Open meeting cheered

We commend school board president Beth Weiss on her decision to hold open interviews of candidates to fill a vacancy and to allow the public to question the candidates.

While the Ohio Open Meeting Law does allow executive session to "consider the appointment...of a public employee or official," we feel the use of such a session for interviewing candidates exceeds that authority. Even the dictionary definition of the word "consider" seems to exclude the idea of gathering the information to be studied or examined.

Beyond what is allowed or not allowed under the open meeting law, the idea of interviewing these candidates in public seems the right thing to do.

Paula Jones resigned from the board on Oct. 12, and the board accepted the resignation on Oct. 13. They set the deadline for submitting application materials to fill the vacancy for 3 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6.

When a News-Tribune reporter noted the Ohio Revised Code requires such vacancies to be filled at the next regular or special board meeting, the board postponed the Oct. 27 meeting until after the Nov. 6 deadline and the Nov. 3 general election. The postponement removed the necessity of a special election in February, but also removed the ability of residents to have a voice in filling an elective office.

The solution, which we commend, is to interview the candidates in public, then to allow the public to ask follow-up and other questions, also in open session. Having gathered the information needed, the board will then adjourn to executive session to "consider" the appointment, then return to open session to vote.

This arrangement maintains the letter and the spirit of the law. And more importantly, it maintains the spirit of Oberlin.