Too many officials gravitate to the dark
The Carroll County School Board is not allowed to ban recording of its meetings, according to attorney general’s opinions and an expert in open meetings law. The board may choose to stop taping meetings itself, though, said Leonard Van Slyke, attorney for the Mississippi Center for Freedom of Information.
By a 3-2 vote, the board decided Monday to cease recording its meetings and destroy all the tapes it has made.
In a 2005 opinion to the Lowndes County School Board in a similar incident, Attorney General Jim Hood said a board could adopt reasonable rules to prevent disruption of its meetings but “a flat prohibition against taping is unreasonable and violates the intent of the open meetings law.”
What is the majority on the Carroll County School Board scared of? Are they so unconfident of some of their muleheaded ways that they want to keep them from being fully and completely documented?
The problem isn’t confined to small communities like Carrollton. The Sun Herald during a recent interview with a local elected official encountered yet again an assumption that just won’t die: What’s said in secret must remain a secret.