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School Committee - Executive Session Minutes

School Committee - Executive Session Minutes

For a complete explanation of the Open Meeting Law as it applies to Executive Sessions, please refer to the Massachusetts government web site and to the Attorney General's Open Meeting Law Guidelines.

The Executive Session Minutes are located towards the bottom of this page.

Executive Sessions

An executive session is defined in the Open Meeting Law as "any meeting of a governmental body which is closed to certain persons for deliberation on certain matters." The Law defines nine specific purposes for which an executive session may be held, often referred to as "exemptions" from the open meeting requirement, and emphasizes that this list of nine is an exclusive one.

The nine purposes or exemptions for which a governmental body may vote to hold an executive session are:

(1) To discuss the "reputation, character, physical condition or mental health rather than the professional competence" of a particular individual.

(2) To consider the discipline or dismissal of, or to hear complaints or charges brought against, a public officer, employee, staff member, or individual.

(3) To discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation, if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the governmental body; to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union personnel; and to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-union personnel.

(4) To discuss the deployment of security personnel or devices.

(5) To investigate charges of criminal misconduct or to discuss the filing of criminal complaints.

(6) To consider the purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property, if an open discussion may have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the governmental body with a person, firm, or corporation.

(7) To comply with the provisions of any general or special law or federal grant-in-aid requirements

(8) To consider and interview applicants for employment by a preliminary screening committee or a subcommittee appointed by a governmental body if an open meeting will have a detrimental effect in obtaining qualified applicants; provided, however, that this clause shall not apply to any meeting, including meetings of a preliminary screening committee or a subcommittee appointed by a governmental body, to consider and interview applicants who have passed a prior preliminary screening.

(9) To meet or confer with a mediator, as defined in section twenty-three C of chapter two hundred and thirty-three, with respect to any litigation or decision on any public business within its jurisdiction involving another party, group or body, provided that: (a) any decision to participate in mediation shall be made in open meeting session and the parties, issues involved and purpose of the mediation shall be disclosed; and (b) no action shall be taken by any governmental body with respect to those issues which are the subject of the mediation without deliberation and approval for such action at an open meeting after such notice as may be required in this section.

Procedures

Notice: No executive session may be held unless and until an open meeting of the governmental body, for which proper notice was given, has first convened. Written notice of a proposed executive session that will involve the discussion or consideration of an individual (see exemption (3) above) must be given to that individual at least forty-eight hours in advance.

Convening: Once an open meeting has been duly convened, to then convene an executive session a majority of the members of the governmental body must vote to go into the session; the vote of each member must be recorded on a roll call vote and entered in the minutes of the meeting. In addition, the presiding officer must cite for the record the purpose (or purposes if there are more than one) of the executive session, and whether the governmental body will reconvene in an open meeting after the executive session is over.

Minutes: Minutes or an equivalent record of every executive session must be kept. In terms of content, such minutes mirror those required for open meetings: they must set forth the date, time, place, members present or absent, and the action taken. As with open session minutes, written minutes (preferably typed) are required. Unlike the case with open sessions, however, members of the public have no right to tape record or videotape executive sessions. In addition, minutes of executive sessions must include a record of every vote taken. All such votes must be recorded roll call votes.

Release of Minutes: The minutes or record of every executive session become public records from the moment they are created; however, such minutes "may remain secret as long as publication may defeat the lawful purposes of the executive session, but no longer" (emphasis supplied). G.L. c. 39, §23B. Generally, the decision when to release the minutes of an executive session is up to the members of the governmental body. Each body should, however, adopt a policy which requires that unreleased executive session minutes will be reviewed on a regular basis. Such a policy will help ensure that closed session minutes are kept secret only as long as needed and as authorized under the Law.

Minutes are available as Adobe PDFs and can be viewed in Acrobat Reader and printed. If you do not have Acrobat Reader installed please download it (free) from Adobe by clicking on the Acrobat logo at the bottom of the page.