Adopted: MSBA/MASA Model Policy 206
Revised: Rev. 2022
206 PUBLIC
PARTICIPATION IN SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS/COMPLAINTS ABOUT PERSONS AT SCHOOL BOARD
MEETINGS AND DATA PRIVACY CONSIDERATIONS
I. PURPOSE
A. The school
board recognizes the value of participation by the public in deliberations and
decisions on school district matters. At
the same time, the school board recognizes the importance of conducting orderly
and efficient proceedings, with opportunity for expression of all participants’
respective views.
B. The purpose
of this policy is to provide procedures to assure open and orderly public
discussion as well as to protect the due process and privacy rights of
individuals under the law.
II. GENERAL
STATEMENT OF POLICY
A. The policy
of the school board is to encourage discussion by persons of subjects related
to the management of the school district at school board meetings. The school board may adopt reasonable time,
place, and manner restrictions on public expression in order to facilitate free
discussion by all interested parties.
B. The school
board shall, as a matter of policy, protect the legal rights to privacy and due
process of employees and students.
III. DEFINITIONS
A. “Personnel
data” means government data on individuals maintained because the individual is
or was an employee or applicant for employment.
For purposes of this policy, “employee” includes a volunteer or an
independent contractor.
B. Personnel data
on current and former employees that is “public” includes:
Name; employee identification number, which must not be the employee’s social security
number; actual gross salary; salary range; terms and conditions of employment
relationship; contract fees; actual gross pension; the value and nature of
employer paid fringe benefits; the basis for and the amount of any added
remuneration, including expense reimbursement, in addition to salary;
bargaining unit; job title; job description; education and training background;
previous work experience; date of first and last employment; the existence and
status of any complaints or charges against the employee, regardless of whether
the complaint or charge resulted in a disciplinary action; the final disposition
of any disciplinary action as
defined in Minn. Stat. § 13.43, Subd. 2(b), together with the specific
reasons for the action and data documenting the basis of the action, excluding
data that would identify confidential sources who are employees of the public
body; the complete terms of any agreement settling any dispute arising out of
the employment relationship, including a buyout agreement as defined in Minn.
Stat. § 123B.143, Subd. 2, except that the agreement must include specific
reasons for the agreement if it involves the payment of more than $10,000 of
public money; work location; work telephone number; badge number; work-related
continuing education; honors and awards received; and payroll time sheets or
other comparable data that are only used to account for employee’s work time
for payroll purposes, except to the extent that release of time sheet data
would reveal the employee’s reasons for the use of sick or other medical leave
or other not public data.
C. Personnel
data on current and former applicants for employment that is “public” includes:
Veteran status; relevant test scores; rank on eligible list;
job history; education and training; and work availability. Names of applicants shall be private data
except when certified as eligible for appointment to a vacancy or when
applicants are considered by the appointing authority to be finalists for a
position in public employment. For purposes
of this subdivision, “finalist” means an individual who is selected to be
interviewed by the appointing authority prior to selection.
D. “Educational
data” means data maintained by the school district which relates to a student.
E. “Student”
means an individual currently or formerly enrolled or registered in the school
district, or applicants for enrollment, or individuals who receive shared time
services.
F. Data about
applicants for appointments to a public body, including a school board,
collected by the school district as a result of the applicant’s application for
appointment to the public body are private data on individuals, except that the
following are public: name; city of
residence, except where the appointment has a residency requirement that
requires the entire address to be public; education and training; employment
history; volunteer work; awards and honors; prior government service; any data required to be provided or
that is voluntarily provided in an application to a multimember agency pursuant
to Minn. Stat. §
15.0597; and veteran status. Once
an individual has been appointed to a public body, the following additional
items of data are public: residential
address; either a telephone number or electronic mail address where the
appointee can be reached, or both at the request of the appointee; the first
and last dates of service on the public body; the existence and status of any
complaints or charges against an appointee; and, upon completion of an
investigation of a complaint or charge against an appointee, the final
investigative report unless access to the data would jeopardize an active
investigation. Any electronic mail address or telephone number provided by a
public body for use by an appointee shall be public. An appointee may use an electronic mail
address or telephone number provided by the public body as the designated
electronic mail address or telephone number at which the appointee can be
reached.
IV. RIGHTS TO
PRIVACY
A. School
district employees have a legal right to privacy related to matters which may
come before the school board, including, but not limited to, the following:
1. right to a
private hearing for teachers, pursuant to Minn. Stat. § 122A.40, Subd. 14
(Teachers Discharge Hearing);
2. right to
privacy of personnel data as provided by Minn. Stat. § 13.43 (Personnel Data);
3. right to
consideration by the school board of certain data treated as not public as
provided in Minn. Stat. § 13D.05 (Not Public Data);
4. right to a
private hearing for licensed or nonlicensed head varsity coaches to discuss
reasons for nonrenewal of a coaching contract pursuant to Minn. Stat. §
122A.33, Subd. 3.
B. School
district students have a legal right to privacy related to matters which may
come before the school board, including, but not limited to, the following:
1. right to a
private hearing, Minn. Stat. § 121A.47, Subd. 5 (Student Dismissal Hearing);
2. right to
privacy of educational data, Minn. Stat. § 13.32 (Educational Data); 20 U.S.C.
§ 1232g (FERPA);
3. right to
privacy of complaints as provided by child abuse reporting and discrimination
laws, Minn. Stat. Ch. 260E (Reporting of Maltreatment of Minors) and Minn.
Stat. Ch. 363A (Minnesota Human Rights Act).
V. THE PUBLIC’S
OPPORTUNITY TO BE HEARD
The school board will strive to give all persons an
opportunity to be heard and to have complaints considered and evaluated, within
the limits of the law and this policy and subject to reasonable time, place,
and manner restrictions. Among the
rights available to the public is the right to access public data as provided
by Minn. Stat. § 13.43, Subd. 2 (Public Data).
