PAC: School board justified in evicting activist
An anti-mask advocate was thrown out of a school board meeting last September
MUNCIE — The board of trustees for Muncie Community Schools was acting within its rights when it ejected a member of the audience alleged to have caused a disturbance at a school board meeting, the Indiana Public Access Counselor (PAC) has ruled.
PAC Luke Britt was inundated last year with complaints accusing politically fatigued school boards of violating open-door and open-records statutes.
COVID-19 issues, including masks and vaccinations, along with library books, critical race theory, educational equity, social-emotional learning, cultural awareness, and restorative justice practices fueled the record number of complaints (about 50).
Longtime conservative activist and small-business owner Christopher Hiatt filed one of those complaints after being kicked out of a September Muncie school board meeting that attracted a larger-than-usual crowd. Some attendees reportedly yelled insults at the board after being required to either mask up or leave.
Hiatt, who calls the school district’s mask requirements “abusive and oppressive,” complained that he was thrown out, in violation of the open-door law, after he stood up to object that the board would not have a public comment period.
In a written opinion, Britt, an attorney first appointed to his longtime position as PAC by Gov. Mike Pence, concluded that the school board’s actions did not violate the law:
“Since the ODL does not require the Board to receive public comment at public meetings, there is no violation of the Open Door Law (ODL). As usual, this office recommends governing bodies provide a public comment period during meetings as a matter of good governance.
“Additionally, this office has previously acknowledged that a governing body has the legal authority to maintain order at public meetings. Hiatt acknowledges in his complaint that he stood up to address the Board president with his objections about the public comment issue, which ultimately resulted in his removal from the meeting. The Board contends that Hiatt was complaining and disrupting the meeting prior to his removal.
“Only in limited circumstances — none of which are relevant here — would removing a person from attending a public meeting result in a violation of the ODL. As a result, this office will defer to the judgment of the MCS Board in this case.”
Bills making their way through the current session of the Indiana General Assembly would mandate that school boards allow members of the public to provide oral public comment at a public meeting.
The Muncie school board already allows that to happen.
It was kind of a freak situation, you might call it, that prevented Hiatt from being able to speak at the Sept. 14 board meeting. He has spoken at board meetings since then, including the two most recent ones.
But at the meeting in question, Jim Williams, school board president, who happens to be an attorney and a former judge, noted that no one from the public had signed up to speak.
However, it became obvious that many attendees wanted to speak. But they were apparently unfamiliar with the board’s policy requiring those who want to do so to sign up on a sheet at the entrance before the meeting starts.
After Williams noted that no one from the audience had signed up to speak, many attendees became “visibly upset and disrupted the beginning of the meeting,” school board attorney Alexander Pinegar wrote to Britt. “Comments were made comparing the situation to ‘communist China’ or ‘Nazi Germany.’ “
“Mr. Hiatt in particular stood up and began angrily complaining,” Pinegar went on. “The board president explained the public comment procedures. However, Mr. Hiatt complained even more loudly. The board president told Mr. Hiatt he would be escorted out if he did not stop disrupting the meeting. Mr. Hiatt did not stop. Instead, he became even louder.
“The board president then asked the School’s Chief School Resource Officer, Ray Dudley, to escort Mr. Hiatt out of the meeting. As Officer Dudley approached Mr. Hiatt, Mr. Hiatt said, ‘Come on Ray, be a man!’ to dissuade Officer Dudley from fulfilling his duties. Officer Dudley escorted Mr. Hiatt out of the meeting and a few others followed along, saying they would not stay if they could not speak.
“After Mr. Hiatt left, the room quieted and the meeting proceeded with no further disruption.”
Before disallowing public comment at the Sept. 14 meeting, Williams did invite attendees to return, sign up and speak at a future meeting.
Hiatt recently told me he was not surprised by Britt’s decision.
“Their (the school board’s) response, authored by their attorneys, was full of lies and for whatever reason, the PAC didn’t want to give any heed to the video evidence or solicit the input of witnesses including the very school security officer that escorted me out of the meeting,” Hiatt said via email.
“When I solicited via a FOIA the documentation supporting their response to the PAC, MCS refused my request citing ‘anticipated litigation.’ This recent ability, from local to national level, of the public officials to deny information and legal processes has been mind-boggling.
“Relative to MCS, this only demonstrates why the control of the school corporation needs to be wrestled away from BSU President (Geoffrey S.) Mearns and his hand-picked group of like-minded minions.”
For his part, Williams declined comment on Britt’s decision, saying, “The ruling speaks for itself.”
