Akron teachers' union lawsuit accuses school board of public meeting violations

The Akron teachers' union is suing the Akron Public Schools Board of Education, accusing it of violating Ohio public meeting laws at its Jan. 8 meeting.

The Akron Education Association filed the lawsuit on Monday against the board and its individual board members, as well as the Akron Public Schools superintendent. The suit aims to void a state-funded contract approved at the meeting between APS and Varsity Tutors for Schools.

Represented by attorney Don Malarcik, the union alleged that the board edited out a 40-second exchange between two board members and improperly used an executive session to discuss the contract.

Monday meeting: Akron school board goes forward with Varsity Tutors contract despite union opposition

It also claimed the board did not hold a public discussion before voting on the contract and has not fulfilled multiple public record requests.

This comes as the union opposes the $156,000 contract with Varsity Tutors that would allow for 2,400 one-on-one 60-minute tutoring sessions for fourth graders who did not get a promotion score on the third grade Ohio State Test.

Akron Public Schools spokesman Mark Williamson declined to comment Tuesday on the lawsuit.

Injunction over executive session

The board moved into a 40-minute executive session during the Jan. 8 meeting to discuss the contract, citing it as a personnel matter.

The lawsuit argues a personnel matter was not sufficient grounds to discuss the contract, stating a contract with a third-party company is not personnel.

What happened to missing 40 seconds from an Akron school board meeting video?

Streamed live on YouTube, the Jan. 8 meeting had no buffers or glitches until the 2 hour, 11 minute and 20-second mark when the video cuts twice — first for less than one second and again for 40 seconds.

Both occurred while board member Rene Molenaur expressed her concern about voting on the contract.

Molenaur told the board Monday what happened in those missing seconds.

Edit or glitch?: Akron Public Schools says 'buffering' glitch cut out 40-second exchange in public meeting

She spoke about the contract vote before fellow board member Barbara Sykes objected and called a point of order. No response was made to the point of order, Molenaur said.

At Monday's meeting, Sykes said she called the point of order out of concern that Molenaur was about to discuss information from the executive session.

In the AEA lawsuit, the union claims Sykes stood up and told Molenaur she was out of order. This prevented her "from making a complete public record of her concerns."

The lawsuit further alleges that the lack of public discussion before voting on the agreement violated Ohio law.

Public records requests

The AEA requested a complete video copy of the Jan. 8 board meeting with a list of any edits made to the video.

According to court documents, the school district replied that there were "no responsive documents to this request because no portion of the video of the January 8, 2024 Board meeting was edited."

In the lawsuit, the union claims APS violated the Ohio Public Records Act by not providing copies of the video.

Akron Public Schools has denied that the video was edited.

"It's a live video signal; we have no control over it," Williamson, the district spokesman, told the Akron Beacon Journal. "To suggest that anyone was manipulating it in any way is absolutely absurd."

The union also said APS had not fulfilled requests to provide any agreements or contracts between the district and Varsity Tutors or related contracts with other entities, including the Ohio Department of Education.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Union sues Akron school board, alleges public meeting violations