BY TOM CAIAZZA
Staff Writer
In light of recent public questions over the transfer of faculty and staff at Holmdel High School, the Board of Education and the administration have taken a firm stance of not commenting on personnel matters.
They cite the legal ramifications of doing so under the Open Public Meetings Act or “Sunshine Law” that governs the participation of the public in all government throughout New Jersey. The Sunshine Law states that the public must be privy to all aspects of governing bodies’ decision-making processes barring few exceptions, including the discussion of public employee job performances.
According to Mike Yaple, a spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association, boards of education are compelled to release a notification to an employee if that employee’s job performance will be discussed in closed session. A “Rice Notice” is given to the employee in question, Yaple said, at which point the employee is legally allowed to request the discussion take place in an open session.
According to Yaple, the onus lies on the employee to request such recourse, and failure to do so voids their ability to compel the body to do once a decision is made.
“The Rice process is the employee’s bite at the apple,” Yaple said. “There is no process set up to allow employees to discuss the personnel matters in public after the fact.”
In the case of the teacher transfers, the employee’s only recourse is to request that the Board of Education begin the Rice process over again, or compel the board through legal action, according to Yaple. Yaple said that a board could choose to discuss the matter in open session, but invites the risk of being held liable for releasing confidential personal information.
The Rice process provides protection for both the governing body and the public employee. It balances the board’s right to discuss personnel information and the employee’s right to know what is occurring to his/her employment, Yaple said.