What you learned in kindergarten, School board gets legal lesson

Citing the addition of several new board members elected to the Weston County School District No. 1 board of trustees in recent years, the board’s attorney, Allison Gee, of Lubnau Law in Gillette, provided some legal training to the board on Feb. 9. 
 
After presenting her background to the board, Gee began the lesson in legal issues by sharing her firm’s philosophy for representing boards. 
 
“We are the board’s attorney. We do not make policy decisions. We don’t insert ourselves into the process. You have to request our advice,” she said. “If we tried to fix everything that I thought should be a certain way, it would be taking away from the power the voters gave you when they elected you. We will tell you what is legal and what is not, when asked.” 
 
Gee noted that she represents the entire board and, therefore, would not get in the middle of arguments or disputes between board members. 
“I will tell you what the law is,” she said, adding that requests for services are to come from either Superintendent Brad LaCroix or board Chair John Riesland. 
 
Gee then presented guidelines included in Wyoming ethics and disclosure acts, or what her partner Tom Lubnau calls “what you learned in kindergarten,” she said. 
 
“You can’t use your position for private benefit. You can’t advocate for the district to hire a family member,” Gee said. “A lot of this is common knowledge, but it is good to go over it.” 
 
Other guidelines were that board members cannot participate in the supervision of decisions over family members and they cannot use public funds, time, personnel, facilities or equipment for personal benefit. 
 
“It happens a lot, using the copier or postage machine,” Gee said. She added that those items were purchased with public funds and said it is important that the board be good stewards of those funds. 
 
“That is why those rules are in place,” she said. 
 
The next topic addressed by the attorney was the role of board members as far as political issues are concerned. According to Gee, the board is allowed to educate people, including legislators, on issues affecting students, funding for schools or district issues, in general, but they are not allowed to lobby for a specific outcome. 
 
Gee suggested that board members complete a funding and conflict of interest disclosure. The document is required of the top-five state officials and is completed by other elected individuals. 
 
“We find it helpful for boards to do that, to disclose what business and financial interests might overlap,” she said. “... It allows for the board chair to know if issues that come up with the board will have potential conflict, so they can be identified ahead of time.” 
 
If a conflict of interest does exist, Gee recommended that board members with a conflict remove themselves from the room for both the discussion and vote on the issue. 
 

 
“When you are present in those rooms for the discussion, it can appear that you are influencing the discussion,” she said.
 
She added that there are five different state statutes addressing conflict of interest. 
 
“It is very clear that the Legislature thought this is something that we should be concerned about,” Gee said. 
 
The attorney also presented information on open meeting and public records law. Gee briefly outlined the requirements for meetings and special meetings, including the requirement for agendas and minutes for each meeting and the rules dictating special meetings. 
 
“There is also the Wyoming Public Records Act. With the expansion of the use of email and online document creation, it has made the application of the Public Records Act very interesting,” she said. 
 
According to Gee, everything written by an elected official has the potential to be a public record, although there are a few exceptions. 
 
“You should assume that if you write it, the public will see it. That is the best advice,” she said. 
 
In addition to presenting the legal lesson, Gee also expounded on the fiduciary duties of board members and the legal rights they have. 
 
As board members, Gee explained, three fiduciary duties are “kind of” outlined in state statute and through common law, or case law. 
 
“The first duty is loyalty. What that looks like is, you can’t use confidential information you get through your role to harm the district. You must look out for the district's best interest. Second, you have a duty of care. You must ask the questions a prudent person would to try and understand the issues,” she said.
 
“Last, you have the duty of obedience. You need to follow the rules and regulations of the district, policies, and local, state and public laws.” 
 
In an instance of litigation, Gee said that the district is obligated to provide legal resources to board members, but only if they were acting as trustees. 
 
“If it is not the business of the district, you don’t have the liability coverage of the district behind you,’ she said. “Make sure what you are doing is within the scope of what a board member should be doing.” 
 
To conclude the public portion of the legal presentation, Gee explained that there are times that board members may not receive all the information on certain issues, for good reason. The reason, she said, is that the board is the appellate body for decisions in the district. 
 
“From time to time, there are cases that may come before this board and it is important that the board, to the extent that it can, not have detailed information until the appeal of a decision comes before the board,” she said. “There are statutes for that, in the Wyoming Administrative Procedures Act, to try and make sure, the best you can, that this is a fair place for folks to come.” 
 
She noted that this process is crucial and allows for both sides in an appeals situation to present their case without the board having too much information beforehand. 
 
Following the public presentation, Gee spent roughly 40 minutes in executive session with the board discussing items that she called attorney-client privileged.