The School Board had a first reading for a policy change around board minutes during its Dec. 20 board meeting. Superintendent, Dan Moulis, explained that one of the biggest changes is in regard to when sealed minutes need to be reviewed, which comes from legislative changes to RSA 91A.
“Sealed minutes must either be reviewed within each ten-year period or unsealed no later than the expiration of ten years following the date they were sealed or last reviewed,” the proposed policy language change states.
Moulis said when discussing it with their legal counsel it was recommended that the district keep an inventory of the sealed minutes, and periodically they would go to the School Board to be reviewed. At that point, he said they could decide to reseal the minutes for a period of time. He added that ultimately the legislation change makes it so minutes can’t be sealed forever. “They wanted a mechanism for that to be reviewed,” Moulis said.
Moulis told the board that the recommendation was to review the most recent sealed minutes first and then work backwards after that. The policy also makes changes to rules regarding minutes overall.
“Under RSA 91-A, the School Board, and each of the School Board’s committees is required to keep minutes for every “meeting” as defined under 91-A:2, I,” the proposed policy reads. “As used below, “board” shall mean and include the district School Board, and each such board committee.
The policy also outlines the minimum requirements of what is in the minutes including the names of members participating, the people appeasing before or addressing the school board, a brief description of each subject matter discussed, who made what motions, along with other requirements.
Another aspect of the policy is in regard to members of the public being able to review draft minutes.
“Draft minutes of all public meetings, clearly marked as drafts, will be made available for public inspection no later than five (5) business days after each public session,” the policy reads. “Minutes for non-public sessions shall be kept as a separate document. Draft minutes for all non-public sessions, will be made available for public inspection within seventy-two (72) hours after the non-public session, unless sealed.”
Approval of minutes is also part of the proposed policy change. “Copies of the draft minutes of a meeting will be sent to the members of the board before the meeting at which they are to be approved. The preceding sentence, however, shall not apply to minutes of non-public sessions when the board has sealed such minutes by a recorded roll call vote taken in public session with 2/3 of the board members present,” the proposed policy change states. “Drafts of non-public minutes will be provided to the board either at the conclusion of the non-public session and may be approved at the time – prior to any vote to seal, or if sealed, provided to the board at the meeting at which they are to be approved. “
The School Board is expected to have a second reading of the proposed policy during its next meeting on Jan. 8.
