ARLINGTON — The question is simple: Did the Arlington School Board violate the state’s Open Public Meetings Act? Beyond that, it’s complicated.
A nonprofit public interest group believes the school board has met in secrecy. School district officials say the allegation is wrong.
In Snohomish County Superior Court today, lawyers for the Arlington School District and the Spokane-based Center for Justice plan to present arguments in cross motions for summary judgment.
The motions are part of a lawsuit the center filed 18 months ago against the district alleging violations of the state’s meetings act.
Both parties say the dispute doesn’t need to go to trial.
In its motion, the center argues the evidence shows that between March 2006 and May 2008 the school board conducted study sessions and closed-door executive sessions without giving adequate public notice. It seeks to impose fines on the district and reimbursement to the Center for Justice for its legal fees and investigative costs.
The suit is part of the center’s statewide effort to bring attention to enforcement of the Open Public Meetings Act, said the center’s attorney, Greg Overstreet of Allied Law Group of Seattle.
“The school board seems to be upset that somebody had the audacity to sue them,” Overstreet said. “But you can’t say ‘I am not going to pay taxes because I didn’t know I had to.’ My sense is that the Arlington School District decided that complying with the Open Public Meetings Act was inconvenient.”
The school district has asked the judge to dismiss several parts of the case, including the claim that it violated the meetings act by failing to give notice of special meetings and the claims that school board members knowingly violated the law.
The school district also has asked that the Center for Justice be required to pay the district’s attorney fees.
The school board did not intentionally meet in secret, and it has cost the school district a lot of money to fight the center’s suit, said school district attorney David Hokit of the Curran Law Firm in Kent.
“They claim to be acting on behalf of the public interest,” Hokit said. “One would certainly question whether the public is really being served.”
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427, gfiege@heraldnet.com.
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