In his opinion, Britt noted that Hiatt had “filed a reply to MCS’s answer arguing the school corporation’s answer to his complaint contained, among other things, outright lies. This opinion will provide additional facts to the extent necessary.”
Meanwhile, Hiatt also had alleged that the school board violated the ODL at the Sept. 14 meeting by failing to make the meeting agenda available before the meeting.
Here’s how Britt ruled on that controversy:
“The Board argues it complied with the ODL by posting the agenda and providing copies at the meeting. The Board acknowledges that it momentarily ran out of copies because more attendees showed up than usual at the meeting.
“Notably, the ODL’s agenda provision does not require a governing body to provide individual copies of the meeting agenda to every person attending the meeting. If MCS provides each attendee a copy of the agenda, it is going above and beyond the letter of the law, which is commendable.
“In any event, Hiatt has not provided sufficient evidence that MCS failed to post the agenda before the meeting.”
Hiatt and others have spoken out at school board meetings this year. He has challenged the board to either rescind its “abusive and oppressive” mask requirements or present evidence to back the mandate. Another speaker claimed “the science is settled” that masks are not only ineffective but are even harmful to children, depriving them of oxygen.
A third activist, Jim Arnold, introduced himself by saying he was not a domestic terrorist, conspiracy theorist or racist before he questioned whether the school district was being honest when it denied teaching critical race theory. If that’s the case, “inquiring minds want to know” why the training of district staff in matters of diversity, sensitivity and implicit bias does not “predispose” teachers and other staff to “interject critical race theory or other divisive doctrines” into subjects being taught.
Seamus Boyce, an Indianapolis lawyer who represents schools, complained to Britt last year of “a sharp uptick in disruptive and even dangerous public meetings. The personal attacks if continued could lead to an unprecedented wave of public servants leaving their professions.”
In response to Boyce’s appeal for guidance, Britt on Oct. 28 issued an “informal opinion” that concluded:
“It has indeed been disappointing to see the unrest at public meetings recently and it is past time to restore civility to the conversation.”.
In an interview last November, Britt told me, "I’ve never seen anything like this,” adding, “this one isn’t going away.”
The access counselor believed that pandemic restrictions were making people “kind of stir crazy;” “they’re taking out their frustrations on the government;” and “certain political ideologies are amplifying certain issues, one being diversity, equity and inclusion.”
It also appeared to Britt that school boards have struggled with how to address these issues and how to communicate with frustrated parents. “I think being confronted with this caught schools a little flat-footed,” he said.
Read the PAC’s opinion in Hiatt vs. MCS
Backgrounder on the missing video from controversial school board meeting
Read the PAC’S opinion on school board civility
Activists address school board on mask requirements, critical race theory below:
The MCS Governing Body (they are not a school board) are populated with a bunch of hand-picked, hypocritical liars. At the meeting at issue there were NO Agendas available nor sign-up sheet. I presented video evidence showing when the agendas were being handed out AFTER the beginning of the meeting and during the Pledge of Allegiance and the fact that I was not vehemently arguing of disrupting anyone or the meeting. The PAC is just another political hack that is feckless no matter which way he rules.
I was at the meeting where Mr. Hiatt was ejected and know that the School Board through their attorneys is NOT telling the truth about what happened. I was unaware of the MCS Board sign in procedures, and stated that I wanted to speak, and Board President Jim Williams, appointed by BSU, said that no one from the public had signed up to speak. When Mr. Hiatt questioned if they were going to allow public comment, he was quickly ejected. Oddly enough the video documentation from that part of the meeting was mysteriously lost due to "Operator Error".
And with regards to Security Guard, Mr. Dudley performing his duty when he rejected Mr. Hiatt, I would challenge that the oath that he swore to defend the United States Constitution, should supersede the ejection of a citizen from a Public Meeting for merely standing up and asking why the Board was not allowing public comments.
In fourteen years of attending and speaking at various public meetings, I don't recall being ever being required to sign up other than at the podium, except for the Public Comments at the end of City Council meetings, but in that instance, the President would ask if there was anyone else who wanted to speak.
And as I said at the meeting on February 8th, I am Not a Domestic Terrorist, I am Not a Conspiracy Theorist, and I am Not a Racist. I am a Concerned Citizen who should not be treated like a fly in the ointment...
The school board has nothing to fear from the citizens other than increased attendance as more people stand up for our children., and they would be better served if they respect the citizens that they were "appointed" to serve.
One other point of interest is that MCS President Jim Williams told Mr. Hiatt that his so-called experts on masking had "better things to do than responding to you".