Southampton County School Board members on Oct. 13 debated how to respond publicly to a report prepared by outside counsel for the Board of Supervisors and voted to receive legal advice in closed session before making any public comments.

Board member Gerard Rogers raised concerns that the board had only been provided an executive summary and said he had not seen the full report. Multiple board members echoed that the version they had was an executive summary distributed the day after the supervisors’ meeting and that they wanted to see the full report before publicly commenting. One member said, "I haven't seen the report. What I have received is an executive summary of a report, but I haven't seen a report." (transcript). The discussion repeatedly distinguished between the executive summary that had been made publicly available and the full underlying report.

After debate, a motion was made to meet in closed session to receive legal advice concerning the report. The motion, as restated in the meeting, limited the closed session to receiving legal advice about the report prior to any public commentary. The board moved into closed session following an affirmative vote; during the vote-count clarification the chair stated there were "2 extensions and 7 yeses," and the board then proceeded to a closed session in the library to obtain legal counsel before making any public statement.

Board members said the request for closed-session legal advice was because the document involved legal counsel to the Board of Supervisors and could implicate the school division’s legal position; one member said the matter "falls under closed session because it is a legal matter" and that the board’s attorneys and county attorneys had been involved earlier.

Ending: After the closed session was called, the board adjourned to a private meeting to receive legal advice; the board indicated it would return to the public room afterward to take any necessary action.