Oklahoma Senator Considers Legal Action Against School Board

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A state lawmaker says she is prepared to sue the state school board and state Superintendent Ryan Walters after she says they violated Oklahoma’s open meetings law when they refused to let her attend their executive session discussions last week.

State Sen. Mary Boren (D-Norman) says the law makes it very clear: As a member of the Oklahoma Senate Education Committee, she should have been allowed into the room during the executive session of the Oklahoma State Board of Education when they met last week.

In addition to state school board members and their legal staff, state Superintendent Ryan Walters and some of his staff also regularly participate in the board’s executive sessions, including last week.

“We just don’t have enough people to hold Superintendent Walters accountable,” Boren told News 4. “And one of the fundamental things I’m allowed to do under the law is observe closed hearings to make sure he’s held accountable.”

She said a number of items on the agenda for the closed session of last week’s meeting piqued her interest.

“There was an agenda item regarding the disqualification of one of the school board members, and they voted on that in executive session,” Boren said. “And then there were several agenda items regarding other teachers who were being revoked … I knew my district really cared about that.”

She said she informed the state school board’s attorney that she planned to exercise her right to sit in executive session before last week’s meeting.

“Last Thursday, I sent an email to the council’s attorney that I intended to observe the closed session that was on the agenda that day,” Boren said. “And when they broke for the closed session, I walked up to the attorney and said, ‘Hey, did you get my email?’ And she said, ‘Yes.’ And she said, ‘Come this way.’ So I started walking with her and turned to go into the closed session room toward this door.”

But she says the lawyer never let her through the door.

“She said, ‘Wait a minute, Mary, we need to talk. You can’t go in there.’ I said, ‘Oh.’ And at that point, I was informed that they didn’t think I had any jurisdictional connection to what was going on in the closed session and that they also thought that attorney-client privilege would be violated if I were there to observe.”

Tim Gilpin is an attorney, former state school board member, and former Oklahoma assistant attorney general. He is well versed in Oklahoma open meetings law.

He told News 4 the law allows lawmakers who sit on committees that oversee an agency to sit in on that agency’s executive sessions.

“In order to have a closed session, which means all spectators have to leave, only the board chair and the board’s legal counsel can be present, the Oklahoma Open Meetings Act requires that only certain topics can be discussed in a closed session,” Gilpin said. “There is one small caveat: one of our state legislators who sits on a specific education committee is allowed … to attend.”

Gilpin said he is not aware of any provision in the open meetings law that would have allowed the state school board to make an exception in Boren’s case.

“I don’t know why they didn’t want (Boren) there, but I suspect a judge is going to have to decide what happens,” Gilpin said.

Boren said she wants Attorney General Gentner Drummond to weigh in on whether it was legal for the council to block her from entering.

“And then, once that happens, I hope to be able to talk to the State Department of Education, to the attorneys for the State Board of Education, and explain to them why the law says what it says and how their decisions last Thursday were not in accordance with the law and ask them to reevaluate their position so that in the future they can be in compliance with the law,” Boren said.

Boren says if they still refuse to allow her access after this, she is prepared to sue.

“I’m getting ready to talk to lawyers about filing a petition to enforce the open meetings law,” Boren said.

If Boren were to sue and a judge were to find that the state school board willfully violated the open meetings law, Gilpin said a number of things could happen.

“Violating the open meetings law can result in fines,” Gilpin said. “It can even lead to jail time for very serious violations. The idea is that these officials are not discussing issues or making decisions behind closed doors. It’s not like a good old-fashioned roundtable of buddies where they’re going to decide issues and no one can see or hear.”