Government Should Not Operate In Secret

The City Paper online
November 15, 2006

Though the Metro Board of Public Education did not appear to come to its senses, its members did appear to back off this week from a move to drastically stifle open government meetings and proceedings in Nashville’s school system.

The board had carried a slate of newly proposed exemptions to the state’s Sunshine Laws that deem government meetings are open to public scrutiny to the Tennessee School Board Association.  Incredibly, the still newly minted Metro board wanted to limit public access to meetings including evaluation of the schools director and union negotiations.

The Metro board backed off the effort to get the TSBA to carry their draconian political water, saying instead the Tennessee General Assembly would be looking at the Sunshine Law this legislative session.

First, Metro school board members need to get their thinking right when it comes to open government meetings.

This board was largely elected with a mandate for changing the school system for the better by ending the personality conflicts and public bickering that dominated the last version of the board.  However, the new school board is taking their effort to calm down the controversy surrounding the school system by closing public meetings.

It is a horrible approach to governing that member of the already scandal plagued Tennessee General Assembly should not enable.

Tennessee has been dominated by scandals in the last year where government leaders operating in secret have taken bribes and broken the law.  Having less transparent government is not an answer to any problem plaguing government at any level in this state.

Thankfully, the TSBA has dialed down its own initiative to alter the Sunshine Law to dealing only with student disciplinary appeals.  The Metro school board needs to do some deep soul searching about its own approach to government.  Their current approach sends a very bad signal to Metro taxpayers.

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