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inside COURTS The lawsuit between Russell Joki and the West Ada School District over student fees continued this week with hearings at the Ada County Courthouse.
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Holly Beech/MP
West Ada school board trustees (from left) Julie Madsen, Chairwoman Tina Dean and Carol Sayles at the Sept. 29 special board meeting.
LOCAL State representatives at the grand opening for the new anatomy and physiology labs at Idaho State University-Meridian said Idaho on its way toward having its own medical school.
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WEST ADA BOARD VOIDS CLARK’S CONTRACT EXTENSION Decision fuels public cry to recall board members at school district meeting
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SCHOOLS Attorney Breck Seiniger, recently appointed as the West Ada School District’s general counsel, said his 40 years in law have prepared him for this task.
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ON THE TOWN The 8 in 48 short-play festival debuted Saturday in Meridian. Though not raising as much money as hoped for a future performing arts venue, the event fueled the conversation about Meridian’s so-called lack of venues.
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SCHOOLS Meridian students at The Ambrose School prepared enough soup packages for 60,000 meals to feed those struggling with food insecurity in the Treasure Valley.
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$1.00 C M Y K
est Ada School District patrons are gearing up to recall school board members after an emotional meeting Tuesday, when trustees voided the third year of Superintendent Linda Clark’s contract. After the meeting, Christine Donnell, the district’s former superintendent, urged the crowd to Linda Clark join her in a recall effort. West Ada by Holly Beech “There’s a few of us superintendent hbeech@mymeridianpress.com that have been talking © 2015 MERIDIAN PRESS as we’ve watched what’s happened in the last few weeks, and it’s a travesty. … This board needs to be recalled,” she said, drawing cheers from the crowd. She told the Meridian Press that the group has not yet decided which board members it wishes to recall. Clark declined to comment on the proceedings Tuesday night. Trustees held the special meeting Tuesday to discuss whether or not the previous board violated the open meeting law when it extended Clark’s contract on June 23. The contract discussion wasn’t on the June 23 agenda, and the board didn’t vote to add it to the agenda during the meeting. Trustee Julie Madsen, who joined the board July 7, made a motion on Sept. 15 that the board self-recognize the violation and take steps to cure it — which was the purpose of Tuesday’s meeting. The law gives agencies 14 days to cure violations once recognized. As the crowd waited Tuesday, trustees held a two-hour executive session with attorney Breck Seiniger, whom the board appointed as the district’s general counsel on Sept. 15. Clark did not participate in the executive session. Many prominent leaders were present at the meeting, including State Sen. Chuck Winder, Meridian’s mayor and city councilmen and Meridian Chamber of Commerce officials. As trustees left the room for executive session, Winder publicly objected. “This is an issue that the public needs to have an open hearing on,” Winder later told Meridian Press. “I don’t think it’s truly a personnel matter. I think it’s an agenda that the board has to try to figure out a way to embarrass the current superintendent. And I think they’re way out of bounds.” Much of the crowd waited for two hours. When the open meeting began, Seiniger said his conclusion was that the board had violated the open meeting law on June 23, and he advised the board to take action to cure it. The law states that any action that fails to comply with the open meeting law is null and void (statute 74-208). “So it doesn’t give (the board members) a bunch of options,” Seiniger said. “It says if you haven’t met this, you have to declare it void and start again. … The cure doesn’t have anything to do with the contents of the contract. It doesn’t prohibit Dr. Clark from submitting that contract or any other contract for re-approval. But the board has to follow the law.” The board proceeded to vote 4-1 to void Clark’s contract extension, with Trustee Mike Vuittonet the sole objector. Vuittonet is the only current board member who supported Clark’s contract extension on June 23. Clark’s contract is still in place through 2017. The board’s actions Tuesday only void-
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There’s a few of us that have been talking as we’ve watched what’s happened in the last few weeks, and it’s a travesty. … This board needs to be recalled.” CHRISTINE DONNELL, district’s former superintendent
ed the third year of the contract, which is through 2018. After the vote, crowd members were eager to speak in front of the board. But chairwoman Tina Dean declined to open the floor for comment. The board could have voted to add public comment to the agenda — something Meridian City Councilman Joe Borton stood up and urged them to do — but Dean said she was worried people would venture into other topics, such as personnel matters. “You’ve got a full room of citizens who would like that opportunity, who waited here several hours,” Borton said. Winder spoke out a second time. “It would be my contention that you’re actually violating the open meeting law tonight,” he said. When trustees convened for the second executive session of the night, scoffs and groans rose from the crowd. “I can’t believe it,” one woman cried out. “You’re not listening to your people.”
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AN EDITION OF THE IDAHO PRESS-TRIBUNE // MYMERIDIANPRESS.COM // 10.02 .15