Arizona attorney general approves online school board meetings
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard has issued an opinion that the state’s Open Meeting Law (OML) allows local school boards to conduct deliberations and discussions in an online meeting, provided the school board gives proper notice under law and facilitates public access to the online meeting through the Internet. The opinion was issued in response to a request for review of an opinion prepared for the Camp Verde Unified School District by the district’s legal counsel, A. Dean Pickett. Both opinions are below, along with a link to the attorney general’s website page on the OML. The attorney general concluded that the OML’s definition of “meeting” “includes the gathering of a public body through technological devices and would encompass serial communications of a quorum of the public body through the Internet or other online medium.” Provided the virtual meeting complies with the requirements of the OML, the opinion states, the law contemplates the ability of the board to conduct meetings using technological devices, such as telephones, video cameras and even web-cameras. The attorney general pointed out that a previous opinion finding that serial e-mail communications failed to comply with the OML’s notice and public access requirements inherently established that serial online communications meet the statute’s definition of a “meeting.” While noting that technology may provide broader public access, the attorney pointed to several obstacles to public access, such as lack of equipment to access the meeting. To offset such potential drawbacks, the opinion encourages the board to comply strictly with the OML’s notice and minute-keeping requirements and to facilitate public access to the virtual meeting. The opinion also emphasizes that the board must provided reasonable accommodations to any disabled member of the public who requests it, as required by federal law.
Arizona attorney general opinion
School board counsel opinion
Attorney general webpage on OML