"Low key" might be overstating Sanderson's comments at Thursday night's board meeting as he tried to explain away the embarrassing presentment and his failure to inform the entire board about the inquiry. Sanderson, along with Crowder-Eagle, Brock and then-chairman John Abraham appeared before a grand jury panel Dec. 1 but kept the other board members in the dark until the findings were published in the MDJ.
Sanderson made a point that "often grand jurors are parents." Maybe that was why the grand jury was concerned about the school board "operating in a manner that hinders the expression of opposing views and/or makes policy decisions in non-public forums."
The grand jury inquiry "was not directed at the entire board," Sanderson said, but only those who appeared before the panel. He acknowledged a "lack of communication" and said, "I accept responsibility for that."
He said he has put procedures in place so that when there is a grand jury summons, "the entire board will be notified immediately." Then when presentments are received, they will be forwarded to the board members.
It was only after being prompted by maverick board member Alison Bartlett - wanting to know if future summons should be made public - that Sanderson disclosed a new summons targeting school bus problems.
On his part, board attorney Brock demonstrated why he's worth $2 million a year by offering a few comments about grand juries. He talked about "the civil part" of the grand jury, dealing with "management, not legal" or criminal issues, "not sworn testimony," but instead "more conversation."
Grand juries, he said, "look at county facilities." Then he said he was going to "read sporadically" from recommendations of grand juries. Topics ranged from the tax assessor's office to probate court and the medical examiner's office.
That was it.
Nothing about the grand jury presentments carrying any weight - "more conversation" as opposed to sworn testimony. Nor did he address the concern of Dr. John Crooks about the recommendation that the school board be formally reviewed by county grand juries "no less than 4 times per year" in order to "ensure the transparency of board operations." The reviews "should focus on the process of debate and discussion employed by the board in making decisions and the openness to opposing points of view."
Maybe hope and change are in the air and the board won't keep "operating in a manner that severely limits the open and public debate of school policy decisions prior to vote and implementation," as the grand jury put it.
But Cobb citizens shouldn't expect too much. Anyway, Sanderson has a new procedure to at least keep the board informed of grand jury inquiries.
dmckee9613@aol.com
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