During the public comment portion of the Jefferson High School trustees meeting Mar. 19, JHS 10th grader Ryian Eveland rose to the podium in front of a crowd of about 50 attendees, and began reading from a statement.
She was about to describe her experience on the JHS girls basketball team under former coach Aubrey McMaster this past season. Later in the meeting, the board would consider McMaster’s letter of resignation, submitted after McMaster learned of some players’ parents’ apparent dissatisfaction with her coaching style.
Before Eveland completed her first sentence, however, her comment was interrupted by Board Chair Cami Robson, who said she must stop because she was discussing a personnel issue, and privacy rights limited what could or could not be said. School Superintendent Erik Wilkerson defended Robson’s position, stating Eveland could continue only if she modified the statement to exclude any references to names or positions that could identify a person.
When asked by another parent in the audience what privacy policy the board was citing, Wilkerson stated, “It’s not a policy, it’s the law.” Wilkerson said he had an email from Kris Goss at the Montana School Board Association that clearly laid out the laws the Board was required to follow.
The email Wilkerson referenced does clearly lay out the Montana statutes regarding public meetings and the process for handling sensitive matters. But the board appears to have misinterpreted how those statutes should be applied — and by limiting public discussion, it may actually have violated those public meeting laws.
Mike Meloy, a Helena attorney who staffs the Montana Freedom of Information Hotline, made the distinction between the board’s discussion of a personnel matter and public comment. He told The Monitor, “When there is an expectation of privacy, the person about whom discussion is pertaining can insist that the meeting be closed, just for that discussion. But if a member of the public stands up and says something, there isn’t an expectation of privacy, because it’s a public thing. If the school board needed to discuss it, then it could close discussion.”
In other words, during public comment periods, speakers are free to say whatever they want. The school board and administrators are the ones bound to follow statutes; the public has no such obligation. When asked whether the school board was correct in limiting Ryian Eveland’s comments, Meloy replied: “No.”
After Eveland was cut off, her father, Cory Eveland, attempted to conclude her remarks, struggling to make Ryian’s points using allowed terminology. Individuals’ names and titles had to be replaced with more generic terms like “the program” and “processes.” Other speakers followed, showing the same difficulty to find the correct words for their statements.
Interviewed briefly after the meeting, the Evelands expressed disappointment at the conduct of the proceedings, but did not comment further.
When reached for comment Robson declined, and referred The Monitor to Wilkerson. In later conversation, Wilkerson defended his and the board’s actions, again invoking personnel and privacy protections to justify the limitations placed on public comment.
Meloy indicated that the appropriate steps by the board probably should have been to close the meeting in order for trustees to discuss sensitive matters. “This is not the first time boards have closed meetings to keep people from talking about a personnel issue. [But] the closure of the meeting only relates to discussion by the public entity, not to public comment,” he said.
McMaster was not in attendance at the meeting. She said in an email, “I have not been contacted by anyone from Jefferson High School, the Jefferson High School Board, any parents of Jefferson High School Girls Basketball players, or any Jefferson Girls Basketball players since our final game.” McMaster said she knew the board meetings were monthly, but had not paid any attention to the March meeting.
McMaster’s resignation was unanimously accepted by the board. The school’s search for a new girls’ basketball coach began this week.
