It’s the tail-end of Sunshine Week for newspapers across the country — that time of the year when we highlight government efforts to obscure, obfuscate, hide, conceal and muddy the public’s right to know what’s being done by officials at our expense.
In this issue, we share 16 examples of shadiness thanks to detailed reporting by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Muckrack. But we think they missed one egregious 2023 violator of the public’s trust for government in the open: the Charleston County School District’s Board of Trustees.
Mired in controversy for well over a year with shady employment practices, the local school board made lots of headlines in 2023. Its unannounced and abruptly called meetings, as well as its nebulous and frequent executive sessions, brought continuing criticism from media and school advocates for the board running roughshod over state transparency laws.
For example, look to the Sept. 11, 2023, meeting in which five trustees backed by the right-wing political group Moms for Liberty — Pamela McKinney, Carlotte Bailey, Keith Grybowski, Ed Kelley and Leah Whatley — suddenly called a meeting to discuss newly hired (and now fired) Superintendent Eric Gallien’s contract. But neither Gallien nor the other trustees — Darlene Roberson, Carol Tempel, Courtney Waters and Daron Calhoun II — reportedly were notified of the meeting or its purpose.
Minutes after the surprise meeting began, McKinney called for a vote to enter executive session to consider “items covered by attorney-client privilege,” a move that S.C. Press Association attorney Jay Bender told the Charleston City Paper was illegal. He said state law says the purpose of a closed session must be specific and must indicate what it relates to, and the permitted purposes are narrow and specific.
McKinney later said in a statement that the meeting was called to clarify the duties and responsibilities of Gallien as superintendent. Contractual matters, however, Bender noted, are not permissible topics for a closed session. After the almost four-hour closed session, the board almost immediately adjourned.
“I was completely dismayed by the dysfunction on display at today’s CCSD school board meeting,” said one taxpayer who asked not to be identified. “The school board seems unable to effectively run a meeting, set an agenda, communicate with the public or each other with transparency or professionalism. It’s disturbing and our children deserve better.”
Yes they do. In recent weeks, trustees have been less in headlines, but the Moms for Liberty faction still butts heads with the board’s minority. While they need to work that out, let’s hope they stop doing the public’s business in private. (Hint: State law doesn’t require you to ever go into a secret session.)
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