Slagle v. Ross
Annotate this CaseClay Slagle appealed the Montgomery Circuit Court's dismissal of his action against the seven members of the Montgomery County Board of Education ("the Board") and the superintendent of the Montgomery County School System alleging that they violated the Alabama Open Meetings Act. The conflict arose from a June 2009 meeting in which the Board was scheduled to discuss and vote on the selection of a new superintendent. There was conflicting evidence as to the nature of the discussion that occurred at the meeting between the Board members who attended it. Slagle testified that, at a meeting of the Board held on July 1, 2009, one Board member made a comment about a previously held "secret meeting" of Board members, apparently referring to the June 2009 event at which four members of the Board were present. None of the Board members present at the June 2009 event confirmed that they deliberated about filling the superintendent position or other Board business at the event. At a July meeting, the Board voted to hire Barbara Thompson as superintendent of the Montgomery School System. In December 2009, Slagle filed this action against Board members Ross, Snowden, Sellers, Meadows, Dawkins, Briers, and Porterfield in their official capacities and against Thompson in her official capacity as superintendent, alleging that the Board members violated the Act in June 2009. The trial court concluded that, because a quorum was not physically present and discussing Board business at any given time at the June event, the Board did not hold a "meeting" as defined in the Act. Based on this finding, the trial court dismissed Slagle's claims against the Board members and Superintendent Thompson. Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded that a plain reading of the Open Meetings Act showed that neither the presence of Board members at the June 2009 event constituted a "gathering" of a quorum of the Board itself. Therefore, the trial court's judgment in this case was affirmed.
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