districts nearby and others with similar demographics are being given the tools they need to teach these rigorous standards. There needs to be consistency in instruction between buildings, grades, and classrooms to ensure achievement equity across the district. This does not happen when each teacher/school is making their own materials and assessments."

"We need a specific literacy curriculum."

"We must revisit our curriculum, especially in the area of mathematics. We need a problem-solving curriculum that truly aligns to our standards. Currently, we have Investigations. The publishers wrote supplemental lessons to meet the Washington Learning Standards but those supplemental lessons are short and only come up once or twice. We need a curriculum similar to Investigations that is student-focused and allows students to follow the three part lesson model of launch, explore and summarize."

"The district is falling apart, good staff members are leaving because of the lack of curriculum and administrator support."

"Many great teachers and staff are capable and willing to help students succeed but they need books, supplies, and curriculum, not "frameworks" and contradicting theories and expectations.Get rid of some of the district level administration. We pay way too much money for administrators and district office staff and not enough money on books, supplies, and curriculum for the classrooms."

"Curriculum adoption and purchasing of materials to keep our students updated on the latest available materials on an ongoing basis, in imperative to our students future success."  

"Their teachers are unprepared to teach because they must create so many materials."

"Each school is doing whatever you want with the materials given and are not all following a plan. When students move from school to school they are never on the same pace."

"Lack of curriculum and materials in the district maintains the achievement gap with our students and those of other districts nearby."

"The tax payers money is not going to the right things. Teachers need books, supplies, and curriculum, not "frameworks" and contradicting theories and expectations."

"Why is there no common curriculum? Why do we keep dumping money into more and more "curriculum" that not even our neighbor districts use? Com'on son!"

"No curriculum consistency. Too many variables in how teachers design their own curriculum. Students are falling behind."

  

"Curriculum is the number one issue facing this district. When surrounding districts are experiencing success because they have the foundation of a unified curriculum, it is mind-boggling why we can't do the same. The hodge-podge way in which each grade level in each building is creating their own resources (curriculum) according to their interpretation of the standards, cannot continue to be how Pasco operates. The gaps in learning this practice creates are unacceptable. This is not a best practice nor should it continue to be embraced."

      

Who's Running this Show?

Who:  Leland A. Goeke, owner of Systemic HR Solutions (click here to view his Linked-In Profile)

What: Lee Goeke was hired by the Pasco School Board to facilitate the search for a new superintendent. Typically school districts hire a firm that specializes in this type of search. For a job like this, we would expect to have experienced professionals working on what Amy Phillips of the school board has called, "The most important decision they will have to make."  At least that is what the Washington State School Directors Association recommends (check out their guide on "how to hire a new superintendent" here). But instead Pasco hired a one-man-show, Lee Goeke.

Where: Apparently this was done in a closed-door executive session because it was not done in an open meeting. Unfortunately the law states that there are very few things a school board can do in an executive sessions, and hiring Lee Goeke is not one of them. (you can view the rules regarding executive sessions here).  In fact an article in the Tri-City Herald says that, "Nancy Krier, state assistant attorney general on open government, said not making those decisions during public meetings could open the district up to legal action." (read the TCH article here).

Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2015/05/02/3541844/pasco-school-board-accused-of.html#storylink=cpy

When: According to Sarah Thornton, Assistant Superintendent for legal affairs in Pasco School District, Lee Goeke's first hire appears to have happened some years ago. When he was specifically appointed to conduct this search is not clear.

How: A public records request revealed that he had no actual contract to conduct the search. PSD's own Sarah Thorton, claims he was hired to do this very important job with only a verbal agreement. She claims, "There was no written contract signed with Mr. Goeke as he had previously been set up as a contractor/vendor with the district's Fiscal Services department."

Why:  This is the big question.  Why would the district hire Lee Goeke?

