An open government organization is criticizing the Dunkirk school district on its handling of a school board vacancy.
The New York Coalition for Open Government sent a letter to Michael Mansfield, the district’s superintendent, Thursday expressing concerns about the decision to interview candidates in private.
The vacancy has come up because David Damico is leaving the Board of Education to take office Jan. 1 as the city Common Council’s councilman-at-large.
“Opinions by the New York State Committee on Open Government and court decisions have held that applicants for an elected position should be reviewed in public and not in executive session,” the open government group, based in Williamsville, states in its letter.
The document cites other school districts in New York state that did not use private interviews to fill vacant elected positions. This includes the Buffalo school board in 2018 and 2019, along with the Waterloo school district this year.
“All too often public bodies conduct interviews and discuss the filing of a vacant position behind closed doors,” the letter reads. “There should be nothing secretive about seeking an elected office. Individuals seeking to serve on the Dunkirk School Board should have no qualms about discussing their interest, qualifications and goals in a public forum. The elected school board members who will vote to fill the vacancy should likewise have no concern about questioning, discussing and voting on interested applicants in public.”
The letter is signed by Paul Wolf, a lawyer who is president of the open government coalition.
Concluding by asking the school district for a more open hiring process, it states, “Filling an elected position should be a process done in an open, transparent and public way. Conducting interviews through an executive session which excludes the public is the wrong way to conduct school district business.”
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