Blue Valley mother wants schools open, files complaint with Kansas attorney general
A Blue Valley mother has filed a complaint with the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, saying the district violated open meetings law when it decided how to start the school year — with older students learning online only.
Laura Rozell, who has been pushing for schools to open and sports to resume during the COVID-19 pandemic, retained an attorney who served the district with a demand letter last week. The letter argues that the school board should schedule a meeting to vote on whether to approve the district’s plan.
The school board in August discussed how to open schools and unanimously agreed to follow reopening criteria released by the Kansas State Department of Education. Officials also instructed the district to form a committee to review the criteria and examine how to safely open schools after Labor Day.
Later that week, district officials announced a decision: Middle and high schoolers will start the school year learning remotely. Elementary students will return to class in a hybrid model, going in person part of the week and learning from home the rest. The district also suspended all sports.
But the complaint filed with the state on Tuesday argues that the district violated the Kansas Open Meetings Act, since the school board did not reconvene to vote on the reopening plans.
Instead, Superintendent Tonya Merrigan announced the decision, which was reviewed by the committee made up of an epidemiologist, three pediatricians, a representative of the Johnson County health department, the teachers association and school administration.
Olathe attorney Ryan Kriegshauser, who is representing Rozell, argues that it is unclear how the final decision was reached — and either way, it was not done in public. Other districts in Johnson County issued their reopening decision in a similar way, without a school board vote.
He also told The Star that he continues to “evaluate our own legal action.”
In response to last week’s letter, Melissa Hillman, chief legal officer for the district, disputed the claim that Blue Valley violated open meetings law.
“The role of the Board of Education is to set policy and provide oversight to those who are responsible for the day-to-day educational decisions. Once policy is adopted, school administrators are charged with implementation of the policy,” she wrote.
Hillman continued, “While it is the Board’s desire to serve as transparently as possible, it is not practical to strip school administrators of their operational responsibilities.”
Rozell argued that “whether to offer in-person learning is an important decision which directly impacts the lives and livelihoods of thousands of Johnson County families, the mental health of our kids.”
The dispute and lawsuit threat come as parents and students across the Kansas City metro continue to protest their school districts’ reopening decisions, urging schools to allow in-person classes and fall sports. Others, including many teachers, have argued for online classes, worried about the surging COVID-19 cases in the region.
In a Facebook post, Rozell also asked the community for donations to “support our justified legal actions.”
In the demand letter, Kriegshauser argued that “at the very least,” the district’s actions, “were not transparent and do not create an atmosphere of trust between the Blue Valley School District and the families and students it serves.”
“There was a correct way to accomplish what the (school board) intended. However, the way this process unfolded is legally problematic,” he wrote.
He told The Star, “There’s an easy way to solve this controversy. And it’s to come back and ratify the recommendations of the committee or the superintendent, and do it in an open meeting. There’s such an easy fix, it begs the question why they aren’t doing that.”
The way the Blue Valley district released its reopening decision was not unique in Johnson County. In the Shawnee Mission district, for example, without holding a board meeting, Superintendent Mike Fulton announced the district’s decision to start school online for all grades, based on Johnson County’s reopening criteria.
Olathe district officials also announced the reopening decision without a board vote. When school starts next week, older students in the district will learn online and elementary school students will return in a hybrid model.
But in De Soto, the superintendent announced the decision to start school online. Then, the school board held a meeting and voted to overturn that decision, agreeing to instead go against health officials’ guidance and bring all students back in a hybrid model.
Kriegshauser argued that all districts should be transparent as they decide whether to allow students back in classrooms.
“This is a pivotal decision impacting people’s lives. So the school boards are really doing a disservice to the public if they don’t do this openly and transparently,” he said. “Locking down in secret is not helpful and it just breeds this level of distrust, unfortunately.”
This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 12:58 PM with the headline "Blue Valley mother wants schools open, files complaint with Kansas attorney general."