VI. PROCEDURES
A. Agenda
Items
1. Persons who
wish to have a subject discussed at a public school board meeting are
encouraged to notify the superintendent’s office in advance of the school board
meeting. The person should provide his
or her name, the name of group represented (if any), and the subject to be
covered or the issue to be addressed.
2. Persons who
wish to address the school board on a particular subject should identify the
subject and identify agenda item(s) to which their comments pertain.
3. The school
board chair will recognize one speaker at a time and will rule out of order
other speakers who are not recognized.
Only those speakers recognized by the chair will be allowed to
speak. Comments by others are out of
order. Individuals who interfere with or
interrupt speakers, the school board, or the proceedings may be directed to
leave.
4. The school
board retains the discretion to limit discussion of any agenda item to a
reasonable period of time as determined by the school board. If a group or organization wishes to address
the school board on a topic, the school board reserves the right to require
designation of one or more representatives or spokespersons to speak on behalf
of the group or organization.
5. Matters
proposed for placement on the agenda which may involve data privacy concerns,
which may involve preliminary allegations, or which may be potentially libelous
or slanderous in nature shall not be considered in public, but shall be
processed as determined by the school board in accordance with governing law.
6. The school
board chair shall promptly rule out of order any discussion by any person,
including school board members, that would violate the provisions of state or
federal law, this policy or the statutory rights of privacy of an individual.
7. Personal
attacks by anyone addressing the school board are unacceptable. Persistence in
such remarks by an individual shall terminate that person’s privilege to
address the school board.
8. Depending
upon the number of persons in attendance seeking to be heard, the school board
reserves the right to impose such other limitations and restrictions as
necessary in order to provide an orderly, efficient, and fair opportunity for
those present to be heard.
B. Complaints
1. Routine
complaints about a teacher or other employee should first be directed to that
teacher or employee or to the employee’s immediate supervisor.
2. If the
complaint is against an employee relating to child abuse, discrimination,
racial, religious, or sexual harassment, or other activities involving an
intimidating atmosphere, the complaint should be directed to the employee’s
supervisor or other official as designated in the school district policy
governing that kind of complaint. In the
absence of a designated person, the matter should be referred to the
superintendent.
3. Unresolved
complaints from Paragraph 1. of this section or problems concerning the school
district should be directed to the superintendent’s office.
4. Complaints
which are unresolved at the superintendent’s level may be brought before the
school board by notifying the school board in writing.
C. Open
Forum
The school board shall normally provide a specified period
of time when persons may address the school board on any topic, subject to the
limitations of this policy. The school
board reserves the right to allocate a specific period of time for this purpose
and limit time for speakers accordingly.
The school board may decide to hold certain types of public
meetings where the public will not be invited to address the school board. Possible examples are work sessions and board
retreats. The public will still be
entitled to notice of these meetings and will be allowed to attend these
meetings, but the public will not be allotted time during the meeting to
address the board.
D. No Board
Action at Same Meeting
Except as determined by the school board to be necessary or
in an emergency, the school board will not take action at the same meeting on
an item raised for the first time by the public.
VII. PENALTIES FOR
VIOLATION OF DATA PRIVACY
A. The school
district is liable for damages, costs and attorneys’ fees, and, in the event of
a willful violation, punitive damages for violation of state data privacy
laws. (Minn. Stat. § 13.08, Subd. 1)
B. A person who
willfully violates data privacy or whose conduct constitutes the knowing
unauthorized acquisition of not public data is guilty of a misdemeanor. (Minn. Stat. § 13.09)
C. In the case
of an employee, willful violation of the Minnesota data practices law, Chapter 13,
and any rules adopted thereunder, including any action subject to a criminal
penalty, constitutes just cause for suspension without pay or dismissal. (Minn. Stat. § 13.09)
Legal References: Minn. Stat. Ch. 13 (Minnesota Government
Data Practices Act)
Minn. Stat. § 13.43 (Personnel Data)
Minn. Stat. § 13.601, Subd. 3 (Applicants for Appointment)
Minn. Stat. § 13D.05 (Meetings Having Data Classified as
Public)
Minn. Stat. § 121A.47, Subd. 5 (Exclusion and Expulsion
Procedures; Closed or Open Meeting)
Minn. Stat. § 122A.33, Subd. 3 (License and Degree Exemption
for Head Coach; Notice of Nonrenewal; Opportunity to Respond)
Minn. Stat. § 122A.40, Subd. 14 (Employment; Contracts;
Termination; Hearing Procedures
Minn. Stat. § 122A.44 (Contracting with Teachers; Substitute
Teachers)
Minn. Stat. § 123B.02, Subd. 14 (General Powers of
Independent School Districts; Employees; Contracts for Services)
Minn. Stat. § 123B.143, Subd. 2 (Superintendents; Disclose
Past Buyouts or Contract is Void)
Minn. Stat. Ch. 363A (Minnesota Human Rights Act)
Minn. Stat. Ch. 260E (Reporting of Maltreatment of Minors)
20 U.S.C. § 1232g (Family Educational Rights and Privacy
Act)
Minn. Op. Atty. Gen. 852 (July 14, 2006)
Cross References: MSBA/MASA Model Policy 205 (Open Meetings
and Closed Meetings)
MSBA/MASA Model Policy 207 (Public Hearings)
MSBA/MASA Model Policy 406 (Public and Private Personnel
Data)
MSBA/MASA Model Policy 515 (Protection and Privacy of Pupil
Records)
MSBA School Law Bulletin “C” (Minnesota’s Open Meeting Law)
MSBA School Law Bulletin “I” (School Records – Privacy –
Access to Data)