Tallahassee Reports has learned that the Leon County School Board Agenda Review/Workshop meetings – regularly conducted on the Monday ahead of the LCSB business meetings – appear to be in violation of Florida’s open government Sunshine Law by failing to record minutes of the meetings.
At these meetings Leon County School Board members review and ask questions about the agenda which is scheduled to be covered the next day in a more public setting.
Unlike the regular Tuesday meetings, these Monday meetings are not streamed live and do not encourage the public to attend or speak.
Florida Statutes section 286.011(2) requires “that minutes of a meeting of a public board or commission be promptly recorded and open to public inspection.”
Advisory opinions on the issue define “prompt” as “done, performed, delivered, etc., at once or without delay.”
Last week, on August 15th, TR requested minutes of three Agenda Review/Workshop meetings related to the bus system changes designed by EDULOG.
However, as of August 20th, the minutes were unavailable.
A follow-up discussion with an LCS official revealed that the minutes for the meetings were not available and were being recreated.
When reached by Tallahassee Reports, LCS Board Attorney Opal McKinney-Williams said she had no comment on the issue.
A review of meeting postings on the LCS “Boarddocs” system shows the Agenda Review/Workshop meetings were consistently scheduled beginning in 2017. Superintendent Rocky Hanna was elected in November, 2016.
Before 2017, there is no indication that regular Agenda Review/Workshop meetings were held.
The issue came to TR’s attention when it was discovered that an EDULOG report related to the redesign of the transportation system was presented at the May 13th Agenda Review/Workshop meeting but not at the regularly scheduled LCSB meeting set for May 14, 2019.
TR reviewed the LCS website and could not find any meeting minutes, audio, or video of the Agenda Review.
TR has been told that the minutes of that meeting will be provided when they are created.
LCS Meetings Appear to Violate Sunshine Rules added by Steve Stewart on
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In my opinion, Hanna is far worse than Pons. Pons cared about special needs and tried to do his best for students. He certainly never fabricated a notebook to win an election and deceive voters. I cannot believe a duly elected school board is not responding to such behavior. A conscientious board would have done something long ago.
These people are politicians. They should be as far away from decisions about schools as possible. This election for Super and other positions is nearly criminal. School districts and boards should be run by Educators and former educators. There is a reason Florida and the south trail behind the nation in education, and it is because we elect District and education secretary leaders that aren’t experts in the field that they are working in.
The agenda review meetings have been held for many many years. It was Mr. Danaher in the late 1990’s or early 2000’s who first brought them to the attention of citizens. In order to fully cover the school board’s work, attending both meetings has always been required.
Ms. Palmer, TR’s review of meetings posted on the LCS website since 2011 show no agenda review meetings scheduled prior to 2017. There are a couple of workshops listed, but no agenda review meetings. We continue to research the issue.
The superintendent is the secretary of the board per Florida law 1001.48. So he is ultimately responsible for the minutes. Wonder which of his leadership team he will throw under the bus should someone decide to pursue sunshine law violations?
I haven’t been to one for several years, but I did attend them from time to time until the last few years. And they were held before every formal meeting.
Just read the Democrat article on Messer and Rocky. Sounds like this lady Heath is the sword provider for the Supt. From Hanna’s comments to Messer even he is afraid of her.
I am still perplexed as to what Mr Messer did wrong to deserve being forced out.
Mr. Messer is a good person and he is better off without the drama, but the situation still must be addressed. You just can’t treat people like that and get away with it.
If one person is mistreated and dealt with in an arbitrary fashion without any concrete basis to back it up then who is to say who will be next?
Can you say Hanna”hit list”? The firing of Will Messer is evidence of the actions of Rocky Hanna. Those that do not believe Rocky ordered a hit list of employees this is ample proof of the unfair labor practices that Rocky has put in place. School board silent, Hanna acts like a Czar with a Vendetta.
“TR has been told that the minutes of that meeting will be provided when they are created.” ………. You can’t make this stuff up…………LOL.
I was just about to post something similar to what Mark posted previously.
Will TR file suit? Will TR request the State attorney open a case (direct file) and conduct an investigation? Will TR petition the foreman of the seated Leon County Grand jury to open an independent oversight investigation?
I hope if SAO Campbell is reading this, he would take on the initiative and notify the grand jury.
He won’t.
Where’s Mark????
