The way things unfolded last week with the Coahoma County School District Board was a reminder of how the State of Mississippi’s Sunshine Laws stand in the way of transparency.
My first six years as a journalist were spent in Arkansas. I worked in Mississippi from Jan. 2011 to Dec. 2023 and returned in May when I became publisher of the Press Register.
From first-hand experience, I can tell you Arkansas’ Sunshine Laws provide the press more freedom, the citizens more transparency and a level playing field for all board members on a governing body.
We are not so fortunate in Mississippi. I am asking for legislators in Mississippi to revise our transparency laws and make them similar to Arkansas’.
Before I get into how things played out and ways Mississippi’s Sunshine Laws limited the transparency involved, let me highlight three things that need to be changed.
1. Anytime two board members get together, it should constitute a meeting. In Mississippi, it is legal for two board members to get together without notifying the press. Three board members must meet for it to constitute a meeting. When two board members meet, business can be discussed without the public knowing what was said or the rationale of any decision made. In Arkansas, anytime two board members get together, it is a public meeting and, if the press is not notified, it is a violation.
2. Action can be taken when Mississippi boards go into executive session. Arkansas boards are permitted to go into executive session for the same type of matters such as personnel or litigation. However, in Arkansas, the board must come out of executive session to take any action. That means the public will immediately know actions boards in Arkansas took. In Mississippi, it could take longer to find out action taken in executive session. The press in Mississippi also has a more difficult time letting the public know the action that was taken.
3. When special board meetings are called in Mississippi, the governing body only has to let the public know about them by placing a notice on a door of its building or on its website. In Arkansas, governing bodies must directly notify the press of special meetings. The law in Arkansas makes it much easier for the media to be aware of special meetings and communicate with the public. The only relief we have in Mississippi is the media must file a formal request to be notified of a special meeting. Those are good for 24 months. The Press Register will be filing Sunshine Law requests with the different boards in the very near future.
Now, let’s look at how things transpired with the CCSD Board last week.
The CCSD Board called special meetings on Monday, Oct. 27 and Thursday, Oct. 30.
On Monday, Oct. 27, Superintendent Dr. Virginia Young was placed on the Family Medical Leave Act, Dr. Debra Dace was named interim superintendent, and Derek Hopson was fired as the board attorney.
On Thursday, Oct. 30, nearly all of those items were reversed. Dace is no longer the interim superintendent. Assistant Superintendent Dr. Crystal Gooden was named interim superintendent. Hopson was reinstated as the board attorney. Strategic Leadership LLC’s contract was terminated after a couple of months. Will Smith represented Strategic Leadership LLC.
The school district, as it would be required to in Arkansas, did not directly notify the Press Register of either meeting. We learned about both meetings from members of the community. This was important information people needed to know about and I’m glad we were able to tell the public what was happening in real time. The Sunshine Laws in Mississippi should make it as easy as possible for media outlets to be transparent with the public. Unfortunately, Mississippi’s transparency laws make our job to notify the public of actions our representatives take tougher. Again, we will be filing Sunshine Law requests in the near future, but putting the burden on media outlets still opens the door for problems. We have many different boards. A media outlet may accidentally forget about one of the boards, not be notified of a meeting and not inform the public of something important. When boards are automatically required to notify the media of special meetings, it makes it much easier for a newspaper to be transparent.
All of the votes on both Oct. 27 and 30 were taken during executive session and will not be made public until the minutes are approved at a future meeting. We unsuccessfully attempted to receive copies of the minutes before this week’s newspaper hit the streets. The votes would have been out in the open in Arkansas because the board would have been required to vote in open session. The public would have known how everything transpired the night of the meetings if they were held in Arkansas. However, transparency laws in Mississippi are different and we will not have confirmation on how each board member voted until the minutes for the Oct. 27 and 30 meetings are approved.
On Tuesday, Oct. 28, CCSD Board President Johnnie Moore, Board Member Coreen Richardson, Dace in her role as interim superintendent and Smith representing Strategic Leadership LLC met in the administration building. In Mississippi, that meeting was perfectly legal. In Arkansas, it would have been illegal without notifying the media because two board members were present.
