The Arizona Attorney General’s Office has found that the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board has violated Open Meeting laws. The finding is centered on the Board’s discussion of the superintendent’s goals in an Executive Session.
Board members Michael Hicks and Mark Stegeman had filed the complaint with the Attorney General’s Office in December.
According to a Facebook post by Stegeman, the Attorney General is only requiring the Board to “read the relevant parts of the letter (Attorney General’s letter) into the record at a board meeting, accept the findings by a public vote, make the entire letter available to the public, and conduct a public training on the OML within 90 days.”
“I am glad that the public will finally be able to hear what the discussion was surrounding the Superintendents’ goals. It is unfortunate that it takes a complaint to the Attorney General to bring about the kind of honesty and transparency that we need from TUSD. As I heard tonight from a teacher, we need to build public trust more than anything. One way to do that is to allow the voices of the Board minority to be heard, and to handle their concerns respectfully instead of dismissively. Having to go to the State to resolve your issues is never a good sign re; Board relations,” stated Governing Board candidate Betts Putnam-Hidalgo.