Expert: Riverside vote violated open-meetings law
July 23, 2010 Sunshine Act | Open meetings
BY LIBBY A. NELSON
The [Scranton] Times-Tribune
A vote by the Riverside School Board to change the logo displayed on football helmets violated the Pennsylvania open-meeting law, a media-law expert said Thursday.
The 5-4 decision, reached after a district employee polled school board members by phone, changed the helmet decals for Riverside Junior-Senior High School football players from a wing to a Viking horn.
The change, which matches the logo to the school's Viking mascot, went forward despite a student petition earlier this year that garnered 150 signatures in favor of the wing. Because the decision was made by phone rather than in an open meeting, it was against the law, said Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.
The Pennsylvania Sunshine Act requires that official government action, with a few exceptions, take place at an advertised public meeting.
"Agencies cannot vote anywhere except a public meeting - period," Ms. Melewsky said.
Board members who voted against the switch are questioning why it was put to a vote at all.
"I wouldn't care if there were sunflowers on the helmets," said Barbara Fedor, who voted against the change. "This is so not a board issue."
The controversy began this spring at a work session or committee meeting, when the idea of changing the decal was first introduced, board members and the district superintendent said.
The two logos have coexisted within the district for decades: The wing has been in use since at least 1965, but the Viking horn was used on helmets from 2002 to 2006. In 2006, helmets began displaying the wing logo again, apparently without much controversy.
But when the prospect of changing back to the Viking horn arose, students protested. They circulated a petition in favor of the wing logo and presented it at a board meeting.
The issue went unmentioned at several subsequent meetings.
"I assumed at that point that it was just going to be a moot point, that we weren't going to discuss it again," said George Bieber, who voted against the change.
The scheduled meeting and work session for July were canceled after the board passed its budget for the next fiscal year before the June 30 deadline.
Last week, a district employee telephoned the board members and asked whether they were in favor of keeping the wing or changing to the Viking horn. Five members voted for the horn: Board president Timothy Lavelle, vice president Michael Duda, secretary Robert Bennie, treasurer Tom Harrison and Charles Maurer. Four voted against: Mr. Bieber, Mrs. Fedor, Carol Armstrong and James Schiavo, who said he voted for whatever the students wanted.
Attempts to reach four of the five members who voted to change the logo were unsuccessful. Mr. Bennie referred questions to superintendent David Woods, who gave the order to change the decals.
"It's not necessarily something that, in my opinion anyway, would have to go to a board vote or agenda," Mr. Woods said. "Uniforms, in my opinion, can be talked about by anyone in the school district, from the athletic director, to the principal, to the coach, to myself."
Sunshine law violations can be overcome by repeating the action at a public meeting, even though that violates the spirit of the law, Ms. Melewsky said.
"I think that's something the school board needs to deal with completely and appropriately, especially regarding an issue like high school sports, where people get very, very upset," she said. "If the intent was to keep the public away, that makes it even worse."
The [Scranton] Times-Tribune
A vote by the Riverside School Board to change the logo displayed on football helmets violated the Pennsylvania open-meeting law, a media-law expert said Thursday.
The 5-4 decision, reached after a district employee polled school board members by phone, changed the helmet decals for Riverside Junior-Senior High School football players from a wing to a Viking horn.
The change, which matches the logo to the school's Viking mascot, went forward despite a student petition earlier this year that garnered 150 signatures in favor of the wing. Because the decision was made by phone rather than in an open meeting, it was against the law, said Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.
The Pennsylvania Sunshine Act requires that official government action, with a few exceptions, take place at an advertised public meeting.
"Agencies cannot vote anywhere except a public meeting - period," Ms. Melewsky said.
Board members who voted against the switch are questioning why it was put to a vote at all.
"I wouldn't care if there were sunflowers on the helmets," said Barbara Fedor, who voted against the change. "This is so not a board issue."
The controversy began this spring at a work session or committee meeting, when the idea of changing the decal was first introduced, board members and the district superintendent said.
The two logos have coexisted within the district for decades: The wing has been in use since at least 1965, but the Viking horn was used on helmets from 2002 to 2006. In 2006, helmets began displaying the wing logo again, apparently without much controversy.
But when the prospect of changing back to the Viking horn arose, students protested. They circulated a petition in favor of the wing logo and presented it at a board meeting.
The issue went unmentioned at several subsequent meetings.
"I assumed at that point that it was just going to be a moot point, that we weren't going to discuss it again," said George Bieber, who voted against the change.
The scheduled meeting and work session for July were canceled after the board passed its budget for the next fiscal year before the June 30 deadline.
Last week, a district employee telephoned the board members and asked whether they were in favor of keeping the wing or changing to the Viking horn. Five members voted for the horn: Board president Timothy Lavelle, vice president Michael Duda, secretary Robert Bennie, treasurer Tom Harrison and Charles Maurer. Four voted against: Mr. Bieber, Mrs. Fedor, Carol Armstrong and James Schiavo, who said he voted for whatever the students wanted.
Attempts to reach four of the five members who voted to change the logo were unsuccessful. Mr. Bennie referred questions to superintendent David Woods, who gave the order to change the decals.
"It's not necessarily something that, in my opinion anyway, would have to go to a board vote or agenda," Mr. Woods said. "Uniforms, in my opinion, can be talked about by anyone in the school district, from the athletic director, to the principal, to the coach, to myself."
Sunshine law violations can be overcome by repeating the action at a public meeting, even though that violates the spirit of the law, Ms. Melewsky said.
"I think that's something the school board needs to deal with completely and appropriately, especially regarding an issue like high school sports, where people get very, very upset," she said. "If the intent was to keep the public away, that makes it even worse."
