Panel re-doing illegal charter school evaluations is meeting in private
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Discussion of how to re-do the state's illegal evaluations of charter school oversight agencies isn't open to the public.
That's because the Ohio Department of Education and Superintendent Richard Ross consider those discussions "internal" and not subject to state open meetings laws.
That doesn't sit well with some state school board members, like Mary Rose Oakar of Cleveland.
"Can you tell me why they are not open?" Oakar asked at this week's board meeting. "What's the big secret?"
Ross named a three-person panel in August to help it create a new system to evaluate charter oversight agencies, known as "sponsors" or "authorizers," after having to throw out evaluations it completed earlier this year.
David Hansen, the state's school choice director and husband of Gov. John Kasich's campaign director, had deliberately left F grades for online charter schools out of the evaluations. That was a violation of state law, according to state school board members.
Hansen resigned July 18 and the state now has to recalculate ratings that were meant to be the cornerstone of Gov. John Kasich and the state's roundabout plan to improve Ohio's charter schools.
The Plain Dealer requested a meeting schedule for that panel at the September school board meeting , but ODE did not respond until the following week – after the panel had already met again.
"The panel that is meeting is not a public body that requires a public meeting notice – it is an internal meeting," ODE spokesperson Kim Norris replied. "Therefore, it does not require a public meeting notice."
Oakar disagreed at the board's meeting this week.
"If it's such a great idea - and you know it (the rating plan) was controversial to begin with - they should be open meetings so people can know what you're talking about," she said.
Board President Tom Gunlock said that the department has to perform many administrative functions and needs to be able to meet and discuss issues without having to give public notice every time. Otherwise, nothing would ever be accomplished, he said.
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Board attorney Diane Lease also said that if enough board members attend, without it being posted as a board meeting, that would violate state open meetings laws.
But others disagreed and said board members attending to observe, not participate, would not violate the law.
Ross and ODE have also promised to update the board on the panel's recommendationPanel re-doing illegal charter school evaluations is meeting in private | cleveland.com:
