State board sides with FCPS, says book review meetings can be closed to public
Feb. 13—A state review board on Monday ruled that Frederick County Public Schools' plan to hold closed meetings to determine the fate of 35 challenged library books did not violate Maryland's Open Meetings Act.
The review came after a complaint filed in December by The Frederick News-Post, which argued the meetings should be open to the public.
FCPS' book reconsideration committee will consist of about 60 people, including parents, students, teachers and community experts. They will read the 35 books and decide whether they should be allowed to remain on school library shelves across the district.
In its ruling on Monday, the Open Meeting Acts Compliance Board wrote that the committee did not fit the legal definition of a public body and was not subject to the Open Meetings Act.
The compliance board is an independent state entity whose three members are appointed by the governor. It is an advisory body charged with interpreting Maryland's open meetings laws.
Its members agreed with FCPS' analysis of the book review matter, which emphasized the separation between the school district and the Frederick County Board of Education.
The Frederick County Board of Education policy that speaks to book reviews says only that they may be requested by county residents and that the regulations governing them are to be "established by the superintendent."
FCPS, on the other hand, has a regulation that outlines what must happen with a request from a resident to remove books already in use. It says the deputy superintendent will determine whether to form a review committee.
If the school board's policy required FCPS to form a reconsideration committee in such circumstances, the compliance board's calculation would have been different, according to the opinion issued Monday.
That's what happened in a 2010 case, in which the compliance board ruled that a Baltimore County Public Schools redistricting committee was a public body because the Baltimore County Board of Education had a policy which "clearly required" that the district's superintendent create it.
Former Board of Education candidate Cindy Rose spurred the Frederick County book review process in October, when she filed a complaint alleging the books contained inappropriate material.
The committee's first meeting is scheduled for March 2.
Follow Jillian Atelsek on Twitter: @jillian_atelsek
