San Ysidro School District agrees to do-over

Lawyers for the San Ysidro School District agreed Wednesday to place the appointment of a new trustee back on the agenda for a do-over.

The district was threatened with a lawsuit last month by attorney Cory Briggs. He was acting on behalf of San Diegans for Open Government and community activist Chris Shilling, who accused San Ysidro of violating the state open-meeting law by denying the public’s right to comment on the appointment of Steve Kinney to the school board.

Attorney Sandra Garcia said that while the district disagrees with how events surrounding the trustee’s appointment were characterized, it will put board interviews and appointment of a new trustee on the Nov. 12 meeting agenda “out of an abundance of caution and the mutual desire for public participation and transparency.”

Briggs alleged the district broke the open-meeting law Sept. 24 when the district’s lawyer, William Trejo, forbid members of the public to comment on Kinney’s appointment before trustees voted. Trejo told trustees they could not hear from the public at that time because there was no agenda item for public comment related to the appointment.

Briggs said the law requires the public to be given an opportunity to comment on an agenda item before or during consideration of each item.