Hey – It’s not all about Leon County School Board an Rocky – Remember – let’s focus on the Dirty Rotten Criminal Deeds of all of the City of Tallahassee Criminals FBI – like Gillum, Daniels, Barber, Fernandez, Blair, etc. Maven and Snidley – Assistance, please!
Not surprised at all. Things are VERY shady in this county. I work in the district and I literally do not trust anything the district people or even my school admin tells me. I could never work at the district level. I would get immediately fired. I voted for Rocky because so many of my colleagues supported him. I think I was blinded by all the negativity the media was spouting about Jackie. Rocky is just as bad. I wish someone who was not part of the good ol’ boy system would run for superintendent. For being the district capital of the state, it lacks so much compared to other counties. It’s a damn shame because students suffer the most.
Violations of of the Public Records Act is a third degree felony. Steve Stewart please send a letter for the record to Governor Desantis. Recreating public records two years after the fact is not part of the Public Records Act. Rocky you violated the Educator Code of Conduct, by not paying child support for 10 years while acknowledging you were the father is in my opinion a form of child endangerment , you admitted to the school board attorney you FALSIFIED information to state and federal authorities. School board silent, Governor please act.
Who is The EDULOG lobbyist?
How much money did LCS pay to send the Superintendent and LCS Board to Amelia Island? How is sending them to Amelia Island benefitting Leon County Schools ?
What is the real story behind the Messer drama? He does not appear to have done anything wrong . Things seem to be unraveling quickly and are spiraling out of control.
Wow, just read the story on Messer. Hope, that is an understatement!
“Generals, take us down to DEFCON 2!”
Rocky put out a hit list shortly before becoming Superintendent,. As soon as he was Superintendent he enacted his hit list. Messer is the lastest in the “hit list”. Live are being ruined by Rocky Hanna and his VENDETTA.
I thought his hit list would’ve included a couple of the non interviewed Asst. Sups… maybe next Superintendent can do that.
Kathleen
The non interviewed political appointments are the current Assistant Superintendents, the Elementary Director, the Principal of Lively minus Assistant Superintendent Dr. Gayle. None of these people applied or interviewed for their positions. The educators were put in jobs as payback by Hanna. The people they replaced were run out of the district, only one was placed in a job , it was n a demotion to send a messag. Look no further than the recent firing of Will Messer and the recent promotion of Scott Hansen who is Rocky’s life long buddy. Again school board is silent.
A friend of Rocky equals promotion no job applcation needed. Rocky’s buddies get jobs at $100,000 each, those on the hit list get unemployment, teachers who have to apply for jobs are the 46th lowest paid. If you are in the Hanna inner circle not only do you get jobs at $100,000 many get raises while teachers get no raises.
Fortunately (and thankfully), I don’t have anymore children in the Leon County School System. It was so bad that my last two didn’t go to their graduation ceremonies because they didn’t want to shake the hands of the principal or their superintendent and I supported their decisions. Suffice it to say I will not be supporting our foul mouthed, anti 2nd Amendment, subordinate blaming superintendent in the next election. He promised changes for the better. He did not deliver.
Ha, they are being “recreated.” The school board attorney no doubt will be helping with that effort. Along those lines, if you look carefully often LCS Board minutes leave out sections of Board meetings that don’t fit the message they want to send.
It appears that it is “Hanna’s Way” or it does not happen. Wonder if the School Board will hold him accountable this time? Comment from the attorney tells what we need to know. Wake up Governor, Leon County Schools needs fixing now.
It amazes me how a county with so many educated people elected these clowns to run the schools!
Because there are more uneducated voters than educated ones.
A lot of People Vote for the ones who raise the most Money thinking people donate to them because must be best the Candidate for the Job
My email box shows the biggest requests for “do-over” votes regarding the Superintendent I have seen in 18 years of local races. The email reflects voters on all sides of the political spectrum which has expressed a very high level of disappointment. I wonder if the creators of “the book” feel the same at this point.
I also wonder who is waiting in the wings to run and whether people will finally pay attention to who they place on the LCS Board?
Steve Stewart for LCS Superintendent!
RUN STEVE RUN
RUN STEVE RUN
RUN STEVE RUN
Is he and educator or former teacher? Does he have degrees in Education? if not, step aside and let an expert run. This good old boy junk needs to end.