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Questions Into Closed Great Falls School Board Session

By KFBB News Team

Story Created: Feb 8, 2010 at 10:14 PM MST

Story Updated: Feb 8, 2010 at 10:30 PM MST

The Great Falls School Board held its regular meeting on Monday night, but now there are some questions as to what happened before the official meeting began.

At 5:30 PM Monday evening, the school board went into a closed session, meaning no members of the public or media were allowed to document what was talked about. The board says the closed session was to "discuss pending litigation with counsel."

When questioned, Superintendent Cheryl Crawley said it was to discuss the abuse allegations at North Middle School. Members of the media questioned whether this is a violation of Montana's open meetings law, but Crawley says she feels confident the board was within its legal rights to do so.

Crawley says "There is a provision in the Montana statute that allows a school district board to be able to hold a closed session if there is litigation pending that might effect the school district."

You may recall, the state filed charges against two Great falls para-professionals last fall for allegedly abusing a special needs student at North Middle School. Both para-professionals have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

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Maria said on Tuesday, Feb 9 at 9:37 AM

Wonder if the change to ware-house preschool, special ed was brought on due to this issue???

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