Skip to content

Court says board’s straw vote in secret session did not violate Sunshine Act

Post categories

  1. Freedom of Information
Court says board's straw vote in secret session did not violate Sunshine Act 06/14/1994 PENNSYLVANIA -- The Sunshine Act does…

PENNSYLVANIA — The Sunshine Act does not prohibit a local school board from taking a straw vote in a private executive session, the Commonwealth Court in Pittsburgh ruled in late May.

The Morning Call of Allentown alleged that the Southern Lehigh School Board violated the Sunshine Act when it voted on superintendent candidates during a February 1992 executive session. The board selected three of five candidates as finalists during the meeting.

The vote was “really nothing more than a further rating and ranking of these non- finalists,” the appellate court said in upholding a 1992 trial court ruling by the Common Pleas Court in Allentown.

The appellate court distinguished the straw vote, which narrowed the candidate pool, from an official action committing the agency to a course of conduct. The court said, however, that under the Sunshine Act the school board’s final vote to hire a specific person must be public.

The court ruled that the board’s deliberations required confidentiality in order to attract qualified candidates who were employed by other school districts.

(Morning Call v. Board of School Directors; Media Counsel: Malcolm Gross, Allentown)


The Reporters Committee regularly files friend-of-the-court briefs and its attorneys represent journalists and news organizations pro bono in court cases that involve First Amendment freedoms, the newsgathering rights of journalists and access to public information. Stay up-to-date on our work by signing up for our monthly newsletter and following us on Twitter or Instagram.

Stay informed by signing up for our mailing list

Keep up with our work by signing up to receive our monthly newsletter. We'll send you updates about the cases we're doing with journalists, news organizations, and documentary filmmakers working to keep you informed.