School Attorney Rejects Legal Clinic Request For Live Streaming

The attorney for Oconee County Schools has rejected the request made by representatives of the University of Georgia School of Law First Amendment Clinic that it live stream Board of Education meetings and provide access to those meetings for individuals who wish to attend virtually.

Phillip L. Hartley, a Gainesville attorney, said that the Georgia Open Meetings Act does not require “virtual transmission” of a “live meeting” unless the Board itself is meeting virtually under emergency conditions, as it did from April through July 6 of last year.

“Your policy position that because the Board could live stream meetings that it must live stream meetings, plus provide a means for citizens to participate in relevant portions of the meeting virtually is not a part of Georgia law,” Hartley wrote.

Hartley was responding to a Feb. 5 letter from Clinic Fellow Samantha Hamilton and second year law students Davis R. Wright and Mark Bailey, asking for the policy changes.

The legal team told Hartley they were making their request on behalf of Dr. John Phillips, the parent of students in Oconee County Schools, and Kendra Kline, “a local education and disability rights advocate.”

Hartley also rejected other requests made by Hamilton and her colleagues regarding it social media policy and treatment of employees who have expressed disagreement with school officials.

For more on this story, please go to Oconee County Observations.