RI Education Council Not Penalized for Breaking Meetings Law - U.S. News & World Report

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island education officials violated the open meetings law last year during a session for back-to-school planning where they voted to require mask mandates in schools, the state attorney general’s office said.

However, the attorney general’s office said it will not proceed with legal action against the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education because its decision to implement masks in schools was shortly overridden by a state mask mandate, TheProvidence Journal reported Wednesday.

The Open Meetings Act requires public government bodies to disclose all meetings and discussion topics at least two days before the meeting. The attorney general's office said that the council failed to make note of the back-to-school agenda and mask mandate vote last August.

But the council said it implemented a school-wide mask mandate because it was “compelled to issue guidance to the school committees” before the start of the school year.

In the attorney general office's review, it found that the council has no prior history of violating open meeting law and noted the council's intention was to act “out of a good faith desire to promote public health and to provide time-sensitive guidance to school committees.”

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source: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rhode-island/articles/2022-03-03/ri-education-council-not-penalized-for-breaking-meetings-law

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