Attorney: Galveston ISD board violated Texas Open Meetings Act

Galveston ISD trustees violated state open meetings laws when they forced members of the public out of a Wednesday school board meeting for 14 minutes after a teacher speaking during public comments criticized the district’s new superintendent, according to a government accountability attorney. Bill Aleshire, an Austin-based attorney who also volunteers with the Texas Freedom of Information Foundation, said because there were no agenda items relating to Superintendent Jerry Gibson, controversial comments he made in a Facebook Live video or criticism about him, the school board was not allowed to discuss complaints made about him at all.

“But they doubled down,” Aleshire said. “They would not have been able to discuss or deliberate the complaints being made about the superintendent even in public, but they certainly weren’t allowed then to close the meeting to have deliberations they couldn’t have in public.” However, Board President Anthony Brown, who is a commercial and real estate attorney in Galveston, said they were permitted to go into closed session because the teacher, Carrie Hunnicutt, who complained was a district employee. He said he consulted with the district’s general counsel, who said going into executive session was legal. “What our agenda permits us to do is go into executive session under any matters acceptable under the open meetings requirements,” Brown said. At issue were public comments made at a Wednesday Galveston ISD board meeting, in which several parents and teachers voiced displeasure with changes and controversial comments made about the district’s virtual program, known as Students Accessing Innovative Learning or SAIL. Proponents of the program say Gibson abruptly changed how it was run three weeks after joining the district on Feb. 1. In a Facebook Live video on Galveston ISD’s account, Gibson said he found out around 5 p.m. on Feb. 22 that SAIL teachers were working remotely. He said he decided then that the teachers would have to return to a campus building to do their virtual instruction. They were told to report to a Galveston ISD facility by Feb. 24.