USD 417 board holds multiple executive sessions to discuss negotiations under KOMA

The USD 417 Board of Education held a sequence of executive sessions on June 29, 2026 to address employer-employee negotiations. The board first moved into a 20‑minute executive session at 7:01 p.m., citing the exemption for employer-employee negotiations under the Kansas Open Meetings Act (KOMA); Superintendent Tyson Eslinger and Amber Weeks, the board clerk, were authorized to attend "as needed."

The record shows the board resumed open session and then twice more entered executive session (7:22–7:42 p.m. and 7:43–8:03 p.m.), followed by a final 15‑minute executive session at 8:04 p.m. each time stating the same statutory exemption. Motions recorded in the minutes use identical language: "move to go into a [X]-minute Executive Session in order to discuss negotiations pursuant to the exemption for employer-employee negotiations under KOMA" and list the board and Superintendent Tyson Eslinger (and Amber Weeks when noted) as participants. The open meetings were resumed publicly after each executive session according to the meeting record.

The transcript does not record the content of the closed-door negotiations (consistent with the statutory exemption). The repeated use of executive session indicates negotiators continued discussions during the meeting before the board returned to open session and acted on compensation later in the evening.