23FC:0058: Elijah Mathern/GMG Community School District - Dismissal Order

Date:
06/15/2023

Subject:
Elijah Mathern/GMG Community School District - Dismissal Order

Opinion:

The Iowa Public Information Board

COMES NOW, Erika Eckley, Executive Director for the Iowa Public Information Board (IPIB), and enters this Dismissal Order:

On May 10, 2023, Elijah Mathern filed formal complaint 23FC:0058, alleging that GMG Community School District violated Iowa Code chapters 21 and 22.

Facts
Mr. Mathern alleged that on May 10, 2023, the GMG School Board was required under school district policy to provide a summary of the Board’s evaluation of the district’s superintendent during an open, public meeting. Instead, the Board shared the Superintendent’s evaluation via email and did not discuss the evaluation in the open meeting. In his Complaint, Mr. Mathern asked for copies of the evaluation that were shared in the email.

Mr. Mathern also had concerns about the accuracy of the documentation that came out of the exempt session.

In response, the District’s Superintendent responded and stated that the Board met to discuss her evaluation at an exempt meeting on May 3, 2023. The Board’s secretary took notes and compiled the decisions that would be shared with the Superintendent at the May 10 meeting. At the meeting on May 10, the Superintendent declined the opportunity to go into closed session to discuss her performance evaluation.

The Superintendent was given an evaluation document and discussion focused on next steps in the evaluation process during the May 10, 2023, meeting.

In responding to this Complaint, the Superintendent provided all documentation regarding her evaluation from the Board as requested by Mr. Mathern.

 The documentation included the document at issue in the Complaint, which is a summary of the areas of strengths and areas for growth for the Superintendent. Other documents provided by the Superintendent outlined the process for the Superintendent’s evaluation as the following process:

"Standards identified as strength areas and identified as areas of focus will be shared with Superintendent Stein at the board meeting on May 10th, 2023. The GMG CSD Superintendent Performance and Progress Review document will be shared with the superintendent, Kym Stein on Thursday May 11th, 2023, by board secretary Stacey Duden. Should further explanation be necessary, the superintendent may request a closed session meeting. The board will provide feedback on Superintendent Stein’s progress on the Standards Identified for Focus at the August board meeting."

In addition the following timeline was provided:
● May 10, 2023
○ Standards identified as strength areas and areas of focus will be shared with Superintendent Stein
● August 2023
○ Board Meeting- The board and superintendent will define indicators of success for the 2023-24 school year
● November 2023
○ Review of superintendent’s indicators of success
● February 2024
○ Review of superintendent’s indicators of success
● May 2024
○ Annual evaluation conducted by the board

Applicable Law
Iowa Code § 21.9 allows a governmental body to meet to “discuss strategy in matters relating to employment conditions of employees of the governmental body who are not covered by a collective bargaining agreement under chapter 20 is exempt from this chapter.” “Employment conditions” includes “evaluation procedures.”

Iowa Code § 21.5(1)(i) allows a governmental body to hold a closed session “[t]o evaluate the professional competency of an individual whose appointment, hiring, performance, or discharge is being considered when necessary to prevent needless and irreparable injury to that individual’s
reputation and that individual requests a closed session.”

In order to go into a closed session, the individual to be evaluated is required to request a closed session.

Analysis
Mr. Mathern’s Complaint had two components. His first concern was that the summary information relating to the Superintendent’s performance was not provided during the May 10, 2023, meeting because the Superintendent did not request a closed session. In this situation, the Superintendent did not request a closed session, which is required. The Board was correct in declining to enter a closed session to discuss a performance evaluation without the Superintendent’s request.

There was no error in providing a summary document of strengths and weaknesses to the Superintendent without publicly discussing a document that was to be placed in the Superintendent’s personnel file. In response to the Complaint, the Superintendent provided a copy of all her evaluation documentation to Mr. Mathern. Any of the information that he might have sought at the open meeting has been provided to him, so if there was any error, it was harmless
error.

The second component of Mr. Mathern’s Complaint is an unsubstantiated concern that the documentation received by the Superintendent did not match what was discussed at the exempt meeting. The Board met in exempt session to discuss the procedure for evaluation of the Superintendent. From that exempt session, documents were created by the Board and provided to the Superintendent from the Board. Exempt sessions are not subject to the meeting requirements of Iowa Code chapter 21. If there were any concern regarding the documentation provided to the Superintendent from the discussion during the exempt session, then it seems logical that someone from the Board who participated in the exempt session would have raised objection.

Conclusion
Iowa Code § 23.8 requires that a complaint be within the IPIB’s jurisdiction, appear legally sufficient, and have merit before the IPIB accepts a complaint. Following a review of the allegations on their face, it is found that this complaint does not meet those requirements.

GMG School Board correctly chose not to hold a closed session meeting when the Superintendent did not request a closed session to discuss her evaluation. Documentation regarding the process for her evaluation were provided to the Superintendent by the Board and she provided a copy upon Complainant’s request. There is no evidence that the documents do not reflect the process discussed during the Board’s exempt session.

IT IS SO ORDERED: Formal complaint 23FC:0058 is dismissed as it is legally insufficient pursuant to Iowa Code § 23.8(2) and Iowa Administrative Rule 497-2.1(2)(b).

Pursuant to Iowa Administrative Rule 497-2.1(3), the IPIB may “delegate acceptance or dismissal of a complaint to the executive director, subject to review by the board.” The IPIB will review this Order on June 15, 2023. Pursuant to IPIB rule 497-2.1(4), the parties will be notified in writing of its decision.

By the IPIB Executive Director
_________________________
Erika Eckley, J.D.