Kodiak school board meets Friday on a personnel matter, its fourth special meeting in 18 days

The Kodiak Island Borough School District Board of Education could take action Friday, Sept. 4, on a personnel matter it has not resolved across four special meetings in 18 days, and could vote immediately after deliberating behind closed doors. Under state law, though, formal action generally cannot occur inside that closed session itself: Alaska Statute 44.62.310 says a body may not take action in executive session except to direct an attorney or labor negotiator on a specific legal matter or pending negotiations. Any vote on the personnel matter would have to happen back in open session, under the agenda's Item 5.b, "Actions Resulting From Executive Session (If Needed)."

The meeting is set for 3 p.m. Friday in the District Services Conference Room, F140, in the old high school wing at 722 Mill Bay Road. The board's regular meetings run about monthly, most recently Aug. 17. These four are standalone sessions, at 1:30 p.m., 3 p.m., 9 a.m. and now 3 p.m. Friday.

A three-member board subcommittee met Aug. 18, with substantive business that read in full: "4. Personnel Matter (KAP) 5. Adjournment." The full board met Aug. 28 and went into executive session on a personnel matter. The subcommittee met again Sept. 1, where the same item appeared under "Unfinished Business." Friday repeats the Aug. 28 structure.

The abbreviation KAP is never expanded on any agenda, in any notice, or anywhere on the district's website. A reader cannot tell whether it is a person, a program or a position.

The subcommittee is president Kerry Irons, vice president Jim Pryor and treasurer Dr. Mike Litzow. The full board has five voting members: Irons, Pryor, Litzow, clerk Jesse Mickelson and member Duncan Fields. State guidance from the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development holds that a meeting under the Open Meetings Act occurs when more than three members or a majority, whichever is less, collectively discuss a subject the body may act on. Neither subcommittee agenda noticed an executive session, and neither included a community comment period.

The full board agendas cite Board Bylaw 9321 and describe the closed session as "a subject which may tend to prejudice the reputation and character of any person, provided the person may request a public discussion." Whether the affected person has been told so is not in the record.

Both full board agendas are titled Board of Education Special Meeting and list all five voting members, yet each describes itself as a meeting of the subcommittee.

No minutes have been published for any of the four meetings. Notice for Friday came Sept. 2, two days out. The four notices ran five days ahead, then three, five and two.

No one from the district was asked about any of this. Each notice lists board secretary Wes Hanna as the contact, at 907-486-7550. Community comment opens Friday at three minutes per person, in the room or by calling 907-486-7599.