Was he the most qualified?  Not really. He has very little experience in conducting superintendent searches. Was it cheaper to hire Lee Goeke instead of a traditional recruiting firm?  If you ask a school board member they will say yes. Most have claimed he cost half of what a traditional firm would cost. Unfortunately they are wrong. When asked about Goeke's fee, President Brault is quoted in the Tri-City Herald (the same story linked to above) as saying that he could not recall exactly what he was paid.   However, we have the district invoice that shows exactly what he was paid.   $19,755.03.  Unfortunately, it only proves that for his rushed, one-man services, PSD paid the same rate (roughly $20,000) as most districts pay to hire a whole reputable firm recommended by the WSSDA (Washington State School Directors' Association). For the same fee, Pasco School Board could have hired an experienced firm to conduct the search with a legally binding contract and money back guarantee. Instead, we have a verbal contract with no guarantees and are still out twenty thousand dollars for our trouble.

So why was he hired? Perhaps because he was already friends with people inside the district office (as implied by Ms. Thornton). This would give an inside candidate a considerable advantage. Evidence shows it certainly was not a cost saving measure. His lack of experience in superintendent searches indicates it was not for his job skills. By all indications and by any standard of measurement, he was not the best man for the job.

What ever the reason, why was the board led to believe that his fees were substantially lower than they actually were? And who told them his fees were lower? Why weren't they told about other services and companies with more experience and better track records? Where is the board getting their information?

The fact that there seems to be no answers to these questions is at best disturbing and at worst, frightening.

Who is really running this show?

This is a quote from the company that recently conducted Yakima's search.

Here is Lee Goeke's invoice for services renderd to Pasco School District.

Link to Lee Goeke's invoice and supporting documents

A Short Course in Executive Meetings and OPMA or How Pasco School Board Pulled a Fast One

"It wouldn't be inaccurate to assume that I couldn't exactly not say that it is or isn't almost partially incorrect.  On the contrary. I'm possibly more or less not definitely rejecting the idea that in no way with any amount of uncertainty that I undeniably do or do not know where he shouldn't probably be, if that indeed wasn't where he isn't. Even if he wasn't at where I knew he was."

 Remember that part in the Shrek movie where Pinochio tries to tell a lie without really telling a lie? It's funny when a cartoon puppet does it.  When the largest employer in the city of Pasco with the fate of 17,000 students in their hands, it's not nearly as funny.  In fact it's tragic, and frankly it's illegal.




When our Founding Fathers envisioned a government for the people and by the people, they knew the natural tendencies of men (and women) to wield control would be one of the prevalent threats to this new ideal. Our government enlists several checks and balances to ensure that the people are informed and have a say in decisions impacting them.


The Open Public Meeting Act (OPMA), is how Washington state safeguards against elected officials making decisions without public input or knowledge. Part of this law deals with executive sessions, or meetings that bodies of government, like a school board, are allowed to have in private. There are a limited number of reasons allowed for a council to meet in executive session and only a few apply to a school board. The purpose of executive sessions is to protect the people the executives represent. For example, if the school board was looking at purchasing a piece of property, the highest amount they were willing to pay could be discussed in an executive meeting. Otherwise, the entity selling the land would know for how much to hold out for, thus costing the tax payers more money. This is what the executive session was created for. What is was not created for, and what the OPMA specifically guards against, is public entities hiding questionable actions from the public.

From the time Superintendent Hill made her intentions to retire to the board to the time a deputy superintendent was appointed,  the Pasco School Board met in fourteen executive sessions. Each of these executive meetings was denoted by the code RCW 42.30.110 (g) which states:

To evaluate the qualifications of an applicant for public employment or to review the performance of a public employee. However, subject to RCW 42.30.140(4), discussion by a governing body of salaries, wages, and other conditions of employment to be generally applied within the agency shall occur in a meeting open to the public, and when a governing body elects to take final action hiring, setting the salary of an individual employee or class of employees, or discharging or disciplining an employee, that action shall be taken in a meeting open to the public;

This provision in the law means that boards may meet in executive session when discussing qualifications of a specific applicant. However, under the direction of President Ryan Brault, with the guidance of the district's legal council, Ms. Thornton, the Pasco School Board interpreted this very loosely and held all superintendent search related discussions in closed door meetings. Board minutes show that the superintendent search was never discussed publicly.

