Two months after the School Board held a special meeting to discuss paying off now-departed Superintendent Mark Rendell, the Sheriff’s Office continued to investigate whether the session was lawfully called and scheduled.
The investigation is “still active,” Sheriff’s Office spokesman Maj. Eric Flowers said Monday.
But unless detectives uncover evidence that School Board members or staffers intentionally violated the state’s Sunshine Law, it’s unlikely anyone will be prosecuted.
According to State Attorney Bruce Colton, the Florida statutes governing school board special meetings – including how such sessions are called, the public notice required to schedule them and the recording of minutes – provide no real consequences for violators.
“The statute that covers how special meetings are called and how minutes are recorded carry no criminal or civil penalties,” Colton said. “Even if you violate the statute, it’s not considered a criminal violation or even a civil infraction.”
Colton said there are penalties for Sunshine Law violations, which can result in a second-degree misdemeanor charge or civil infraction, depending upon whether the act was intentional.
However, Colton said those cases usually involve public officials refusing to provide records deemed public under Florida law.
Complicating the situation involving the School Board’s scheduling of its April 16 special meeting here is a conflict between the statute, which requires that two days’ advanced notice be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, and Florida’s “Government in the Sunshine” manual, which requires only that “reasonable notice” be given.
“There’s no specific time period given,” Colton said. “As for what is ‘reasonable notice,’ that is left to interpretation by the state’s Attorney General or an appellate court.
“You might find it interesting, though, that the Attorney General recommends seven days’ notice.”
As for whether the School Board’s special meeting was unlawfully called – the statute allows such sessions to be called by only the board chairman, superintendent or a majority of the board members – Colton said there’s little his office can do.
During that April 16 meeting, allegedly called by a majority of the board at the behest of Vice Chairman Tiffany Justice, three of the five board members said publicly they did not call the special session.
Since then, the School Board has refused to provide to Vero Beach 32963 and Vero News a detailed, step-by-step explanation of how the meeting was called and scheduled.
Last month, the board unanimously approved the April 16 special meeting’s minutes, which falsely stated the meeting had been called by a majority of the board. The minutes also were amended to remove the names of the three members credited with calling the meeting: Justice, Teri Barenborg and Jackie Rosario.
“What’s ironic,” Colton said, “is that the superintendent could’ve called the special meeting by himself.”
The School Board took no significant action at the April 16 meeting. If it had, though, Colton said it would have been up to the public to rectify the matter by filing a lawsuit against the board.
Several county residents filed complaints with the Florida Department of Education Inspector General’s Office, which reviewed them and decided not to investigate further.
Instead, the complaints were forwarded to School Board Chairman Laura Zorc “for review and action deemed appropriate.”
Although the minutes have been approved, Zorc said the controversy stirred by the circumstances surrounding the meeting still bothers her, because she wants the board to be transparent in how it conducts business.
