Book review committee lawsuit against Wilson County dismissed
Nov. 8—It was learned at Monday evening's Wilson County School Board meeting that a lawsuit that claimed that the Wilson County Book Review Committee was in violation of the Open Meetings Act has been dismissed.
"The federal judge denied the motion for preliminary injunction," Wilson County Attorney Mike Jennings said. "Later that day, the attorney for the plaintiff determined they no longer wanted to go forward with this lawsuit."
Jennings said that it was his opinion that the book review committee complied with Tennessee state law.
"They found that the open meetings act was not meant to apply to committees like the book review committee, for a number of reasons, but not the least of which was that there was no requirement to have a quorum to act," Jennings said.
The court also found that the committee meetings did not fit the definition of informal assemblage.
"The court found that the board's transparent consideration of the committee's recommendation in a forum open to the public is consistent with the spirit and requirements of the open meetings act," Jennings said. "What they're basically saying is you allow anyone that wants to get on the agenda to come up and speak. Then, when you actually consider one of the recommendations, you debate it pretty thoroughly (in a public forum)."
There are four criteria that must be met for a court to grant a preliminary injunction. Two that the court found the case to not meet was there being reasonable merit to the success of the hearing and the proof of irreparable harm done by the committee.
"The harm must be actual and imminent rather than harm that is speculative or unsubstantiated," Jennings said. "They found no harm here for the same reasons that I said a while ago. The discussion is open and shared, meaning anybody can watch it on video, they can present (concerns) here, and they can hear the discussion that goes on before you vote."
Local Education Agency compliance report
While its annual Local Education Agency compliance report reflected compliance with all other state and federal education laws, the Wilson County School District found that it was not in compliance with a state law that requires a minimum of 130 minutes of physical activity per full school week.
The law in question does not include time allotted for recess in that minimum requirement.
"We can't comply with that state law and do everything we're required to do," Luttrell said. "That discussion needs to be had, because to me, it makes no sense that we can't get credit for recess, because teachers know that kids need recess, and that's an important part of being in school."
The report stated that the district was unable to comply with the law due to conflicts with other state boards and statutory requirements.
"The science says that children need unstructured play time," zone 1 board member Carrie Pfeiffer said. "Not only do they need movement and physical education and being taught the games (in physical education), but the science says that, in order for it to have the greatest impact, they need to have unstructured play time."
Zone 2 board member Beth Meyers urged individuals to talk to the state legislature to bring their attention to the issue.
"One of the things that people can do is to contact your legislature," Meyers said. "Have a conversation with them, because (Lutrell) is absolutely correct, especially when I sit there and listen to the discussions in these committee meetings and there's these broad discussions without any idea of how it hits the ground at the district level."
The board approved the Local Education compliance report, which included a corrective action plan to "determine best practices when creating a school schedule" and to "determine next steps in staffing requirements to meet the obligations of the statute."
