2023-11-20 - MPS School Board Special Superintendent Meeting - Renita and Joe's Comments

Here is a link to the full video: https://youtu.be/UtcphNCKzhU?si=ir9gMou-t9V0qqYP

Here are Renita's comments:
At the last Special Meeting I discussed whether the Oct 10th Special Meeting really followed the Open Meeting Act. The President stated that “the answer is Yes.” So I put in a FOIA request to see what communications exist to support the claims made at the past two meetings.

My request was for: All communications containing the words “October 10” and/or “Oct 10” and/or “Special Board of Education Meeting” and/or “Special Meeting” from October 6, 2023 thru October 25, 2023 from email, written documents or any other social communication source. This is not requesting all emails sent on October 10, 2023, unless that wording is in the Subject or Body of the email.

The only information I received in response were two copies of each of the FOIA requests that I submitted, one of those never mentioned the previously mentioned information. Also a copy of a document titled “Midland Public Schools Board of Education Superintendent Search Sub-Committee Meeting.” Note it was not titled as a Special Public Meeting.
There is no other communication about this supposedly Special Meeting that was open to the public. No emails between board members. No emails to an administrative person to put up a public posting about a Special Meeting on Oct. 10th at noon. And as I stated last month, there was nothing on the MPS website that even comes up as a special meeting on Oct. 10th if you do a search.

Interesting though, I sent an email to the FOIA Coordinator asking “why I did not receive the Agenda and information about the meeting held on Wednesday, October 10th at 12:00 pm,” since my FOIA request asked for Special Meetings as well. I also sent several emails to the Interim Superintendent and mentioned Oct. 10th. All of these contain information that would fall within the parameters of the FOIA request. So if these emails did not get included, what else was not included in my request? It does not feel like a very accurate fulfillment of my request.
As was stated at the two previous meetings by my husband Joe and me, there was a claim that the Oct. 10th meeting was held and followed proper Open Meeting Act requirements. The evidence does not support this on multiple levels. But we know that we can take you to court and you have plenty of legal coverage by your insurance policy, paid for with our tax dollars, to defend yourself. You are obviously willing to take that chance.