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Norfolk — Wednesday’s Norfolk School Board meeting was “momentous,” Chairwoman Adale Martin said when it started.
It marked the first time in a year — almost to the day — the board met in person instead of over Zoom.
Left unsaid is that no one from the public was present because the board — as it has repeatedly — ignored the state laws meant to ensure government bodies do their business in the sunshine.
Despite privately deciding to change plans and meet in person, the School Board told the public it was still meeting virtually.
Martin said Friday that the board “didn’t in any way hide” plans to resume in-person meetings once teachers and students returned to the buildings. They were expecting members of the public to attend Wednesday, and even told security officers the room’s capacity if more people showed up than could watch safely while ensuring social distancing.
Asked how the public would have known it could come, given that the notice for the meeting didn’t say it was in person, Martin said she hadn’t thought about it. She said she figured people knew because of the board’s previous discussions about wanting to return in-person once students and staff were.
In the run-up to the meeting, the focus was on figuring out the logistics of how the board and staff could meet in person safely while still being able to broadcast it, Martin said.
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“We just wanted to make sure we were doing everything we could to properly model what we’re doing in our schools and keep everyone safe,” she said.
Virginia’s open government laws say government bodies must tell the public where they plan to meet: “Every public body shall give notice of the date, time, and location of its meetings.”
“If it’s in person, they should say where that is,” said Megan Rhyne, the director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government. “If it’s by Zoom, they should say that instead.”
Because of the pandemic, there are continuity of government ordinances in place that mean a board could meet in person without the public physically present. But Rhyne said they still can’t keep a meeting’s location secret.
[ Previous coverage: Norfolk School Board holds 4th illegal meeting in 6 months ]
The Norfolk School Board repeatedly has met without telling the public, and a state watchdog ruled in 2019 it had twice violated the law by doing so.
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Then-Chairwoman Noelle Gabriel apologized, calling the illegal meetings “not acceptable” and promising the board would start following the law. Gabriel is no longer chair but is still on the board, as are the six other members who were in office in 2019.
Ahead of this week’s meeting, Martin said, there were discussions about whether to let the public know members would gather in person — but because of limited seating, the public was still encouraged to watch and participate virtually.
The board didn’t make that update mostly because of the budget public hearing that was scheduled for after the meeting, she said. There are usually large crowds for the public hearing, and they knew the room couldn’t accommodate that.
She would not say whether she thought the board’s notice had met the legal requirements.
“I’ll have to think about that,” Martin said.
Martin said the board plans to hold most of its meetings from now on in person. But for logistical reasons, they haven’t decided whether that will include one scheduled for Wednesday. That’s why as of Friday, the board’s website still showed it as a virtual meeting. If that changes, the public will be told this time, she said.
Sara Gregory, 757-469-7484, sara.gregory@pilotonline.com