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The following opinion is presented on-line for informational use only and does not replace the official version. (Mich Dept of Attorney General Web Site - www.ag.state.mi.us) STATE OF MICHIGAN FRANK J. KELLEY, ATTORNEY GENERAL Opinion No. 5632 January 24, 1980 SCHOOL DISTRICTS: Expunging of portion of minutes of board of education PRIVACY: Meetings of board of education The meetings of a board of education expelling a student from school for repeated violations of rules and regulations must list a student's name. Unedited minutes must be furnished to the public on request in accordance with law. Honorable Harry Gast State Senator The Capitol Lansing, Michigan You have requested my opinion on the following question: Should disciplinary action against a minor child by the board of education of a school district be considered privileged information and would exposure of this information constitute an unwarranted invasion of privacy? Your question is based upon the following facts: A local board of education met in private at the request of a student and his parents to consider repeated violations of rules and regulations by the student as to the possession and use of a controlled substance on school property during school hours. The board then met in open session to pass a resolution expelling the student from school. Minutes were kept as required and a copy of the minutes became available to the public. Later, a newspaper requested a copy of the minutes and then published the name of the student. 1976 PA 267; MCLA 15.261 et seq; MSA 4.1800(11) et seq, is known as the Open Meetings Act. When the board of education met in private to consider the disciplining of a student when requested to do so by the student or his or her parents, the board acted appropriately pursuant to 1976 PA 267, supra, Sec. 8. The desicion of the board of education to expel the student was made at a meeting open to the public in compliance with 1976 PA 267, supra, Sec. 3(2). Boards of education act only through their minutes. Tavener v Elk Rapids Rural Agricultural School District, 341 Mich 244; 67 NW2d 136 (1954). The minutes cannot be altered or supplemented by parol testimony. Cowley v School District No. 3 of Harrisville Township, 130 Mich 634; 90 NW 680 (1902). It must follow that in order for a board of education to act upon the expulsion of the student, the minutes of the board of education must contain the student's name. In 1976 PA 267, supra, Sec. 9, the legislature has provided: '(1) Each public body shall keep minutes of each meeting showing the date, time, place, members present, members absent, any decisions made at a meeting open to the public, and the purpose or purposes for which a closed session is held. The minutes shall include all roll call votes taken at the meeting. '(2) Minutes shall be public records open to public inspection and shall be available at the address designated on posted public notices pursuant to section 4. Copies of the minutes shall be available to the public at the reasonable estimated cost for printing and copying. '(3) Proposed minutes shall be available for public inspection not more than 8 business days after the meeting to which the minutes refer. Approved minutes shall be available for public inspection not later than 5 business days after the meeting at which the minutes are approved by the public body.' The action of the board of education in making the minutes available to the newspaper was only in fulfillment of a duty imposed upon the board of education by the Open Meetings Act, supra, Sec. 9. 1976 PA 267, supra, contains no provision for expunging information from minutes of a public body which may constitute an invasion of someone's privacy. While the Freedom of Information Act, 1976 PA 442, Sec. 13; MCLA 15.243; MSA 4.1801(13), authorizes a board of education, in its discretion, to exempt from disclosure information in a public record which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of an individual's privacy, it may not withhold the minutes in question in light of 1976 PA 442, Sec. 13(2), which provides: 'This act shall not authorize the withholding of information otherwise required by law to be made available to the public, or to a party in a contested case under Act No. 306 of the Public Acts of 1969, as amended.' (Emphasis supplied.) Presently, there is no statutory authority which permits information which might constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of an individual's privacy to be expunged from the minutes of a public body before it is furnished to the public. Until it does so, the board of education must furnish copies of its minutes without editing. It is, therefore, my opinion that minutes of a board of education expelling a student from school for repeated violations of rules and regulations must list the student's name and a copy of the unedited minutes must be furnished to the public upon request in accordance with law. Frank J. Kelley Attorney General
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