Judge finds Newberg school board members willingly violated public meeting laws

Published 2:00 pm Friday, January 26, 2024

Judge Cynthia Easterday orders current board members Trevor DeHart and Renee Powell and former board members Dave Brown and Brian Shannon to reimburse the district at least $42,845.

Two current and two former members of the Newberg school board met illegally outside of public session in a quorum and did so knowing their actions violated public meeting laws, according to a recent Yamhill County Circuit Court ruling.

That’s according to a determination made Thursday by Judge Cynthia Easterday. She was ruling on a civil lawsuit filed in 2021 by seven members of the community after the board hired Canby attorney Tyler Smith as supplemental counsel, despite the district having counsel on hand. The school district paid Smith at least $42,845 over the course of about 18 months. The lawsuit was against the four defendants as well as the district itself.

Easterday’s decision means defendants Trevor DeHart and Renee Powell, who remain on the board, past board chairman Dave Brown and former board vice-chairman Brian Shannon must each reimburse the school district a minimum of $10,625 in fees paid to Smith. There is some uncertainty on how much the defendants must reimburse the school district because their counsel advised Smith to hold off on some of the billings until after the case was decided.

In addition to reimbursing the district, the fees that that the individuals defendants’ counsel, Portland attorney Chelsea Pyasetskyy, accrued in arguing their case are likely in the tens of thousands as well.

In her opinion, Easterday provided a lengthy synopsis of the evidence and testimony presented during the three-day trial that ended Nov. 30. Toward the end of the three-page finding, she concentrated on the content of texts and phone calls between the four board members prior to the August 2021 meeting where it was decided to hire Smith.

The majority’s decision came despite the protests of the three minority members of the board — Rebecca Piros, Brandy Penner and Inez Peña — who argued they had been given no prior warning and that it was clear the majority was determined to go forward regardless of the legality of their actions.

“On August 24, 2021, at 5 p.m. the board meeting was to begin,” Easterday wrote. “At 5:01 p.m., when Mr. Brown was not at the board meeting Zoom video call, Mr. Shannon sent Mr. Brown a text that said, “meeting time.” Mr. Brown’s response was, “I’m sick. I’ll be in quickly.” Mr. Shannon’s response was “We’re screwed if you don’t get here right now.”

Easterday’s determination was clear that Brown, Shannon, DeHart and Powell had collaborated outside of open session to hire Smith to represent them as they weathered the backlash of their decision a month earlier to ban political signs from classrooms in the district.

“The court finds that the plaintiffs’ evidence is sufficient, by a preponderance of the evidence standard, to establish that the defendants met as a quorum of the board privately on the above issue,” Easterday wrote. “The court finds that the defendants were trying to get around the public meetings law in order to have Mr. Smith, an attorney aligned with their legal objectives, to provide legal consultation. Even during the meeting, the defendants use the term “we” and “they” collectively.

“The court also finds that the conduct was an intentional disregard of the law and/or willful misconduct. Therefore, the defendants shall repay to the Newberg School District all monies the district paid to Tyler Smith by the district.”

Easterday then directed the plaintiffs’ counsels, Lake Oswego attorneys Judy Snyder and Melissa Hopkins, to prepare the trial order and judgement against Brown, Shannon, DeHart and Powell. The opinions were delivered to the counsels for both the defendants and plaintiffs, a judicial assistant remarked, so the case will not return to the courtroom.

Easterday’s decision also voids an action taken by the board in November 2021 when they passed a motion on a 4-3 vote to “remedy” or reaffirm their August decision to hire Smith.

The district’s counsel, Portland attorney C. Robert Steringer, deferred comment on Easterday’s decision to the school district.

“Yamhill County Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Easterday’s decision was brought to the attention of Newberg-Dundee Public Schools leaders late in the afternoon on Thursday,” Jillian Daley, the district’s communications and community relations coordinator, said in an email. “School district leaders are currently reviewing the judge’s order and will determine the next steps to take after completing this review.”

Snyder and Hopkins said they were heartened when they heard of Easterday’s decision Thursday evening.

“I can say I speak for all of the plaintiffs, as well as myself and Judy, that we are very excited to get this ruling from Judge Easterday,” Hopkins said.

Attempts to contact the defendant’s counsel, Portland attorney Chelsea Pyasetskyy, were unsuccessful by press time Friday afternoon.

Will the defendants appeal?

In Oregon, decisions by judges or juries in civil lawsuits may be appealed to a higher court, but the appeal is not a second chance for litigants to argue their case. Instead, for an appeal to be successful, counsel must demonstrate that either the judge or jury erred in applying the law.

In this particular case, Pyasetskyy would file the appeal on behalf of the four defendants, not the school district.

Defendants escape larger financial hit

In a decision rendered during the last day of the trial, Easterday ruled that that plaintiffs’ counsel had not sufficiently proved that a November 2021 board meeting that had included a vote to terminate the contract of former superintendent Joe Morelock violated the state’s public meetings laws. As such, Brown, Shannon, DeHart and Powell were spared from paying the largest claim filed against them by the plaintiffs, a roughly $275,000 reimbursement for the severance package it had paid to Morelock upon his termination.

Easterday found that although the November 2021 meeting was poorly orchestrated and not properly noticed, “I’d be hard pressed to call that an executive session” and therefore the decision to fire Morelock was deemed to have occurred in public session and didn’t violate the law.

She granted a directed verdict in favor of the district as requested by Steringer and enjoined by Pyasetskyy.

“The court finds that the defendants were trying to get around the public meetings law in order to have Mr. Smith, an attorney aligned with their legal objectives, to provide legal consultation.”

Judge Cynthia Easterday

  • Earlier stories that indicated that some of the seven plaintiff’s in the lawsuit were formerly employed by the school district were erroneous. We regret the error.
  • Attorney Robert Steringer has argued that he did not suggest, as was reported, that former school board secretary Jenn Nelson was at fault for confusion and inaccurate record keeping during the August 2021 meeting. Although we differ on the account of that particular aspect of the November trail, we have removed that reference from an earlier story.