School Board Member Dutcher Accuses President of Skirting Open Meetings Law

Discussion of adding a to the Johnston school board spurred accusations by one board member that the group's president skirted the state's open meetings law.

According to a Des Moines Register article, board member John Dutcher accused board president Marci Cordaro — who was absent from Monday's meeting — of being "out of step" with state open meeting laws during the discussion of the student member.

Dutcher said he already knew the board would approve the policy before a vote took place.

According to the Register, Dutcher claimed that Cordaro said the board had already reached consensus on the topic.

“I thought the consensus was something that was arrived on in an open meeting,” he said Monday, “but no, the orchestration of this policy is just another example of the Cordaro administration being out of step with Iowa’s open meeting laws.”

In December a in the Johnston school district practices. The review did find inadequate minutes and that employee contracts had not always been signed by the board president, but that those deficiencies had been remedied. 

The audit was spurred by Dutcher's concerns several months prior.

Because Cordaro was absent from the discussion Monday, board vice president Mike Farrell acted as president and interrupted Dutcher's statement, saying he was out of line.

The board approved the policy to add a non-voting student member to the board 4-2 with Dutcher and board member Julie Walter dissenting.

In his statement Dutcher said he didn't oppose the idea of a student board member, only the "badly executed" policy, the Register reported.