Kodiak's school board has met four times over something it will not name

The Kodiak Island Borough school board has met four times in 18 days over a personnel matter it has not resolved, all of it behind closed doors, and it meets again Friday afternoon.

What the matter is, the public cannot tell. Every agenda refers to it the same way: "Personnel Matter (KAP)." The abbreviation is never expanded, on any agenda, in any notice, or anywhere on the district's website. A reader cannot say whether KAP is a person, a program or a position.

A three-member subcommittee took it up Aug. 18. The full board met Aug. 28 and went into executive session. The subcommittee met again Sept. 1, with the same item listed under unfinished business. Friday's agenda repeats the Aug. 28 structure, including a line for "Actions Resulting From Executive Session (If Needed)."

That line matters. State law bars a public body from taking action inside an executive session, except to instruct an attorney or a labor negotiator. Any vote would have to happen back in open session, in front of whoever is in the room.

The subcommittee is the board's president, vice president and treasurer. The full board has five voting members, so those three are a majority. State guidance holds that an Open Meetings Act meeting occurs whenever more than three members, or a majority, whichever is fewer, discuss something the body could act on. Neither subcommittee agenda noticed an executive session, and neither offered a public comment period.

The full board's agendas describe the closed session as concerning "a subject which may tend to prejudice the reputation and character of any person, provided the person may request a public discussion." Whether that person has been told they can ask for it is not in the record.

The paperwork is inconsistent in other ways. Both full board agendas are titled as special meetings of the Board of Education and list all five voting members, then describe themselves as subcommittee meetings.

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

Friday's meeting is at 3 pm at the district office on Mill Bay Road. Community comment is three minutes a person, in the room or by phone at 907-486-7599.