EDUCATION | PUBLIC MEETINGS
16-3-5101 New Jersey Foundation for Open Government Inc. v. Island Heights Board of Education, Law Division (Ocean County) (Grasso, A.J.S.C.) (11 pp.) In this action alleging that defendant violated the Open Public Meetings Act, the court finds that the board’s resolutions authorizing closed sessions violated N.J.S.A. 10:4-13 because the resolutions, which stated the board would discuss “confidential student information, personnel matters, contracts and litigation,” lack sufficient specificity to inform the public of the “general nature” of the closed session discussion. The court also finds that the board improperly discussed matters in closed session that it should have discussed in public session such as the solar panel project, the board’s goal regarding shared superintendence, and the possibility of having a volunteer assist in picking teacher of the year. Finding that the board’s violations were technical and not willful, the court orders that the board conform in the future to N.J.S.A. 10:4-13 by adopting a resolution with sufficient specificity, by using closed sessions to discuss only the matters listed in 10:4-12(b), and that the board proceed de novo at a public meeting held in conformity with the Open Public Meetings Act. [Filed August 26, 2014]
