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Show Supreme Court Rules Against Nebo School Education Board in Suppressing Minutes Boards of Education should open their meetings to the public and the press and should make the meeting meet-ing minutes accessible to inspection by the public after the meeting, it was ruled by the Supreme Court Saturday of last week. In other words, the Nebo School District beard of education disregarded disre-garded the law in refusing to allow al-low citizens and taxpayers to ex- amine the minutes on the day following fol-lowing the February 19, 1953 meeting meet-ing of the board at Spanish Fork. In its opinion the state's higlv-est higlv-est court also struck come vigorous vigor-ous blows for freedom and availability availa-bility of information to the public from elected public officials. Frowning upon "closed door" sessions, the Supreme Court declared de-clared that official acts of public servants always should be subject sub-ject to public appraisal. Following any executive meetings, meet-ings, minutes should be available at least in a general way to both press and public, said the court. "If available only after action taken, such information would have little or no news value except ex-cept as it might be the basis for criticism of injudicious action. "The people would be precluded from indulging their traditionally democratic practice and privilege of complaining or of approving the actions of their elected servants," the supreme court held. The "delayed minutes" suit was appealed to Utah State Supremo Court from a Fourth District Court ruling by Judge William Stanley Dunford. The supreme court ruling-was ruling-was a reversal of Judge Dunford's decision. The suit was filed in Fourth District Dis-trict Court at Provo by Mrs. Margaret Mar-garet Conover and Mrs. Lorraine Beach, Springville residents, taxpayers tax-payers and parents of Nebo District Dis-trict pupils, against the Nebo School District Board of Education and the board clerk, B. L. Isaac. Members of the board of education educa-tion at the time of the suit, included includ-ed Harold Christensen, LaVon Paine, L. J. Crabb, William F. Broadbent, Dr. Jesse Ellsworth and B. L. Isaac, clerk. Should bo Released "Any attempt to withhold information infor-mation after a meeting, itself should be a subject for a wide publicity, pub-licity, irrespective of the fact that withholding it might prevent someone's some-one's embarassment because of inaccuracy. in-accuracy. "Such inaccuracy may be reason enough to replace him responsible therefore, but, most certainly, is no reason for withholding information infor-mation to which the public Is entitled en-titled nor prevent the embarrassment embarrass-ment of anyone, nor to perpetuate anyone in public office." In the original complaint filed in Provo court by the two Springville Spring-ville taxpayers, the plaintiffs complained com-plained that the school board often took action, immediately following decisions made at board meetings, but the minutes of the decisions (Continued on page two) Supreme Court Rules Against School Board Continued from Page One. were not formally "approved" by the board until its next meeting. In refusing to permit Mrs. Con-over Con-over and Mrs. . Beach to examine minutes of the Feb. 18 meeting of the Nebo School District board of education on Feb. 19, before they were "approved" by the board, the board clerk, B. L. Isaac, cited as his authority a letter from Dr. E. Allen Bateman, state superintendent superin-tendent of public instruction. The letter stated that the minutes min-utes were not "official" until they had been approved by the board, which could determine its own policies pol-icies as to the release of the information. in-formation. Following a decision by Fourth District Judge Dunford, favoring the Nebo School Board decision, the case was appealed to the Supreme Su-preme Court with four Utah newspapers' news-papers' publishers, J. F. Fitzpat-rick, Fitzpat-rick, The Salt Lake Tribune; Charles Char-les W. Claybaugh, Box Elder Journal, Jour-nal, Brigham City; Harrison Cono-ver, Cono-ver, Springville Herald, and Norman Nor-man J. Fullenbach, Richfield Reaper Reap-er joining in the action as amici curiae, (friends of the court). Defines Time Limit The supreme court held that a "reasonable time" to prepare the record of public board meetings varies with the exigencies of the particular case," but "we believe that a 'reasonable time' after the meeting for making the record of actions taken there would be some time before any important action was to take place," Justice Henriod opined. "If the board action called for the purchase of textbooks advocating advo-cating communism, the record reasonably should be prepared for public release at once after the meeting, while a resolution to dismiss dis-miss school on Washington's Birthday Birth-day need never be documented, at least so far as the children are concerned," con-cerned," the opinion read. "rtie court pointed out that "if information were available only after action, the information would have little news value except as a basis for criticism of injudicious action," and that the people would be deprived of-. their traditional democratic right of approving or disapproving the actions of their Concurring in the opinion of Justice Jus-tice Honriod were Justices Roger I. McDonough, J. Allan Crockett . and Lester A. Wade and Third Dis-I Dis-I trict Judge Ray Van Cott, Jr., the latter sitting for Chief Justice H. Wolfe, who disqualified himself. Max K. Mangum represented the Springville taxpayers; A. Sherman Christensen, Provo, the Nebo board, and John D. Rice, the publisher |