Shhh! Jim Vaughn's Got a Secret!

That's right.  County Commissioner Jim Vaughn wants the Ad Hoc Committee on School Safety to meet in secret.  To devise recommendations in secret.  And possibly to make recommendations to the County Commission that are shrouded in secrecy. 

The problem is:  State law requires the public's business to be conducted in public.  In open meetings.  Here's another challenge:  The County Commission can meet and talk about school safety all day every day -- but the School Board sets policy for what goes on in schools.  The only role for the County Commission is if/when funding is required -- the Commission can fund or not fund the Board's requests. 

So, this supposedly secret information would have no force or effect at all unless the secrets discussed in the secret committee are shared -- publicly -- with the School Board. 

Of course, the School Board has already made recommendations on school safety to the County Commission.  And the Commission has so far NOT taken those recommendations up and is not scheduled to take them up at its February 25th meeting. 

In fact, it seems the County Commission is poised to do little in terms of school safety until Jim Vaughn's committee gets permission to conduct business in secret.  Then, of course, we won't know what they're doing because it will happen behind closed doors.