Higley school board member wants more access to district counsel
Screen capture from YouTube
Attorney Jennifer MacLennan, who contracts with the Higley Unified School District to give legal counsel, speaks to the governing board about a policy that would open up who could speak to district counsel from the district.
A Higley Unified School District Governing Board member wants unfettered access to district counsel and has proposed a change to board policy to get it.
Board Member Anna Van Hoek’s proposed policy calls for “the superintendent and all board members have equal rights to consult with counsel.” It further calls for “(w)ithout restriction, board members can get legal opinions or discuss legal matters with district counsel. District counsel may communicate directly with any board member.”
Current policy limits the district to the superintendent and the president of the board as the only representatives who may confer with counsel.
The proposed policy was set to go before the board for a second read at the board’s Oct. 11 meeting, at which point the board could pass the proposal into formal policy.
However, as the last item at a meeting that already lasted nearly four hours, Van Hoek called for the item to be tabled until December. The board voted unanimously to do so.
The idea of changing the policy to give each board member access to counsel came up in September. Van Hoek said then that she wanted to amend the policy to state that the superintendent can recommend district staff to the board for approval to consult with the attorney for the purpose of bringing back control to the board about who is allowed to contact the attorneys.
Furthermore, Van Hoek said she believes that other board members should be able to contact legal counsel if the issue is with the superintendent or board members and because they were all equally elected and all should be able to contact legal counsel.
However, Board Member Kristina Reese said such a change could have unintended consequences for the district.
Board Member Amanda Wade said funneling questions through the superintendent to legal counsel helps restrict prepaid legal costs, thus protecting taxpayer funds.
Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on X. We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
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