Keep school board doors open

Major changes in the way the Charleston County School District is administered should not be the subject of closed door discussions by the School Board, but deserve a full public airing. The School Board cannot justify the use of a personnel exemption in the state's Freedom of Information Act for its recent executive session on the role of associate superintendents.

At a workshop last week, the new superintendent, Nancy McGinley, presented a plan to change the roles of the five associate superintendents. Rather than serving as liaisons to specific constituent districts, they will serve districtwide, based on specific grade levels. After a lengthy executive session on "personnel matters," the public discussion on what amounts to a major change in governance was, according to our reporter, only a few minutes. Board Chairwoman Nancy Cook later told the reporter that no comments were made on the change in the open session because it had already been discussed.

Even if the plan is a logical recommendation, the board is not allowed under state law to hold what amounts to a private discussion on a significant structural change in the way the district operates.

The personnel exception in the FOIA exists to protect individual employees, not as a loophole to discuss a major policy shift absent public scrutiny. Indeed, an attorney for the S.C. Press Association has assessed the closed discussion as illegal.

The issue before the board is particularly important given the sensitive role of constituent districts in the establishment of the Charleston County School District. The constituent system has been the subject of criticism over the years by district administrators and county board members who consider it cumbersome. While the associate superintendents are under the superintendent and not the constituent school boards, any change in their relationship with the districts should be the subject of full and open discussion. Board member Hillery Douglas was quoted after the workshop as saying the change will require much broader geographical responsibilities across the 90-mile long district.

The School Board has been all too willing to head off into executive session during its regularly scheduled meetings. In fact, "executive session" is a standing item on the board's printed agendas. That's not what the FOIA intended. Executive sessions should be the exception, not the rule, and the reasons for closing the doors should be clear.

That is particularly true in view of the new superintendent's ambitious plans for the district. Considering major changes behind closed doors without the benefit of open board discussion is no way to gain needed public confidence in her programs at the outset.