Seven Oaks Classical School has sued the Monroe County Board of Commissioners and county health department after the school’s appeal that it is violating the county mask mandate was denied last month.
The lawsuit said the commissioners violated Indiana’s Open Door Law by meeting in private and taking official action as a judicial body between the appeal hearing on Sept. 20 and final ruling on Sept. 23.
READ MORE: Monroe Co. Commissioners Deny Seven Oaks Classical School Appeal, Waive $250 Fine
“At no point in time between the hearing and the September 23 meeting was notice posted of an execution session,” the complaint reads. “Nor did the Seven Oaks appeal appear on the agenda for the September 22 or 23 meetings.”
The complaint said the Sept. 23 meeting took less than three minutes.
Additionally, Seven Oaks filed a complaint with the Indiana Public Access Counselor, or PAC. The commissioners responded to the complaint, but the PAC has not issued an opinion. The PAC’s response will analyze whether the law has been violated but is non-binding in court.
In the commissioner’s response to the PAC complaint, county attorney Lee Baker said the commissioners did deliberate and decide the issues outside of the public’s eye.
“In this context – the exercise of a judicial function – deliberation outside of a public meeting does not violate the requirements of the ODL,” Baker said. “In such matters, the Commissioners – as a quasi-judicial body – have inherent authority to deliberate judicial matters outside of a public meeting before issuing a timely, written decision.”
Additionally, Seven Oaks said the commissioners did not apply the appropriate standard of review to the citation appeal and is asking the court to review the denial.
“The Appeal Decision should be declared void because the Commissioners misstated the basis for the Plaintiff’s Appeal and misapplied the standard of review required when rendering an appeal decision,” the lawsuit reads.
Commissioners waived Seven Oaks $250 fine in September. The school paid $157 to file the lawsuit in Monroe Circuit Court on Tuesday.
