The Indiana Publisher

William Skipworth Times NWI CROWN POINT — Indiana's top authority on public access laws has determined that the Crown Point School Board has violated the state's Open Door Law. Like city councils or any other public governing board, Indiana school boards are subject to the state's Open Door Law, which dictates how boards must conduct meetings to be transparent and open to the public. The law requires boards to have open discussion on all its business with the exception of items on the consent agenda, which can be voted on altogether without discussion. The consent agenda is designed as a practical matter as the board doesn't need to discuss every item individually in the schools' day-to-day operations, but the Open Door Law has limitations on what can be placed on the consent agenda. During it's Dec. 12 meeting, the school board adopted a series of new courses and transferred money to its rainy day fund. However, it did so in its consent agenda. After receiving a complaint from a Crown Point parent, Indiana Public Access Counselor Luke Britt determined the board violated the Open Door Law by voting on those items in the consent agenda rather than discuss- ing them and voting on them individ- ually, according to an opinion he issued March 10.. As public access counselor, Britt's job is to issue advice and opinions on Indiana's public access laws. Although that advice and opinion is nonbinding, it's seen as authoritative and can be used in a court of law. In the opinion, Britt explained that transferring money to the rainy day fund amounts to financial appropriation, similar to adopting a budget, and thus amounts to substantive action, which cannot be dealt with in the consent agenda. "While schools do have some latitude in transferring money out of a rainy day fund to education or operations, the incoming money appears to have more strings attached," he wrote. "The process is not as casual as the Board implies." As for the course adoptions, Britt said this is one of the most substan- tive matters a school board deals with. "Whether justified or not, it would be difficult to cite an example of a school board's activities that are more scrutinized in today's zeitgeist than curriculum," he continued. "Setting aside public relations considerations, adoption of a course addition without any reference to subject matter is inappropriate for a consent agenda; it is a matter of substance — hardly routine — that warrants at least cursory discussion." When the Times reached out to the district, it issued the following statemnt: "We received an advisory opinion from Public Access Counselor Luke Britt that two items we typically include in the routine consent agenda of our board meetings (transfer to rainy day fund and course approvals) would be better placed under action items," Board President Scott Angel said. "We thank Mr. Britt for his opinion, and have no issue moving forward with his recommendation that these become action items in the future. Our goal is to keep families informed, which is why more information was added to the board meeting recap on our website and was provided to the NWI Times in December. Parents and community members can find more information about the board meetings on our website and can watch a livestream of the meetings on our YouTube channel." In addition to the December meeting, the complaint which prompted this opinion references a Nov. 28 meeting where the board voted to provide Superintendent Todd Terrill with permission to act in regard to a cyber security breach the district dealt with. Britt said that "the same is true" for this action as the previous two. The board wants more information on that. "We have asked Mr. Britt for clarification regarding an item from our November board meeting," Angel continued. "His opinion noted that a resolution should not be added to the consent agenda. However, the resolution in question from November was indeed an action item that the board publicly discussed before voting. We look forward to his clarification on the matter." March 2023 Page 7 PAC: Crown Point School Board violated Open Door Law Shown is the Crown Point Community Corp. School Administrative Service Center at 200 E. North St., Crown Point. Mary Freda/The Times The National Newspaper Association on March 15 requested changes in the Postal Service's plan to eliminate hard-copy Periodicals mailing statements (Form 3541) on Jan. 21, 2024. The Postal Service in February published its intention to accept only electronic documents. The change will require publishers who have previously brought their mailing statements in hard copy to local post offices to instead invest in a new process. Options for publishers are to purchase certified mailing software. Or they can learn to use a free online application offered by USPS that provides publishers less flexibility in their use of the mail and can some- times cause the loss of mailer discounts. NNA has previously advised USPS that the conversion will be disruptive to small newspapers. In its comments to USPS, NNA recommended three major changes in the USPS plan: USPS should extend the deadline to January 2025, to allow publishers more time to decide on software investments and learn new systems. USPS should require postmasters to hold in-person meetings with affected publishers no later than 180 days before discontinuing the hard-copy acceptance. USPS should continue to accept and move newspaper mail, even after the hard-copy deadline, while working with publishers to accept a digital postage statement. The NNA noted that most NNA newspapers that stay abreast of postal developments have already made this conversion. For those not yet in digital compliance, USPS has a better way to encourage the transition. "Publishers using Full-Service barcodes and electronic submission are eligible to receive scans of individual mail pieces as mail travels through the network," NNA Chair John Galer, "but we don't get the data because USPS is not scanning our mail. Giving us real-time information so we can protect against subscriber loss would give every publisher an ample incentive to get into digital filing. Using a carrot rather than a stick would bring along more publishers with a lot better sense of trust than clobbering smaller newspapers with a change in the rules." NNA pushes back on ending hard-copy postage statements

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