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Board members question published meeting notice as session opens
Summary
At the Fort Lee Board of Education meeting, several members challenged the recited publication dates for meeting notice and asked whether the district met the open-meetings 48-hour requirement, prompting staff to confirm the district's January-published calendar and the dates posted on the website.
Several board members raised concerns at the start of the Sept. 10 Fort Lee Board of Education meeting about the public notice recited by the presiding officer, questioning whether the district's published dates satisfied the Open Public Meetings Act's notice requirements.
The presiding official read the district's public-notice statement, saying the meeting notice had been published on 09/08/2024 and 09/10/2024 and posted at www.flboe.com. A board member responded that the calendar previously adopted in January included the meeting and asked whether the recently recited publication dates supplied sufficient advance notice for a special meeting.
“I think that that's a special meeting,” a committee member said, noting a nearby district faced a lawsuit after a judge found notice inadequate. The chair and staff clarified that the district's revised calendar had been posted on 09/03/2024 and that the original January calendar established the meeting date; staff said that publication in January would meet the 48-hour rule for regular meeting notices.
Board members asked administration to include the January calendar date in future public-notice readouts to avoid confusion. The transcript shows no formal challenge that led to delaying business; the meeting proceeded after the board completed a roll call and moved briefly to executive session as posted.
Why this matters: Adequate public notice is a statutory requirement under New Jersey open-meeting law. Board members’ questions and a comparison to a neighboring district’s legal dispute underscore the importance of clear, consistent notice language and of confirming which dates are being relied upon when the board convenes.
The board moved to executive session for legal and personnel matters and returned to public session later in the evening to continue business.
