Newspaper’s lawsuit prompts Indiana school board to adopt transparency reforms

A school board in Indiana has agreed to adopt new transparency reforms in response to an open meetings lawsuit brought last year by a weekly newspaper represented by an attorney from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. 

In a settlement agreement finalized last month, the Board of Education of the Mooresville Consolidated School Corporation, a public school district outside of Indianapolis, said it would amend two policies to comply with Indiana’s Open Door Law, the state law that governs access to public meetings. 

The school board and the Morgan County Correspondent reached the settlement months after the newspaper sued the board with free legal support from Kris Cundiff, the Reporters Committee’s Local Legal Initiative attorney for Indiana, alleging that school officials took unlawful official action in a private meeting when filling a vacant board seat.

According to the terms of the settlement, the board agreed to update its policy for filling board vacancies, requiring finalists for open board seats to be interviewed during meetings that are open to the public. “The Board shall also openly discuss the qualifications of all such candidates and verbally invite oral, public comment on the same before taking final action to fill the vacancy,” the agreement states.

Additionally, the school board agreed to amend a separate policy regarding public participation at its meetings more broadly. The updated policy outlines a formal procedure for members of the public to deliver public comments “immediately before the School Board takes any final action on public business.”

“This settlement is a big win for transparency and accountability,” Cundiff said. “It ensures that the school board will no longer conduct public business in secret and without the input of the community it serves.”

The Correspondent’s lawsuit stemmed from an executive session the board held last November, during which board members discussed all prospective appointees for a vacant board seat and eliminated all but one candidate, Deon Brimmage. 

The board followed the executive session with a public meeting, during which the board voted to appoint Brimmage to fill the vacant seat. The board solicited no public comment before unanimously voting to appoint Brimmage, and there was no public discussion among board members at the meeting about Brimmage or any other candidate for the vacant board seat.

Last December, Cundiff submitted a formal complaint to Indiana’s Office of the Public Access Counselor on behalf of the Correspondent, alleging that the school board’s actions violated the state’s Open Door Law. 

While awaiting the PAC’s formal opinion, which ultimately sided with the Correspondent, the local newspaper sued the board in the Morgan County Superior Court. The lawsuit argued that the board violated the Open Door Law by taking official action on public business in secret and by failing to allow public comment on the appointment before the final vote.

As part of the settlement, the Correspondent agreed to dismiss the lawsuit, and the school board agreed to pay the Reporters Committee more than $6,000 in attorney fees. 

In an opinion column published after the settlement, Correspondent Editor Stephen Crane wrote that his newspaper’s lawsuit was “not really about Mooresville Consolidated. As I told the superintendent last year, our legal action is nothing personal — it’s all procedural.

“Laws are in the books for a reason,” he continued, “and whether it’s Mooresville Schools or any other government entity, those laws must be followed.”

Check out the June 5 edition of the Correspondent to read Crane’s column and more coverage of the settlement.