DALTON, Ga. — Members of the Dalton Board of Education on Tuesday defended their discussions during Monday night’s closed executive session, with Chairman Rick Fromm saying all discussions were covered by exemptions to the state’s Open Meetings Act. 

During the executive session that was closed to the public and media, board members and Superintendent Jim Hawkins discussed a timeline for transitioning to the next superintendent. Several scenarios relating to internal candidates were talked about as well as ways to implement the transition through the handing off of certain powers to a new superintendent during a specific time frame. After Hawkins left the session, one board member suggested Hawkins’ departure as early as June.

Hawkins said in an interview after Monday’s meeting that a smooth “transition of succession” would be crucial to Dalton Public Schools at all levels, but denied that he had any plans of not fulfilling his contract, which runs through December of 2018. Talk about Hawkins as a school employee and also as a “head of agency” could qualify as legitimate personnel discussion by the board members, and government agencies can close their meetings from the public for those types of discussions.

But the nearly two-hour executive session Monday night included discussions by board members of political fallout from raising taxes, the political timing of whether an announcement about the superintendent should be made before or after school board election qualifying and perception by the public about such a move.

None of those appear to fall under discussion of personnel or the acquisition of property or discussions with the board’s attorney on certain matters, which are valid reasons to close a public meeting under the Open Meetings Act. The board’s discussions also turned to budgetary matters, elimination of teaching positions, disabilities in learning and computers for all students. 

“Everything that I recall we talked about last night during the meeting had to do with a personnel matter or led to a conversation in relation to that personnel matter,” Fromm said on Tuesday. “What we talk about in the executive session is privileged and I review all of that beforehand with our attorney. In my opinion and the legal opinion of our attorney, everything fell under that purview.”

Minutes of the executive session must be kept, but Fromm said all that amounts to is who called for the vote to go into the executive session, who seconded it and what the vote of the body was. The head of the agency must sign an affidavit affirming that the reasons for the closed session fall under the exemptions provided in the Open Meetings Act. While agencies and boards are allowed to close discussions for specific reasons, there is no law saying they have to. 

Fromm admitted to being surprised to seeing a reporter sitting outside of the session on the third floor of City Hall. Usually when the school board holds an executive session it is in a conference room off the main lobby of the administrative offices of the school system. However, on Monday, a work session of the City Council was held in that room and the school board met in a back conference room. The meeting was clearly marked as required by law, and the session had already been closed when the reporter arrived. 

“It caught me a little bit by surprise that you were there,” Fromm said. “We didn’t know that anyone was there, and not that it would have mattered. But we need to be able to protect our privileged conversation and be able to have discussions as a board that are private, and in the future, whether it is moving down the hall, try not to be able to overhear. I am sure there are certain things where your eavesdropping might have been misunderstood or could have been misunderstood.”

Board member Tulley Johnson also took issue with a reporter being able to hear the conversations from the conference room, which is surrounded by glass on two sides and has excellent acoustics for anyone sitting outside.

“I was really surprised you printed (anything from the meeting),” Johnson said when contacted Tuesday. “A private meeting like that shouldn’t be reported on.”

Board member Steve Laird deferred to Fromm to make a comment for the board. Board member Pablo Perez did not return a message left at his medical practice, and calls to Sherwood Jones’ business and home numbers were unanswered.

Monday’s meeting was not the first time board members have had a lengthy meeting concerning Hawkins and the leadership of the system. In August of last year, the board members met for more than three hours and delivered a vote of confidence after months of contentious board meetings. Public clashes between Laird and Hawkins and public comments at meetings led to Laird to push for an executive session specifically to address Hawkins’ tenure in August. Some employees of the school system and members of the public rallied around Hawkins at a public meeting, and the three votes needed to push Hawkins out of the position never materialized. However, Hawkins’ contract has not been renewed since 2015. It had been customary for it to be renewed yearly. He has been superintendent since 2009.

Leading up to that executive session in August, confrontations between Fromm and Laird at public meetings had flared as well. After the closed session — again under the exemption of personnel — Fromm read a prepared statement that pledged the board members would work more collaboratively and since then the board members have presented a more unified front with respect to public comments. 

“I think that when we are able to and can comment on things, we have been very open to those who have questions,” Fromm said. “We are careful about keeping things as open as we can, but we can’t talk about things in executive session. As I am able to talk about things, I will present them as openly as we can.”

“We are going to hopefully move forward, and my admonishment through the board is we have a job to do and we need to be better at it,” he said. “We need to provide the leadership we are elected to do, and this next budget process is going to be pretty rough.”