Ephrata school board to hear newspaper adviser's grievance in private

Open-government advocate questions decision to go behind closed doors

The Ephrata School Board will hear the grievance of former high school newspaper adviser Lois Gibbens next Thursday in a closed-door meeting, despite Gibbens' request to make the hearing public.

Gibbens has complained that her academic freedom was violated following a meeting with Ephrata High School Principal Scott Hudson about the May issue of the school newspaper, the Eye of the Tiger.

Following that meeting, Hudson sent Gibbens a memo, the language of which she claims violated her academic freedom, she said. She declined to go into further specifics because of the closed-door nature of the hearing.

The Eye of the Tiger became the center of controversy when school administrators requested a local business, Rock Park Coffee, to remove free copies of the May edition of the paper from it shelves following complaints administrators had received from some members of the community about some of the paper's content.

The paper was not completely removed from the public eye. A copy is still available in the high-school library, and distribution points within the school were not affected.

About 125 people showed up at the subsequent school board meeting, most wanting to know why the paper was removed from Rock Park Coffee. However, school board members refused to even hear discussion of the matter from the public, citing the grievance filed by the Ephrata Education Association of behalf of Gibbens and the need to keep the matter private.

During that meeting, Gibbens resigned her position as adviser to the Eye of the Tiger, which has received state and national awards for excellence during her eight-year tenure as adviser.

In interviews following the board meeting, Gibbens said Hudson requested review of the paper a day before publication — a right principals maintain under federal case law. Hudson, who is in his first year as Ephrata High School principal, had not reviewed the paper prior to publication until he received the complaints, he told the Herald.

Gibbens said she wants the grievance hearing to be public because of the high amount of community interest in the Eye of the Tiger.

"People had a lot of questions about what happened and what transpired," Gibbens said. "I'd like to tell my story so that everyone can hear."

Gibbens added that she would be willing to speak about the hearing after it has been completed.

The hearing in front of the school board is the third, and apparently final, step of the grievance process. Hudson, Gibbens' immediate supervisor, initially heard the grievance and denied it. In the second step, Superintendent Jerry Simon heard the grievance and also denied it. Simon said the school board is required to hold the grievance hearing behind closed doors.

"That's required by law. Grievance hearings are not public," Simon said.

The board will then have 10 working days to make its decision on the grievance, Simon said.

The question of whether the school board must close the hearing is murky, according to Chip Holcomb, a Washington state assistant attorney general.

Simon cited a section of the state's Open Public Meetings Act, Chapter 42.30.140, that allows a specific exception to allow governmental bodies to close grievance meetings.

Holcomb said in an interview with the Herald that he couldn't provide a specific definition of a grievance meeting, but it would constitute a specific exception to the open-meetings act.

However, Holcomb added that if he were the attorney representing Gibbens, he would argue the hearing should fall under the executive-session provision of the statute, which allows for an open hearing with Gibbens' permission.

Michele Earl-Hubbard, a Seattle media lawyer and vice president of the Washington Coalition for Open Government, said in an interview with the Herald that the school board is not required to close the meeting to the public. And, because Gibbens wants her story told, Earl-Hubbard said she believes the district should honor that request.

"If the employee is saying she wants it open, she has that right," Earl-Hubbard said.