Why is the Davis School District Fighting Open Government?

Time extended in Davis dispute

District still fighting accusations about open meetings law
By Tiffany Erickson
Deseret Morning News

FARMINGTON — A 2nd District Court judge has granted Davis School District more time to make its case against accusations that the district violated open meetings law in closing Boundary Advisory Committee meetings.

The hearing will now be in March, which will be well after new boundary lines are drawn in the district.

But prosecutors say it still is an important issue because the district's policy needs to be changed.

Last month the judge issued a temporary restraining order against the district forbidding leaders to continue their research or make any decisions based on the work performed by the boundary committee since the meetings were held behind closed doors.

But district leaders argue that since the committee was not a public body it was not subject to the state's open meetings law.

The judge was to make a decision this week whether the injunction would be permanent, but district lawyers want more time to examine how other public organizations in the state work and what their practices are in regard to advisory committees.

Randall Edwards, attorney for the Davis parents who filed suit, said he opposed the motion.

"All the evidence that we need to make a decision has already been produced — the only evidence that is relevant is whether they violated the open meetings law. One, did they have a meeting? and two, was it closed?" Edwards said.

He said the district just wants to look at who else is disobeying the law and if that is found to be so, their attitude would be, "then we need to be able to get away with it too," Edwards said.

"There is not a teacher in the district that would accept that excuse from a student. ... I can't imagine that the court is going to find that very convincing," Edwards said.

Nonetheless, the judge's decision in March will be moot when it comes to the district establishing new boundaries.

After the temporary restraining order was filed, the district opted to start from scratch, hiring former Davis superintendent Darrell White as a consultant to create a new boundary proposal.

District officials said they need to have new boundaries established as soon as possible so they can move forward with preparations for the new high school in Syracuse.

New lines need to be drawn to balance enrollment and create a student body for the new school.

District high schools will need to have preliminary enrollment numbers by January to plan for next school year.