Summers County school board votes to forgo website posting for this meeting, cites WV Ethics Commission guidance

At a regular meeting on Aug. 6, 2024, the Summers County Board of Education voted to forgo posting the meeting agenda on the district website for this session and rely on the posting at the central office required by the West Virginia Ethics Commission.

Board members discussed notice and availability of the agenda before the vote. A speaker said the agenda had been published in the board office and was available to the public during regular business hours, and that the Ethics Commission's guidance states posting at the central office satisfies the Open Meetings Act. A board member moved to forgo the district's website-posting policy for this meeting; Mr. McBride seconded, and the motion passed by a 5-0 vote.

The action applied only to this meeting; the speaker who introduced the motion framed it as a measure to ensure personnel items could be addressed promptly. Board policy ordinarily requires posting agendas on the district website, but the board deferred to the Ethics Commission guidance for this one meeting. The board then proceeded to approve the agenda as read.

The board did not record substantive public comment on this matter during the meeting. The procedural choice means the agenda was publicly available at the central office and during business hours, which the board said met the statutory posting requirement for an open meeting.

Next steps: The board continued with personnel items and later entered executive session to discuss personnel matters.