Souderton Area School District residents wanting to attend this week’s board meeting will need a photo ID if they want a seat.
The district recently implemented a rule that any person trying to attend a public meeting will need to prove they are a resident or taxpayer, everyone else will have to either wait until all residents are seated or be turned away once the meeting room reaches capacity.
A local group continuing calls for Souderton board member Bill Formica to resign over a sexist social media post last month say the rule violates Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act, and two attorneys that spoke to this news organization agree.
Over 500 people filled the auditorium at Indian Valley Middle School in Harleysville on Aug. 29, most demanding the resignation of board member Bill Formica. The district is now checking identification to give residents priority seating, possibly running afoul of open meetings laws.
School board and committee meetings have seen a surge in attendance after a wave of outrage over Formica’s post saying Vice President Kamala Harris “b— a lot of dudes” to advance her political career.
More than 500 people showed up to the board’s Aug. 29 meeting, most of those in the audience holding signs opposing Formica — who that night blamed the backlash on “partisan politics” while apologizing for the response to his post, but not its content.
As local groups planned to continue protesting Formica and calling for him to step down in public meetings, residents reported a new identification requirement before being allowed to attend a Sept. 11 district committee meeting.
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Souderton Area School District police officers were checking identifications to give district residents priority over non-residents to the board’s regular meeting room.
The district’s new ID requirement stems from complaints the district has received as empty seats at recent meetings became scarce, according to a Wednesday email from Souderton Area Superintendent Frank Gallagher.
“The Board had received questions and concerns from community members that numerous people who were not residents were able to obtain seats for the meeting, and that residents should have that priority,” Gallagher said.
Local groups leading the charge to oust Formica, like Souderton Area For All and Souderton Area For Responsible Leadership, say restricting access breaks the law and the district should change venues if officials are concerned about attendance.
Can government agencies require ID to attend a public meeting in PA?
The two local groups have also said that requiring identification and prioritizing residents breaks the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act, the law requiring government agencies and elected bodies to deliberate and vote in publicly accessible meetings.
“The Coalition believes this requirement is illegal and violates Pennsylvania’s open meeting law. The Board Room’s capacity limit is 110 people compared to the auditorium at Indian Valley Middle School which holds 550 (people),” a Sept. 24 news release from Souderton Area For All states.
Souderton Area For Responsible Leadership is a political group that backed the five Democrats in last year’s election. Souderton Area For All describes itself as “nonpartisan, secular, power-building coalition of Souderton Area residents united by common values of equity, diversity and inclusion.”
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In his Wednesday email, Gallagher denied that the district’s residency priority runs afoul of any state law.“It is not a violation of PA school law to ask for verification of residency to ensure that our residents can attend in person. We were not restricting public attendance but rather giving seating to our residents and employees, first,” Gallagher said.
Attorneys Joy Ramsingh, who specializes in government transparency issues, and Melissa Melewsky, a media lawyer for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, say otherwise.
“They can limit public comment to taxpayers and residents. They cannot limit attendance to taxpayers and residents,” Ramsingh said. “The statute clearly says that the ‘public’ can attend. They’re adding requirements for attendance that are not included in the black letter law.”
A review of the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act shows the law only refers to “residents” or “taxpayers” specifically in its section about public participation at meetings, specifically regarding public comment periods.
There are some exceptions in the law that allows elected officials to hold meetings closed to the public, such as to discuss litigation strategies with a solicitor, but access to meetings is generally either open or closed to the public at large.
“The meeting itself must be open to any member of the public who is interested, including nonresidents. If the school district believes there’s a space issue, the appropriate action is to move to a larger room, not exclude members of the public,” said Melewsky.
Melewsky added that an identification requirement raises several concerns — like properly notifying residents of the ID requirement and what forms of ID are acceptable — that are solved by moving the meeting location instead.
“Finally, it’s important to remember the purpose of the Sunshine Act: to encourage public participation in government,” Melewsky said.
Will I need ID to attend the next school board meeting?
Gallagher’s email Wednesday didn’t explicitly say whether the district would be continuing its identification checks when the board meets at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 26.
Souderton Area For Responsible Leadership’s Facebook page includes a post warning residents who plan to attend to bring some form of photo ID with them if they plan to attent.
The board regularly meets at the District Administrative Office Building, in the Tinner Board Room, at 760 Lower Road in Souderton.
Can the board change locations?
The district has changed venues before a meeting in the past, though Gallagher said this week that changing locations presents “logistical challenges.”
“Moving meetings to larger venues can pose a lot of logistical challenges. We have done and will continue to do this periodically but typically our board meeting space provides fully adequate public seating,” Gallagher said.
Government agencies are required under the Sunshine Act to advertise the time, date and location of regular and special public meetings no more than 24 hours before they occur.
When the district relocated its Aug. 29 meeting to the Indian Valley Middle School, a legal notice appeared in a local publication five days earlier and the district notified residents via email on Aug. 23.
In addition to public notices, moving meetings to larger meeting rooms could also require more staff to set up and take down audio devices and other equipment needed to ensure the meetings run smoothly.
Ramsingh said that, while the logistics might be difficult to work around, those are issues are part of the job for government agencies.
“I understand that this level of interest is uncomfortable for the District to deal with, but with the privilege of governing comes the responsibilities of giving the public the opportunity to be heard— even when you don’t like what they have to say,” Ramsingh said.
Chris Ullery is the Philadelphia Hub Data Reporter for the USA Today Network. Reach him at cullery@couriertimes.com or find him on Twitter at @ulleryatinell.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Groups call Souderton school’s ID rule for public meetings illegal
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Publish date : 2024-09-26 02:03:00
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