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Resident alleges secret school-board email votes, urges training to prevent future violations
Summary
Resident Chris Sorey told the Wilson County education committee he believes school-board members cast votes by email or in private committees rather than in open meetings and urged commissioners to require training so the practice does not continue. Commissioners and the county attorney said procedural remedies exist and no formal action was requested.
Chris Sorey told the Wilson County education committee that he believes members of the local school board have cast votes outside of public meetings and through email, calling the practice "secret votes" and "backroom committees." "I'm not complaining about the outcome," Sorey said, "I just want some training so that it doesn't continue because it's been an ongoing issue." (Speaker 5.)
Sorey told commissioners he was not trying to overturn prior results but wants procedures clarified going forward. He said a school-board member later voted by email to select finalists and that, while the board subsequently held a public meeting to name a director-elect, the off-meeting communications raised concerns about compliance with open-meetings rules.
Commissioners and the county attorney responded in discussion. The county attorney (speaker 4) said the school board conducted interviews and a public meeting and that, if an error occurred, it was corrected by the public vote. A commissioner noted the typical remedy for a sunshine or open-meetings violation is to restate the action in an open meeting, and others said that, if a violation is alleged, the floor of the county commission is an opportunity to raise it.
No formal complaint was filed during the meeting, and no motion to investigate or refer the allegation was made. The committee closed the public-comment period after discussion.
Why it matters: Allegations that elected or appointed boards take action outside open meetings raise transparency and legal-compliance questions under state open-meetings rules; the committee discussed the remedy of restating actions publicly but did not order additional training or an investigation at this meeting.
What happens next: Commissioners indicated that if an item is out of compliance it can be corrected in public and noted that school-board members can be invited to training; Sorey asked specifically for more training for the board to prevent recurrence. The committee took no formal enforcement action during the session and did not schedule follow-up.
