the Open Meetings Act - Your greatest threat

The APS School Board attended some training recently.

One of the break out sessions was called;
the Open Meetings Act - Your Greatest Threat.

My hackles rose when I read the title because my experience
with the leadership of the APS is one of callous and arrogant
disregard for all Open Government law.

I assumed that the title implied that the Open Meetings Act
represented a threat to how the board would do business if
there were no law.

I didn't miss by much.

There was a slide included in the Power Point presentation;

Who will use it against you?

• the Foundation for Open Government
• Newspapers
• the Attorney General
• Committees seeking recall

Is the law really used against anyone;
except someone who is breaking the law, or
who intends to break the law?

In different circumstances the slide would have read;

Open Meetings Act Resources

• the Foundation for Open Government
• the Attorney General

But it didn't, and
I feel like my initial concern has been validated.


The APS Board of Education regards Open Government laws
as a threat.

They are a threat because
the APS Board of Education has no real interest at all
in open government, or in ensuring that stakeholders know
the truth about their power, their resources, and their
public servants.