Attorney general's office to review Cape task force issue

The question of whether budget-cutting task force meetings in the Cape Girardeau School District should have been open to the news media is headed to the attorney general's office for review.

At issue is a 109-member task force formed in October with the purpose of helping make $2.2 million worth of budget cuts.

Superintendent Mark Bowles, relying on advice from the district's attorney, Joe Russell, says the meetings were not subject to the state's Sunshine Law because the task force was created by him, not the school board.

However, Jean Maneke, a Kansas City lawyer who advises the Missouri Press Association on the Sunshine Law, contends that the meetings should have been open whether they were appointed by the superintendent on his own or with direction from the elected board members.

E-mails between Bowles and board members -- requested by the Southeast Missourian last week -- indicate the board was involved in forming the task force. Russell turned over the e-mails on Tuesday.

In some of the e-mails, board members offered editing suggestions for the task force PowerPoint presentation and aired concerns about how the budget-cutting process was being carried out. Bowles sent an e-mail Oct. 8 asking for recommendations for community members to serve on the task force.

Cape Girardeau County's prosecuting attorney, Morley Swingle, is in the process of requesting an opinion from Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon on the issue of whether the task force meetings should have been open.

"This opinion would have statewide importance, which is a valid reason for asking for it," Swingle said.

As prosecuting attorney, Swingle is charged with enforcing compliance with the Sunshine Law, which allows him to request the opinion. He said he'll submit information gathered by the district and the newspaper. There's no set date for a response, but the attorney general's office said such inquiries are a priority.

Although school board members can request an attorney general's opinion about the Sunshine Law, board president Sharon Mueller said members have not discussed that.

"The attorney general is just one attorney," Mueller said. "The way something is legally decided is in a court of law."

Bowles says he never asked board members for help forming or running the task force, but they gave their advice anyway in their e-mails.

"I'm guilty of keeping the board informed. I hated for them to be in the dark about that information," Bowles said.

Bowles and board members both said the board's recommendations were "cosmetic."

"Technically, sure, it is input. But it didn't change the content of the presentation," said board member Robert Brown.

The e-mails obtained by the newspaper included a request by Mueller to discuss the task force recommendations before the next school board meeting in groups of two so that any controversial issues could be addressed in private instead of an open meeting.

"What we do not want is for any of us to blindside the administration or Mark [Bowles] with questions at the December or January board meeting that make the process more uncomfortable than it already is," Mueller stated in the Nov. 11 e-mail.

Mueller said her intent was to cut down on the number of time-consuming questions board members might have on the issue. Other board members agreed that the suggestion in the e-mail isn't meant to deceive the public.

"I'm not going to say it's a common practice by any stretch of the imagination, and it's definitely not the way I want it," said Brown, who is in his first year on the board. "But it shouldn't be automatically construed that the board is trying to sneak around."

The task force completed its deliberations Nov. 13. Bowles will take its recommendations to the school board in December with a decision expected in January.

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128