AG's office clears school board
By Alamogordo Daily News
 
The Attorney General's office has cleared the Alamogordo school board of alleged violations of the state's open meetings law.

The allegations were raised May 8 by APS Director of Technology Support Services Tony Korwin, who presented what he believed was evidence that the board used e-mails to make decisions outside of public meetings.

The AG's office, in a response to Korwin dated Sept. 20 and obtained by the Daily News Monday, said "we are unable to conclude that the board violated (the Open Meetings Act) as alleged in the complaint." The response was written by Assistant Attorney General Zachary Shandler.

The office did note that the Alamogordo school board did state that "in an abundance of caution, have discontinued the practice of using e-mail to communicate with one another."

Korwin's complaint alleged that school board members used e-mails to determine its course of action regarding the board's decision to terminate former Superintendent Dr. Phil Knight; to decide who to hire as his replacement; and to decide on eliminating block scheduling.

Dr. Knight announced after the February school board elections that he was resigning June 30, "stating that he was not sure he could work with the newly elected board members," according to the APS board's response to the complaint.

The board took action at the Feb. 20 meeting, but a motion by Sue Medina to place Knight on leave failed to pass. When the new board met for the first time March 1, the board voted 4-1 to place Knight on administrative leave with pay until July 29. Associate Superintendent Clarissa Johnson was named as a temporary replacement.

Regarding a permanent replacement, the board held a work session April 9 to discuss specific goals for the new superintendent. The board met again May 15 to discuss an interim superintendent and voted that same day to replace Johnson with Mike Harris, one of four finalists for the job.

On the matter of block scheduling, the board stated in its response that "the issue of block scheduling became a controversial campaign topic. Candidates Allan Rickman and Rhonda Cross make it known ... that they opposed block scheduling and would be willing to study the issue for possible changes."

The board held work sessions March 1, 6 and 14 to study the issue. The school board held a regular meeting March 20 and voted to end block scheduling.

The Attorney General's office quoted from the board's response that "although some board members may have used e-mails to communicate with fellow board members, the communications were not intended to circumvent the provisions of (the Open Meetings Act) by deliberating or making decisions about the three specific topics listed in the complaint."

The AG's office stated that based on information available to it, "it appears the three matters were properly discussed in public meetings in advance of board final action."

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