Well of course today is about Washington, Lincoln and those guys, but it reminded the Dawg that school boards have presidents also!  The selection process for board president is—thankfully—a lot simpler and cheaper than the process we inflict on ourselves as a nation every four years.  The board president is chosen by the members of the board, so there is not a lot of campaigning or debating to be done.  But there can be legal challenges.

In fact, one of the early Attorney General opinions interpreting the Texas Open Meetings Act involved the selection of a board officer, presumably the president, by secret ballot in closed session.  Attorney General John Hill expressed the opinion that you can’t do that.  It would be OK to talk about board officers in closed session, as that is a “personnel” matter, but no straw votes or secret ballots. The vote must take place in open session.

Practically speaking, if you participate in the closed session when an issue is being discussed, you can usually figure out how each board member is going to vote. After all, the purpose of closing the meeting to the public is to allow the board members to discuss freely the more sensitive issues, such as personnel matters, behind closed doors. But no voting. Not even for president.

That AG Opinion is H-1163 from 1978.

DAWG BONE: SOMETIMES I WISH THE ENTIRE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WOULD MOVE INTO CLOSED SESSION.