Nancy Krier, state assistant attorney general on open government, stated in an interview with the Tri City Herald that, "not making those decisions during public meetings could open the district up to legal action." She further explained "that discussing the qualifications of individual candidates is allowed in closed executive sessions. But discussions about how a school district or public agency plans to go about hiring for a position must be conducted in public. There should be some discussion in public of that policy."

Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2015/05/02/3541844_pasco-school-board-accused-of.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2015/05/02/3541844_pasco-school-board-accused-of.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

During executive sessions the board made several decisions including:

• voting 3-2 to look for candidates outside the district
• hiring a consultant
• deciding on a year long training period for the new superintendent under the current superintendent's supervision
• making decisions about the hiring procedure, ie: meet and greet, focus group, online survey, etc.
• coming to a consensus on the candidate chosen

Ryan Brault demonstrated that he does not posses knowledge of OPMA laws or an understanding of open government when he told the Tri City Herald that, "he could not immediately recall what Goeke (the superintendent search consultant hired by the board) was paid but it was below the amount set by state law that requires approval in a public meeting." Mr. Brault must not understand that the dollar amount someone was paid is not an issue with Open Public Meeting laws. The problem lies in that a decision was made in private. 

Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2015/05/02/3541844_pasco-school-board-accused-of.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

Another section of OPMA states that "before convening in executive session, the presiding officer of a governing body shall publicly announce the purpose for excluding the public from the meeting place." Most organizations will list a specific reason on their agenda. In the past, Pasco has only listed the RCW code. 

However, even this practice has recently changed. On April 14th the Pasco School Board met in executive session. Concerns by the public were raised because the agenda stated Ms. Thornton would be meeting with the board. Because the reason for the meeting was RCW 42.30.110(g) it was suspected the superintendent decision was to be discussed and some people were concerned that since Ms. Thornton had been attending almost all of these executive meetings she may be swaying the board's decision. The board was questioned about this and after the regular public meeting Ryan Brault announced the board would be meeting in executive session under RCW 42.30.110(g). Ms. Cloud quickly and hastily corrected him and said it would be (i). RCW 42.30.110(i) states:

To discuss with legal counsel representing the agency matters relating to agency enforcement actions, or to discuss with legal counsel representing the agency litigation or potential litigation to which the agency, the governing body, or a member acting in an official capacity is, or is likely to become, a party, when public knowledge regarding the discussion is likely to result in an adverse legal or financial consequence to the agency.

This subsection (1)(i) does not permit a governing body to hold an executive session solely because an attorney representing the agency is present. 

This means that a board may meet in executive session with an attorney to discuss sensitive litigation matters that could cause harm if discussed publicly. Note that the provision specifically states that merely having an attorney present is not reason for an executive session. However, once again the board interpreted this broadly and used it so to have Ms. Thornton, who is an attorney as well as an assistant superintendent, attend this meeting. It is hard to believe this meeting was solely to discuss litigation against the district but as it was an executive meeting, no public record of the contents will ever be available.Two days later the board announced the superintendent decision.

Since this incident, PSD has ceased altogether to include the code that would give the public a clue as to what the executive meetings are about on their agendas. 

The school board continues to meet in frequent executive sessions. In fact, there have been executive sessions after virtually every single board meeting since the decision. It is clear they have not learned they must discuss things in open meetings, even if they know their decision will be unpopular. When asked, they believe that their actions were legal and honest and that they still have confidence in the legal council Ms. Thornton gives, even though the Attorney General's office has weighed in on the matter indicating otherwise.

This isn't just a matter of opinion, this is a matter of law. PSD is breaking it.




*Update for August 12, 2015: It appears as though our objections may finally have had a small effect on the school board as, during the board meeting of August 11, 2015, the RCW codes were once again included in board minutes. However, only the legal codes were mentioned in this meeting and listed on the agenda, the board and district still failed to provide the specific reasons for this meeting to the public.
  

The full text of laws pertaining to executive meetings can be found by following this link. RCW 42.30.110