In April, the Mustang, Oklahoma school board announced they had voted to
to implement a Bible course developed by the president of Hobby Lobby, Steve Green.
Daily Kos user ProgLegs shared the news report:
Mustang will be the only public school district in the state to pilot the program. Green hopes the course, which teaches about the "narrative, history, and impact" of the Bible, will be in "hundreds" of schools in 2015 and thousands the year after.
Now new information has come to light that Hobby Lobby president Steve Green met privately with school board members,
which appears to be a clear violation of the Oklahoma Open Meetings Act:
The April 14 meetings with Steve Green and other members of the Museum of the Bible curriculum team occurred just hours before the Mustang School Board approved the course as an elective for the fall. The Mustang superintendent acknowledged insisting on separate presentations so the public wouldn’t have to be invited, and did so at the direction of Green and his public relations representatives.
“I want to emphasize again that per my conversation with Ashleigh and the decision to break into two groups, that this will not be a public meeting,” Superintendent Sean McDaniel wrote in one of the emails obtained under an Open Records Act request, referring to a woman at the Saxum public relations company, which represents Hobby Lobby and helped set up the meetings.
The Oklahoma County prosecutor said the move — which involved the board leaving its base in Canadian County and traveling to Oklahoma City — could create a potential violation if it is proven to be a deliberate attempt to go around laws that require government bodies to meet openly.
“Even if there’s an out-of-county board, if they come here and meet in an attempt to circumvent the Open Meetings Act, just because they’ve met in a place that’s not routine, doesn’t mean they circumvent their requirements for meetings,” Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said. ”If someone is going to that great of length to avoid quorum, it sounds like they’re being pretty darn careful.”
Although the Oklahoma County prosecutor has indicated it could be a serious violation, no word on whether an official investigation is underway.
You can view a video report on the case from Oklahoma City's News9.com here.