Brown Act violations just part of scathing grand jury report on Merced school district | Opinion
The Merced City School District Board of Education was reprimanded in June or multiple violations of the Brown Act by the Merced County Civil Grand Jury. As if that wasn’t enough bad news, the district was also admonished for untimely posting of the minutes of its meetings.
“The Merced City School District Administration along with the Merced City School District Board of Trustees have lost respect and trust from some of those they serve,” the civil grand jury said in a 12-page finding.
The Brown Act violations were among 10 grand jury findings listed in the report.
Superintendent Julianna Stocking, who began the day after the grand jury released its report, said the district never received evidence of emails or text messages from board members that would have violated the Brown Act.
“We did not receive any evidence of that other than the overall report,” Stocking told Merced Sun-Star reporter Shawn Jansen. “So we’re basically going by what the grand jury report provided to us, and then what our legal counsel looked at, and then found to be substantiated, found to be unsubstantiated or found to be partially substantiated. We then put some practices into place.”
The grand jury begs to differ. “Text messages and emails indicated Trustees engaged in serial meetings because a majority of the full board obtains information about the other members’ views on a particular subject outside of a public meetings,” its report indicates.
Also, trustees discussed closed-session topics among themselves and nonboard members in text messages and emails, according to the report.
These are serious violations, if true, of the Brown Act, the opening-meetings law which was passed in 1953. “The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is good for them not to know,” reads the text of the law named after its author, Assembly Speaker Ralph M. Brown. “The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.”
In a democracy, trustees and district officials are bound to follow the rules in handling the peoples’ business.
Grand jury cited more problems
The grand jury report did not limit its criticism to Brown Act violations. The district failed to make minutes of board meetings available to the public, had no video links on its website to board meetings, had no employee handbook, and lacked a written procedure for people to file complaints.
Additionally, the report blasts unnamed board members for displaying “open hostility towards one another” and using their censure policy for silencing one another.
It also reported “inappropriate behavior of the Board, specifically facial expressions, side conversations, and verbal criticism from one trustee to another occurred on multiple occasions.”
The grand jury recommended the school board should follow its team handbook because “it is a guide for proper professional behavior to building unity and creating a positive organizational culture in order to govern effectively.”
Ouch!
In its response, the district and board agreed with six of the 10 findings, and said 10 of the 11 recommendations already have been implemented. The district said it did not violate the state Education Code by not having board meeting minutes available to the public “as of August 27.” However, the grand jury reported it attended a May 14 board meeting when trustees were asked to approve minutes for an October 2023 meeting.
The grand jury said links to the board meeting were not available on the district website.
Say thank you
The board would have been better off to thank the grand jury for its report, apologize for its lack of decorum at board meetings, and issue a direct apology to the people it represents.
The board deserves an F for the behavior outlined in the grand jury report, a D for its response, and hopefully an A in adhering to the Brown Act from here on out.