schools Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

5 May, 2016

AG: Search firm records are open in school director search, Open Meetings Act may apply

By Deborah Fisher|2017-01-06T15:25:27-06:00May 5, 2016|Categories: Attorney General Opinions, schools|Tags: AG opinion, Cleveland, Herbert Slatery, State Sen. Mike Bell, Tennessee School Boards Association|0 Comments

The Attorney General in a new opinion says that records in a school director search are open for public inspection, even if the records were obtained by a third party hired by a school board to conduct the search. The entity might also be subject to the Open Meetings Act, depending on factors such as the circumstances of its involvement with the government body, its authority and its structure, the AG said. State Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville State Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, said he requested the opinion because some constituents were concerned about the transparency of the search to fill the Cleveland City School's director position. The school board hired the [...]

30 Apr, 2015

Nashville school board to consider more transparency for charter schools

By Deborah Fisher|2015-08-18T07:50:48-05:00April 30, 2015|Categories: schools|Tags: Annenberg Institute for School Reform, charter schools, Metro Nashville school board, Nashville|0 Comments

Nashville's school board is scheduled to discuss tonight potential adoption of public accountability standards for charter schools that would require, among other things, more transparency about how they operate and how public money is spent. Charter schools in Tennessee are already required to abide by the state's Open Meetings Act (T.C.A. 49-13-138) and Public Records Act (T.C.A. 49-13-140), as well as abide by whatever governance requirements laid out by the school district that granted the charters. But instances of fraud and malfeasance by charter school operators across the country have prompted school advocates and lawmakers in some states to propose additional accountability measures that provide more transparency for charter schools. Nashville's [...]

11 Aug, 2014

Nashville school board moves to increase charter school transparency

By Deborah Fisher|2015-08-18T07:51:31-05:00August 11, 2014|Categories: schools|Tags: charter schools, Nashville, The Tennessean|0 Comments

Reporter Joey Garrison's story this weekend in The Tennessean is a good one about increasing charter school transparency. While some might think it's as much politics as anything behind the motivation to require charter schools in Nashville to publish financial documents on the Metro Public Schools website, it's a proactive measure that all local governments can take, even before there is a controversy. Good to see that the school board decided to require the same of all Metro Nashville schools, not just charter schools. Our open government laws (open meetings and open records) apply to charter schools the same way they do to all other public schools. I don't see many [...]

20 Jun, 2014

Cleveland newspaper wins release of superintendent evaluations after Open Records dispute

By Deborah Fisher|2019-09-11T18:49:44-05:00June 20, 2014|Categories: schools|Tags: Bradley County, Cleveland Daily Banner, evaluation forms, Office o, open records, school records|0 Comments

The Bradley County Board of Education released individual evaluation forms of its superintendent to the Cleveland Daily Banner late yesterday but continued to contend the public documents were exempt from the Tennessee Public Records Act. After the board initially refused to disclose the superintendent evaluations, the newspaper contacted Office of Open Records Counsel Elisha Hodge who wrote that it was her opinion that the documents should be released and she was "unaware of any provision within the law that makes these particular records confidential." "In Tennessee, in order for the public to be denied access to a records that exists, the record has to be confidential pursuant to a provision within the [...]

1 May, 2014

Appeals court: TSSAA subject to Public Records Act

By Deborah Fisher|2020-02-23T10:11:53-06:00May 1, 2014|Categories: functional equivalent, public records lawsuits Tennessee, schools|Tags: Claudia Bonnyman, Court of Appeals, Frank G. Clement Jr., functional equivalent, litigation, schools, Southcomm, TSSAA|0 Comments

The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association meets the standards of a "functional equivalent" of government and therefore is subject to the Tennessee Public Records Act, an appeals court in Nashville ruled today. The decision means the organization, which was created in 1925 and has an annual budget of $5 million, must abide by the same rules as government agencies when it comes to access to its records. Court of Appeals Judge Frank G. Clement Jr. The case arose in 2012 after TSSAA refused to give The City Paper records related to an investigation into tuition for athletes at Montgomery Bell Academy, arguing it was not subject to the [...]