Board of Education Did Not Violate the Open Meetings Law
State Supreme Court Justice Donna Siwek heard argument yesterday on Carl Paladino’s Article 78 action to render the School Board’s retention of Dr. Pamela Brown as Superintendent. Judge Siwek rendered her decision later in the day, and it’s shown below.
The tl;dr: Paladino alleged that the School Board violated the letter and spirit of the state’s Open Meetings Law by retiring into a closed executive session to discuss whom they would hire, and contractual details. The Court ruled that the Board was entitled to go into executive session to discuss the qualifications and other personal information regarding the various applicants, although the Board broke a technical rule by failing to properly announce that they were doing so. On the second point, the Board was within its rights to go into executive session to speak in confidence with their attorney regarding contractual matters relating to the new hire.
Paladino may have lost, but in this case he thought the Board had acted improperly, and he took it upon himself to protect citizens’ right to know. More like this, please.
Judge Siwek order on Paladino Article 78 Action vs. Buffalo School Boardhttp://www.scribd.com/embeds/99893516/content?start_page=1&view_mode=list&access_key=key-2okp6h42lcwgfg52hd8d