The Lake Havasu Unified School District Governing Board met in a special session Tuesday to discuss findings by the Arizona Attorney General's Office that a March 4 executive session held by the board violated the Open Meeting Law.

Deborah Herbert, of the Mohave County Attorney's Office, appeared before the board to read through and explain a "Letter of Concern" dated Aug. 13 in which Assistant Attorney General Tanja Shipman outlined the violations.

In the letter, Shipman concluded that the agenda for the March 4 meeting contained insufficient information to inform the public about what would be discussed, that the board failed to limit its discussion to what was listed on the agenda, and that the executive session itself was improper because of what was discussed and the statute that was cited to justify it.

After concerns about a possible Open Meeting Law violation were raised in March, the district disclosed the executive session was called to discuss freezing salaries for support and administrative staff. In the Attorney General's letter, Shipman wrote that the statue the district cited, Arizona Revised Statute 38-431.03(A)(1), applied only to salary discussions involving specific individuals and not groups.

Shipman also wrote that the violations "evidence a misunderstanding of the relevant law." She called the district's commitment to comply with the law and have the county attorney's office review its agendas "a commendable response."

As part of the special meeting Tuesday, Herbert conducted one hour of formal training on the Open Meeting Law as required in the Attorney General's list of remedies for the violations. Herbert agreed that board member Pat Rooney, who was absent, had complied with the requirement by attending the Arizona School Boards Association Law Conference in September.

The board then unanimously approved a motion that the Mohave County Attorney's Office respond to the Letter of Concern and certify that the board agreed to and completed the Attorney General's remedies.

Superintendent Gail Malay said that in the future the district would seek legal advice before calling an executive session.

"We know we made a mistake ... and it will never never happen again," Malay said.

In other business, the board unanimously approved awarding a bid for speech and language pathology services to Arizona Speech and Hearing Professionals at a cost not to exceed $115,200 for the school year. Special Services Director Aggie Wolter said up to $20,000 of that will be reimbursed by Medicaid and the balance will be paid from the district's maintenance and operations budget.

You may contact the reporter at dparker@havasunews.com.