The Peoria Unified School District Governing Board voted to report itself to the Arizona Attorney General's Office for potentially violating open meeting laws.
At an Oct. 8 district governing board meeting, the board addressed an alleged violation from a sitting board member that was said to have happened in late September. At the meeting, governing board attorney Susan Segal said the matter related to the part of Arizona's open meeting law that prohibits governing board members from disclosing confidential matters that arose in executive sessions.
Around the same time, board member Heather Rooks spoke with a TV news outlet regarding items gathered from a search warrant served on district offices in July.
While no one was named on the agenda item,
Rooks said in a statement shared with The Arizona Republic on Oct. 9 that she is being accused of leaking the information. She said it appears as "intimidation tactics" following her request for an investigation into the district's handling of a teacher sex scandal at Centennial High School.
The documents in question appear to have been obtained by 12News (KPNX) through a public records request that were supposed to be sealed but were released in error by the Maricopa County Superior Court.
"I did not repeat confidential deliberations, reveal legal advice provided in executive session, or disclose confidential statements made by other participants," Rooks said in a statement to The Arizona Republic.
Segal said during the meeting that school boards take open meeting laws seriously and in her experience, boards usually self-report over concerns from the public that the board is not being transparent. She did not specify that this was the board's concern, however.
"In this situation, emotions are high and there are a lot of allegations going forward," she said, and recommended the board move forward with approving the request to the Attorney General's Office.
In a joint statement, Tobey and governing board clerk Becky Proudfit told The Arizona Republic that Rooks chose to identify herself and every citizen has the right to request public records without fear of being singled out.
"Being asked to answer serious questions is not intimidation, and an independent review is not retaliation. It is what happens when there are legitimate concerns that the law may not have been followed," the statement said. "Depending on the information involved, unauthorized disclosures can put student privacy and the integrity of sensitive proceedings at risk."
Richie Taylor, a spokesperson for the attorney general's office, declined to comment.
Rooks said she believes the motion "reflects a personal vendetta by President Tobey". During the board meeting, Tobey said he was one of the board members that requested clarification and the vote was not a determination of guilt, but to explore if there was enough evidence to require an independent investigation.
"I don't want to accuse anything, but it sounds like there's a desire not to self-report by certain board members," Tobey said.
Attorney David Bodney, who specializes in media and constitutional law and represents The Republic in legal matters, said that public bodies — such as school governing boards — cannot restrict records that were obtained lawfully and are of public concern.
Coverage of education solutions on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is partially supported by a grant from the Arizona Local News Foundation’s Arizona Community Collaborative Fund.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Embattled Peoria school board votes for investigation of itself
