School board approves closed session to consider superintendent appointments after dispute over agenda order

The Governing Board of Education voted Tuesday to approve a closed-session agenda and move into closed session to consider appointments to the superintendent and assistant superintendent positions, after trustees debated whether to approve the closed- and open-session agendas separately.

The vote came during the board’s regular meeting, called to order at 4:03 p.m. Sept. 9 at the District Office Conference Center. A public commenter asked the board to consider an information report (item O-2) before an action item (N-5), saying the report could make portions of the action item unnecessary.

Board discussion and motion Governing Board member Dr. Melinda Anderson called the meeting to order and proposed approving the closed-session agenda now and the open-session agenda after the closed session. Several board members objected to approving the agendas in two steps and asked that the entire meeting agenda be approved from the start. Anderson moved to approve the closed-session agenda; a second was made. The board conducted a roll call and registered unanimous approval.

A staff member was asked to note the public commenter’s request about reordering the open-session items and bring it up when the board later approves the open-session agenda.

Public comment and closed-session topic A public commenter, Christine Masa, asked the board to consider item O-2 before N-5, saying, “I think there's a lot of really good information that Mrs. Deas put in O-2 that will inform N-5 and you should discuss it before N-5 because it could render parts of N-5 moot.”

Before adjourning to closed session, the board stated it would consider items listed in section E under Government Code §54957.7. A board member read the statute number aloud and the meeting then moved into closed session to consider the listed items.

What the board did and what happens next The formal action taken on the record was approval of the closed-session agenda and the board’s entry into closed session. The transcript records two public comments related to the closed-session items submitted by the same commenter. The board did not take any open-session action on the agenda-order request at that time; the staff note was to prompt the board to address the requester’s ordering suggestion when the open-session agenda is approved later in the meeting.

Context and significance Government Code §54957.7 governs closed-session discussions related to public employee discipline, dismissal and appointment matters; here, the board identified superintendent- and assistant-superintendent-level appointments as the subject of the closed session. The exchange reflected a procedural disagreement among trustees about agenda approval and a member of the public asking the board to place informational material before a related action item so trustees and the public would have context before voting.