Walker County Schools Executive Sessions Violate Open Meetings Laws

Closed-Door Discussions Range From Liberty First to Football Equipment to ESPLOST to Far Right Religious Groups, to Uniforms and Donations. District Leadership illegally Hides Topics from Public View

In 1788, when our country was in it’s infancy, a prescient patriot named Patrick Henry sounded an alarm about Government behind closed doors. "The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure," Henry proclaimed, "when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them."

Over two centuries later, it appears the leadership of Walker County Schools has forgotten this fundamental lesson. The image below is recently uncovered executive session minutes—never meant to be seen by the public—from a Walker County Board of Education meeting. The minutes reveal a blatant disregard for the laws of Georgia, transparency, and the public trust.

I redacted individual names from the minutes.

For those unfamiliar, executive sessions are closed-door meetings where governing bodies in Georgia MAY discuss a narrow set of sensitive topics, such as personnel matters or real estate acquisitions, out of the public eye. However, the law is clear - these exceptions must be construed very narrowly, and public officials have the option to keep all discussions open if they so choose, which they should try to do. The intent is to protect necessary confidentiality, not to provide a wall of secrecy for officials to hide behind. The public's business should be done in public to the maximum extent possible.

Yet in Walker County Schools, it seems district leadership has forgotten this crucial distinction. The executive session minutes reveal a laundry list of topics that have no business being discussed behind closed doors:

• district pensions and benefits (Teacher Retirement System),

• an organization called Liberty First

• Unite Rallies

• far-right religious ideology

• football helmet purchases

• uniforms

• donations

• ESPLOST funds

• turf sports fields

• and a YouTube report

Not a single one of these items comes close to meeting the legal criteria for executive session. Zero.

The audacity is stunning. The blame starts with Superintendent Damon Raines, who is tasked with upholding the integrity of the district. Yet, he put these inappropriate items on the secret agenda in blatant violation of state law, conducted the meeting, and is responsible for the minutes. As the district's leader, he knows better. By flouting open meetings laws, Raines shows either staggering ignorance or staggering arrogance. Neither inspires confidence.

But Raines' assault on open government doesn't stop with illegal secret meetings. Not content to merely ignore open meetings laws, Raines has made secrecy a guiding principle of his administration. Board meetings and work sessions are neither video recorded nor live-streamed, leaving constituents in the dark about the activities of their elected officials.. Agendas for these meetings aren't even posted on the district website, but instead buried in a glitchy third-party platform with all the user-friendliness of a dial-up internet.

Even the open meeting minutes, the only official record of the board's actions, are treated like classified state secrets - they're not posted on the district website directly nor social media, and only a select cadre of district insiders receive them via email.

But hey, why make public information easily accessible when you can play hide-and-seek with the very people you're supposed to serve? It's not like Walker County residents have a right to know how their tax dollars are being spent or what policies are being crafted that directly impact their children's education. Oh wait, they do.

The school district has started producing short "Board in Action" videos, presumably to create the illusion of transparency without any of the substance. But rather than posting these videos on official district social channels, they're posted to the superintendent’s personal YouTube account while the district does not even have an official account. It's yet another obfuscation designed to keep the public in the dark while maintaining a veneer of openness. This is similar to the approach seen with district reading test scores. How are those scores anyway?

The consequences of this culture of secrecy are all too real. The exposure of these executive session minutes is but the latest in a pattern of secrecy and deception from the district leadership. Just last year, Raines failed to notify parents, teachers, staff, and the board for six months that water fountains and faucets in four elementary schools were contaminated with toxic lead. And when confronted in a subsequent live TV appearance, he had the gall to lie about when the board was informed.

A superintendent willing to cover up threats to children's health and lie to the public and board has forfeited any claim to moral authority or public trust.

And that's the crux of the issue. Trust. The compact between a government and its citizens is built on a foundation of transparency and accountability. When public officials operate in the shadows, when they treat open records and meetings laws as mere suggestions, when they actively conspire to conceal their actions from the very people they serve, that trust is shattered. As James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, warned, "A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both."

Nearly two centuries later, the Walker County School District seems hell-bent on proving Madison right.

Despite that, Raines continues to enjoy total protection from any scrutiny or accountability thanks to his sycophantic school board majority. Yes, Carruth, Harden, and Wilson - the unholy trinity of secrecy, boot licking, and utter disregard for the public they're supposed to serve.

They are perfectly happy with closed-door meetings and shrouded governing. In the April board meeting, the trio came back from executive session and voted to extend Superintendent Raines' contract to June 2027, a whopping 15 months before it was set to expire! And did they consult the two incoming board members who will be stuck with that decision for half their term in office? Of course not! Because who needs to do the right thing when you've got a culture of nepotism and a good old boys' club to maintain?

The fact is, these board members have forgotten who they serve. They've forgotten that they were elected to represent the interests of students, parents, and the community at large. Instead, they've chosen to prioritize their own agendas, their own power, and their own cozy relationships with a superintendent who views accountability and scrutiny as a personal affront.

The executive session minutes reveal much. But it's not just a violation of the letter of the law. It's a betrayal of the spirit of Georgia's constitution, which reminds us that public officials are always answerable to the citizens they serve. Georgians should be appalled by this assault on transparency, but not surprised. At the state level, lawmakers must stiffen open government laws and empower citizens with realistic enforcement pathways to crack down on violations. Transparency is not optional; it is a fundamental obligation of those entrusted with power.

The uncovered executive session minutes are just the beginning. They are the crack in the dam of secrecy and lies, the first ray of sunlight piercing the darkness. But it's up to the parents, teachers, leaders, and people of Walker County to turn that crack into a flood, to turn that ray of sunlight into a blinding spotlight of accountability.

"There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right."

Martin Luther King Jr.

For the sake of children, the community, and the very principles upon which our nation was founded, the time to take that position is now. The leaders of Walker County Schools must be held to account, and the culture of secrecy and lies must be shattered. The responsibility falls on each and every one of us. The people must commit to not accepting even one more lie. The lies end now, and the people must be heard.

As Patrick Henry understood, a government shrouded in secrecy is no government at all. It's a confederacy of co-conspirators, more concerned with protecting themselves than serving the people.

The next board meeting is May 20th.