Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board tables second reading of executive-session policy after legal citation dispute
Summary
Trustees debated language in a proposed BEC executive-session policy and its statutory citations; concerns about accuracy led the board to withdraw the motion and table the policy pending a legal opinion from the MSMA author and/or counsel.
During the second reading of the BEC executive-session policy, board member Mac objected to the policy text’s legal references, arguing the sample language pulled from the Maine School Management Association (MSMA) misstates statutory citations and could mislead the district’s practice for calling executive session.
Mac said the draft’s wording referred to a section that did not match his reading of the statute and urged the board to correct the citation. Administrators responded that the policy language was taken from MSMA’s sample policies and that Charlotte Bates—MSMA’s author—had been consulted previously.
Because of the dispute over statutory reference and two sentences in the sample language that some trustees called advisory rather than legal, the motion to approve (moved by Matt and seconded by Andy) was withdrawn and the board voted to table further action. The superintendent and others said they would seek a written opinion from MSMA (Charlotte Bates) and, if needed, follow up with district legal counsel before bringing a revised policy back for consideration.
Why it matters: executive-session wording governs when the board may close a public meeting. Trustees debated whether the policy should quote statute verbatim or use MSMA’s umbrella language that tracks current law and can better weather future statutory change. The board elected to pause adoption and obtain authoritative legal guidance before proceeding.
