Superintendent evaluations shouldn’t be hidden from the people

Apparently, the Jefferson County Board of Education just doesn’t get it.

Here’s the deal: the public’s right to know trumps the seemingly incessant desire of some in the education complex to hide their actions from public view.

Now, the Messenger-Inquirer (subscription) chides the Jefferson County board for trying to get a special law passed so their desire to evaluate their superintendent in secrecy will no longer be illegal.

We agree with the Messenger-Inquirer on this one. Ultimately, public money, lots of it, gets spent by local boards and their superintendent. Thus, except for some very special situations which are already covered in statute, local boards have no right to conduct their affairs in secret.

A whole lot of “stuff” is happening in Jefferson County – athletes dying in football practice, a busing plan from hell, deceptive redefining of CATS scores, and more. Especially in Jefferson County, the public deserves to know how all of those issues are being handled, fully and openly. If school board members there can’t deal with that, they need to resign so others who understand the concept of openness and transparency can replace them.

The state’s open meetings law is one of our better statutes, and it needs to be supported, not subverted.