The recent example with the CCSD is not the only time I noticed holes in Mississippi’s transparency laws.
Three City of Clarksdale commissioners held public meetings on back-to-back days in the Civic Auditorium in late September.
Ward 1 Commissioner Ray Sykes’ meeting was on Sept. 29. Ward 3 Commissioner Eddie Earl and Ward 4 Commissioner Linda Downing held a joint meeting on Sept. 30.
Earl’s and Downing’s was technically not a board meeting because just two commissioners were present. The Press Register was present and I appreciate the transparency of both commissioners. I also appreciate how Sykes, Earl and Downing attempted to communicate with their constituents through community meetings. However, having a meeting of this format with Mississippi’s transparency laws being very unfriendly to the media leaves things open for problems.
The law provides two commissioners in a meeting of that format to talk amongst themselves without notifying the media or public of what took place.
Two board members talking amongst themselves could provide them the opportunity to decide what action they take prior to a meeting. Those conversations could make it easier for the two board members that amongst themselves to get something accomplished without involving other legislators in the process. The other board members are less likely to be privy to information two legislators discussed amongst themselves. It would be tougher for other board members to be a part of a meaningful discussion in a public meeting when two board members exchanged information and ideas outside of the meeting.
The board members not involved in the discussion would be at a disadvantage going into the public meeting. The public would also not be aware of the conversation two board members had in private.
Two board members discussing things in private would put other board members, the public and the media at a disadvantage.
I have seen board members discuss important issues in private.
When the Coahoma County Board of Supervisors were discussing the budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year, they recessed the meeting so two Supervisors could talk amongst themselves, which is legal in Mississippi.
District 4 Supervisor Jesse Harris and District 5 Supervisor Will Young talked during the recess. Those discussions may have impacted decisions made. With the way the Mississippi’s transparency laws are written, the public is not entitled to know what was said during those relevant discussions.
In contrast, I would like to tell you about some of my experiences in Arkansas and how beneficial its transparency laws were.
My first job was as a reporter for the Helena World in Helena-West Helena, Ark., from May 2003 to April 2005.
I was asked to cover the Helena-West Helena School District’s search to find a new superintendent my first week on the job. The search was anything, but smooth. The board was having meetings multiple times a week and appeared to be at a standstill.
I was learning the local issues, how education worked in Arkansas and the politics of it all. Through it all, one thing I knew I could count on was being notified about things the Helena-West Helena School District was legally obligated to inform me of.
I could check the fax machine and know, if there was a special meeting that day, a notice would come through.
At the meetings themselves, the board always went into executive session. The board would then come out of executive session and vote in front of the audience.
I covered the West Helena City Council prior to Helena and West Helena being consolidated. There were serious issues with the landfill and the city council was fighting to keep it open.
Again, it seemed like the city council was meeting two or three days a week, but I never had to worry about being notified.
Some of those same council members would harass city employees. They would try to micromanage day-to-day operations. The mayor did not like it when council members would meet to check on the Street and Sanitation Department.
The transparency laws didn’t permit them to meet without notifying the press. One day, a city council member called me at work and asked me to meet with him and another alderman to take a look at the Street and Sanitation Department.
That meeting never happened, but I told him yes. If they actually went to watch city employees work, I would have been right there with them. Another time, two city council members were in the city clerk’s office calling themselves a “working council.”
Again, they were micromanaging in a way they should not have been.
Thanks to the transparency laws, I joined them and wrote a story where I was able to quote them saying they were a “working council.”
As you can see, the Sunshine Laws in Arkansas allowed me to be more transparent.
Clarksdale and Coahoma County is a good place. It’s become my home in the past 15 years. The citizens here have a right to know what actions public officials are taking.
Friendlier Sunshine laws in Mississippi would enable the public to be much more aware and less in the dark. Let’s lobby our legislators to change our transparency laws and make them more like Arkansas’.
Josh Troy is the editor and publisher of the Clarksdale Press Register. He can be reached at (662) 627-2201 or joshtroy@pressregister.com.
