Sweet Home School Board members participated in a three-hour training workshop prior to their Sept. 8 board meeting on board governance, public meetings and ethics.
Also participating were some district administrators and three applicants for an open board seat, Matthew Bechtel, Mindy Cummings and Chris Hiaasen; Hiaasen was later selected to fill the seat vacated by the resignation of Erin Barstad.
The training session was presented by Jenn Nelson, a board development specialist for the Oregon School Boards Association.
Nelson worked in both education and city government before joining OSBA, according to her LinkedIn page.
The work session was a response by the board to allegations of illegal meetings and other malfeasance included in multiple grievances filed with the district.
It also fulfilled training for new School Board members that is required by state law.
Nelson provided detailed explanations of terminology and intent of state laws governing public meetings and board member conduct.
She detailed what the law says constitutes a public meeting, how it can legally be noticed to the public, what constitutes an executive (closed) session and how it needs to be conducted, and other topics pertaining to conducting board meetings. Also, the session addressed grievance and complaint procedures related to public meeting violations.