School board violated law when it closed Bliss, DA says
By Brandi Mkauski
Portage Co. District Attorney Louis J. Molepske, Jr. announced on Friday that he has determined the Stevens Point Area Public School Board has violated state law.
After consultation with the Department of Justice Office of Open Government, state statutes, case law, and various legal opinions, Molepske said several verified open meeting complaints filed in the DA office were actionable.
The Stevens Point Area School District Board of Education improperly locked the public out of its May 10, 2021 Board meeting when it physically locked the meeting room door prior to its in-person Board meeting.
Second, DA Molepske found the Board improperly amended its notice less than two hours before the Board’s meeting was to begin in violation of Wisconsin’s Open Meeting Laws.
Third, DA Molepske found the media was improperly noticed of the amended notice of the place of the Board’s meeting less than two hours before the meeting was to begin.
Finally, Molepske said the Board improperly noticed its May 1, 2021 Board meeting by only placing the notice on the door to the Board’s meeting room and in no other location in violation of the Open Meeting Laws at a detriment to the public.
Molepske has asked the Board to properly notice its May 10, 2021 meeting agenda and retake any votes cast at that meeting to comply with the Open Meeting Law.
Molepske said he’s been in consultation with the Board’s attorney, has further sought “further enforcement of the Open Meeting Law by the Board’s President to comply with the penalty and enforcement sections of the Open Meeting Laws.”
“We must praise those that have and continue to agree to serve the public on government bodies. At the same time, the Open Meeting Laws require proper notice of meetings to the public and the doors to Government Bodies be open at all times no matter the viewpoint represented, the speech expressed, or in the face of a pandemic and emotional topics of Board discussion and policy,” said Molepske. “I am confident the Stevens Point School Board will comply with the Open Meeting Laws by taking my findings to heart and placing them in practice so that the public has the most access to the School Board’s meetings and work at regularly noticed meetings of the Board.”
Following the May 10 meeting, School Superintendent Craig Gerlach and Board President Meg Erler told the Metro Wire that they had determined closing Bliss would be “completely legal” after consulting with the district’s legal counsel.
Messages left for Gerlach and Erler on Friday were not immediately returned.
This story will be updated.