Request By:
Irene P. Long
Attorney at Law
Bedford, Kentucky 40006
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General
You have requested an opinion of the Attorney General as to whether a closed session dealing with a disciplinary hearing about a particular student in a public school must be held in accordance with KRS 61.815, a part of the Kentucky Open Meetings Law. You state your belief that such hearings are exempt from the formalities of going into a closed session and the ncessity of taking final action in an open session according to the procedure set forth in KRS 61.815. We are in agreement with your position.
Two sections of the statute are involved in this question: KRS 61.810 and 61.815. KRS 61.810 reads in pertinent part as follows:
"All meetings of a quorum of the members of any public agency at which any public business is discussed or at which any action is taken by such agency, are declared to be public meetings, open to the public at all times, except for the following:
* * *
"(6) discussions or hearings which might lead to the appointment, discipline or dismissal of an individual employee, member or student without restricting that employee's, member's or student's right to a public hearing, if requested, provided that this exception is designed to protect the reputation of individual persons and shall not be interpreted to permit discussion of general personnel matters in secret. . . ."
The pertinent part of KRS 61.815 reads as follows:
"Except those public agencies excluded under KRS 61.810 . . . (6) but only so far as it relates to students . . . the following requirements shall be met as a condition for conducting closed sessions authorized by KRS 61.810:
"(1) Notice shall be given in regular open meeting of the general nature of the business to be discussed in closed session and the reason for the closed session;
"(2) Closed sessions may be held only after a motion is made and carried by a majority vote in open, public session;
"(3) No final action may be taken at a closed session;
"(4) No matters may be discussed at a closed session other than those publicly announced prior to convening the closed session. "
A reading of the above two quoted statutes together leads us to the conclusion that a disciplinary hearing involving a particular student may be held without following all of the formalities or going into a closed session. However, we think that KRS 61.815 has a bearing on such a hearing in at least two respects:
(1) If the hearing is held in connection with the regular or special meeting of the Board of Education, an announcement should be made in open meeting that the Board is going into closed session to discuss a personnel matter;
(2) No other matter should be discussed in the closed session except the personnel matter involved.
We do not believe that the Board must be more specific in its announcement as to the purpose of the closed session. Nor do we believe that the Board must take final action in an open session. The Board may, however, announce the action it has decided in a closed session if it sees fit to do so.
It should be kept in mind that the purpose of exempting disciplinary hearings from the Open Meetings requirement is to protect the reputation of individual persons, in this case the student or students involved. If a disciplinary hearing is concluded without deciding on any formal penalty such as suspension or expulsion, it is not necessary to make any announcement at the end of the hearing. If the Board feels it is in the interest of the school to make an announcement that a penalty has been assessed against a named student, it may do so but it is not required to do so.
In summary, disciplinary hearings before boards of education are generally exempt from the provisions of KRS 61.815 as to going into and coming out of a closed session.