Remote Grove City school board meeting could be illegal

Monica Pryts, The Herald, Sharon, Pa.
·2 min read

Aug. 4—GROVE CITY — The Grove City Area School Board's next meeting will be accessible to the public by remote access only in a decision that may violate the state's Open Meetings law.

On Monday, the board held its first in-person public meeting in more than a year, after the COVID-19 pandemic forced most public entities to online-only meetings. But public access to the district's public sessions will be short-lived.

Board members said they decided to make the Aug 9 session virtual because of parking lot construction at the high school, where the district's main offices and board conference room are located.

Superintendent Dr. Jeffrey Finch said school officials said they did not want to force district residents to park far from the meeting room and walk through the construction site.

District officials expect to resume in-person meetings for all attendees in September, Finch said.

But the parking lot construction is not sufficient justification to keep taxpayers out of a public meeting, even if a remote viewing option is available, said Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel with the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association. She said the board could have considered moving the meeting location if public access was a problem at the normal meeting space.

"It's clearly not an emergency situation," she said of the construction.

Melewsky said virtual meetings are a good supplement but can't replace in-person meetings unless there are extraordinary circumstances. and with the first day of school coming up at the end of the month, the public may be more likely to want to attend meetings in-person.

This would not be the first time in the last two years that Grove City school board adopted a policy that skirted a gray area in state open records law. In January of 2020, the board changed its meeting procedure to have its committees meet simultaneously, around the board meeting room.

The action left residents unable to easily see and hear discussions during the committee meetings, which are used to set the agenda for voting meetings.

At the time, Melewsky said the Grove City school board's committee meeting procedure also was a violation of the Open Meetings Law.

When asked whether the board would consider moving the meeting to another school building, School Board President Douglas Gerwick said he would have to consult with Andrew Evankovich, the district's solicitor.