Generally, board meetings will be open meetings, unless a closed session is provided for by law.
Closed sessions take place as part of an open meeting. The board may enter into a closed session for any reason permitted by law.
The item for discussion in the closed session will be listed as part of the tentative agenda on the public notice with the full text of the Iowa Code citation reference stated on the agenda. The motion for a closed session, stating the purpose for the closed session, will be made and seconded during the open meeting. A minimum of two-thirds of the board, or all of the board members present, if any are absent, must vote in favor of the motion on a roll call vote. Closed sessions will be recorded and have detailed minutes kept by the board secretary. No voting will take place in the closed session. Final action on matters discussed in the closed session will be taken in an open meeting.
The minutes and recording will restate the motion made in the open meeting, the roll call vote, the members present, and the time the closed session began and ended. The recordings and the written minutes will be kept for one year from the date of the meeting. Real estate related minutes and recordings will be made public after the real estate transaction is completed.
The detailed minutes recording will be sealed and will not be public records open to public inspection. The minutes recording will only be available to board members or opened upon court or administrative order in an action to enforce the requirements of the open meetings law. The board has complete discretion as to whom may be present at a closed session, but generally closed sessions will be limited to the board, a recording secretary and the superintendent if indicated. The board has discretion to nominate the board secretary or any board member to serve as recording secretary for the closed session.
Legal Reference:
Iowa Code §§ 20.17; 21; 22.7; 279.15, .16, .24
1982 Op. Att’yGen 162.
1980 Op. Att'y Gen. 167.
1976 Op. Att'y Gen. 384, 514, 765.
1972 Op. Att'y Gen. 158.
1970 Op. Att'y Gen. 287.
Cross Reference:
208 Ad Hoc Committees
211 Open Meetings
Approved July 1999
Reviewed August 2023
Revised
Board meetings at which a quorum is not present, or gatherings of the board for purely ministerial or social purposes when there is no discussion of policy or no intent to avoid the purposes of the open meetings law, are exempt from the open meetings law requirements. Since gatherings of this type are exempt from the open meetings requirements, they can be held without public notice, be separate from an open meeting, be held without recording the gathering or taking minutes, and be held without a vote or motion. The board may also hold an exempt session for the following reasons, or as may be otherwise authorized by law:
1. Negotiating sessions, strategy meetings of public employers or employee organizations, mediation and the deliberative process of arbitration;
2. to discuss strategy in matters relating to employment conditions of employees not covered by the collective bargaining law;
3. to conduct a private hearing relating to the recommended termination of a teacher's contract. The private hearing however, in the teacher's contract termination will be recorded verbatim by a court reporter; and
4. to conduct a private hearing relating to the termination of a probationary administrator's contract or to review the proposed decision of the administrative law judge regarding the termination of an administrator's contract.
Legal Reference: Iowa Code §§ 20.17; 21; 22.7; 279.15, .16.
Cross Reference: 208 Ad Hoc Committees
211 Open Meetings
212 Closed Sessions