The Newton County Board of Education will likely undergo mediation with the Attorney General's office following a formal complaint filed by The News.

The complaint was sparked by what appeared to be an illegal executive session March 20.

At the meeting, board chairman Eddie Johnson reportedly instructed Superintendent Gary Mathews to leave the room and, along with board attorney Kent Campbell, requested that co-chair Jeff Meadors remove his board affiliation from a column he writes for The Citizen newspaper.

In doing this, the board violated several of its own ethics codes and, it appears, the Open Records Act, which only allows closed meetings for certain discussions, such as land acquisition, personnel and pending litigation.

Although Attorney General Sam Olens can file civil and criminal charges against boards and individual members who violate the Open Records Act, their department typically attempts mediation first.

According to www.georgia.gov, the attorney general's office requested legislation in 1997that would amend the state's Open Meetings and Open Records Act and allow citizens and government agencies to "resolve their disputes without resorting to litigation." If, after mediation, the issue is not resolved to meet the law, the attorney general's office can move forward with litigation should they choose to do so.

According to a letter sent to attorney Campbell April 3 from Senior Assistant Attorney General Stefan Ritter, "Under Georgia law the Attorney General has the discretionary authority to enforce the Open Records and Open Meetings Acts... This office has chosen to exercise that authority by operating an open governmental mediation program wherein we attempt to resolve disputes between citizens and local governments."

The letter goes on to say, "...it is not clear to me how concerns over a newspaper column could lead to executive session; such would not on its surface appear to be covered by the personnel exception."

Campbell was given 10 days to respond to Ritter's letter.

All members of the board of education, along with Mathews and Campbell, were contacted. Mathews reiterated that he has "no comments as to the meeting as I was not included in it."

With the exception of Meadors, no other board member responded. Meadors said, "At this time I have been advised by counsel to withhold comment."