The Cordell Public Schools Board of Education met for its regular meeting Monday, March 9, at the school superintendent’s office after an unannounced, closeddoor dinner meeting betwen school administrators and four members of the five-member board.
Ronnie McKee, David Thain, Mike Reimer, and Nocona Cook, along with school principals Paul Pankhurst and Alan Hull, superintendent Brad Overton, and two of the district’s secretaries held a private dinner in Room 10 of Cordell High School immediately prior to the regular board meeting. Board member Dale Selman was not present.
While state law prohibits meetings without proper advance notice of time, date, and location and without a posted agenda at least 24 hours in advance, the law also allows for “informal” gatherings of a majority of members when no business of the public body is being discussed. Due to the unannounced, closeddoor nature of the dinner meeting, however, it is unknown exactly what was discussed.
While informal gatherings are allowed under law, the issue of such a meeting was addressed by General Counsel to the Attorney General Abby Dillsaver in a published presentation regarding the Oklahoma Open Meetings Act. In the presentation, Dillsaver discussed the hypothetical of a post-meeting lunch including board members and stated simply, as a best practice, “majority of board members should not attend lunch together.” She went on to note that if members insist on such a gathering, it should be announced and anyone wishing to attend should be welcome to do so.
After the dinner ended, the board members moved into Overton’s office and the regularly scheduled meeting was convened. The board took the administration reports from both principals and the superintendent, passed the consent agenda, and several routine items on the regular business agenda before voting to convene into executive session. The executive session was described on the agenda as “discussion on the hiring of an Encumbrance Clerk/ Activity Fund Custodian,” and “discussion on extra duty assignments for the 2020-2021 school year as listed in Appendix A.” The appendix was a list of 21 coaching positions and the names of the teachers currently filling those roles.
After the executive session, the board reconvened into open session and voted to hire Heather Brunker as the Encumbrance Clerk/Activity Fund Custodian. No action was taken on the extra duty assignments.