QVSD Board Schedules Midday Special Meeting for Closed-Door Talks on Litigation and Job Applicants

The Quillayute Valley School District Board of Directors will hold a special meeting today at 12:00 PM in the Forks High School Library/Media Center, with nearly the entire session set to take place behind closed doors.

According to the published agenda, the board will call the meeting to order, adopt the agenda, and then immediately retreat into executive session to address two items: "Legal - Litigation" and "Evaluate Applicants for Employment." Adjournment is the only remaining item. 

The agenda includes no public comment period. 

The meeting will be streamed on the district's YouTube channel, though state law bars the public from hearing the executive session itself.

Washington's Open Public Meetings Act permits governing bodies to meet privately with legal counsel to discuss litigation and to evaluate the qualifications of applicants for public employment. 

The law requires, however, that any final action be taken in open session. The agenda acknowledges this, stating the board's intent "to provide the public with an opportunity to hear action if taken as a result of the executive session," while cautioning that "a late hour may see an action item scheduled for the next meeting or require a special meeting."

The agenda does not identify which litigation the board will discuss or which position the applicants are seeking.

The special meeting arrives at a legally consequential moment for the district. On April 8, a federal jury in Tacoma found QVSD liable for subjecting former assistant cross-country coach Kari Larson to a hostile work environment, awarding her $250,000 in damages under the Washington Law Against Discrimination. 

The same jury declined to find the district or former head coach Brian Weekes liable for retaliation, and cleared Athletic Director and Title IX Coordinator Kyle Weakley of negligent supervision and retention claims.

The verdict has kept public pressure on the board. At meetings in April and May, community members used public comment periods to demand transparency and question the administration's oversight of coaches and staff, with some calling for a citizen advisory group on student safety. 

Today's agenda offers no such forum.

Special meetings, unlike the board's regular evening sessions, can be called on 24 hours' notice and are limited to the business stated in the notice. 

The unusual midday start time, when many working parents cannot attend, means most community members will experience this meeting, if at all, through a livestream of a room the board has largely emptied of public business.

 We will monitor the meeting and report any action taken in open session.