If the school board — or any other local government agency — conducts a special called or emergency meeting, someone must first call the newspaper. 

The public and press must be notified prior to any meetings of the board of education, county commission, city council, hospital authority or any commission, authority or committee of local government. 

An attempt to circumvent the public notice requirement of the Georgia Open Meetings Act is a violation of the law. 

If there is a special called or an emergency meeting, the government agency must contact the newspaper in advance of the meeting, so we can let the public know. 

According to “Georgia’s Sunshine Laws, A Citizen’s Guide to Open Government,” published by the Georgia First Amendment Foundation in partnership with the Office of the Georgia Attorney General, “the law requires that agencies provide notice to the public in advance of all meetings, even emergency meetings.

“That means agencies must make information available to the general public by, in the case of regular meetings, posting at least one week in advance a notice containing the information in a conspicuous location at the agency’s regular meeting place and on its website if the agency has one. The notice must do more than simply meet the technical requirements of the law. It must be sufficient to reasonably apprise a concerned party of an upcoming meeting and must not be misleading. 

“Special or emergency meetings that are not held at the regularly posted time and place require more rigorous notice procedures.

“Such notice includes the posting at least 24 hours in advance at the regular meeting place and oral notification to the newspaper which serves as the legal organ for the county.”

Even for the so-called emergency meetings, GFAF says, “the agency holding such meetings must make an agenda of all matters expected to be considered available upon request and must post the agenda at the meeting site as far in advance as possible.”

Despite past practices of some local governments, simply posting a special called meeting on a government website, a bulletin board or even the front door of the building is not sufficient. 

The law requires the agency to call or visit the newspaper and give verbal notification. 

Then, the media can alert the public and can also cover the meeting. 

All the public’s business must be done in public.