Conduct The Public’s Business in The Open

The Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Education’s
June 13 grievous violations of several key provisions of the
state’s open meetings law will once again question its integrity
and power.
The Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Education’s June 13 grievous violations of several key provisions of the state’s open meetings law will once again question its integrity and power.

It will also make the public wonder about the character of Superintendent Alan Nishino, who should have known better than to allow them to vote on his salary increase in private.

Was the board purposely trying to operate secretly by failing to post the illegal action on the agenda and then following through with an illegal closed-door vote on Nishino’s hefty salary and merit increases?

The mistakes set a dangerous precedent for all board members and Nishino.

Because of the errors, the public – teachers, parents, students, staff and the residents of Morgan Hill – are left wondering what else trustees have been doing in private that should have been done in public.

Nishino’s salary should have been adequately posted on the agenda with the 72-hour advance notice requirement to the public. The ensuing discussion over the 3 percent annual salary increase and 2 percent merit increase should have occurred in public with comment input from the community.

We join the Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers in protesting the open meetings violations. We were upset about the trustees’ violation of the law’s meeting notice requirement and were alarmed that the trustees had discussed an issue that involved thousands of dollars without hearing from the public.

The Ralph M. Brown Act, enacted in 1953 by state legislators, prohibits discussions concerning salary increases of public employees behind closed doors.

It also prohibits closing meetings to discuss other public-interest issues, with the exception of discussing the appointment, employment or dismissal of a public employee, litigation or the attorney-client privilege, real estate negotiations and labor negotiations. 

If trustees wantonly disregard the law to hand out a nearly $10,000 annual salary increase to a new superintendent who’s now making more than $212,000, we wonder what other violations could possibly be occurring.

Are trustees, because of their ignorance of the law, exchanging inappropriate e-mails and letters or gathering in suspicious numbers to discuss issues the public wants to know about?

Do they know what’s illegal under the law?

Trustee Don Moody accepted the error and admitted it. Board of Education President Mike Hickey is asking Nishino and staff to provide additional training on the open meetings law.

A course by a First Amendment lawyer on the law would do everyone, from board members to Nishino, a lot of good.

On June 27, during the last school board meeting of the school year, the trustees apologized for violating the law. 

“We should have done this in open session,” Trustee Peter Mandel said. Then by a 5-2 vote, with trustees Amina Khemici and Shelle Thomas voting against, trustees ratified the June 11 illegal action. Khemici and Thomas’ votes were out of protest, not for breaking the law, but for giving Nishino a raise before other district employee contracts were negotiated.

The apology, however, would have been stronger had trustees specified the corrective action they thought was necessary to redress the illegality of the vote and provided the public the opportunity it denied the public by meeting in closed session.

Trustees must still formally disclose why they violated the law and provide copies of Nishino’s salary package to the public for close review.

Public school officials, who earn their living by receiving wages derived from taxpayers dollars, should strive for openness and transparency. One of their top priorities should be to keep the public completely informed.