VIEW THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENT HERE

September 24, 2026

Dear Crawford County Community,

I am writing in response to a correction published in Issue 39 of The Georgia Post on Thursday, September 24, 2026. That correction set the record straight on Board Member Erica O'Neal's vote on the school district's budget. However, the note attached to the correction misstates Georgia law and suggests that the school system withheld information it was required to provide. Neither is accurate, and I want to set the record straight.

What Georgia law requires

The Post's note states that minutes "are to be posted for the public within 72 hours following the meeting." No such requirement exists. The Georgia Open Meetings Act, O.C.G.A. § 50-14-1(e)(2), sets two separate requirements:

• Under O.C.G.A. § 50-14-1(e)(2)(A), a written summary of the subjects acted on and the members present must be made available to the public for inspection within two business days of the meeting's adjournment.

• Under O.C.G.A. § 50-14-1(e)(2)(B), the official minutes must be promptly recorded and become open to public inspection once approved by the Board, and no later than immediately following the Board's next regular meeting.

In short, minutes are not required to be released within 72 hours. They become available once the Board approves them.

What actually happened

On Friday, September 11, the Post's reporter emailed our office asking for the minutes of the September 8 meeting. Our staff responded within minutes, explaining that the minutes could not be released until the Board approves them at its next meeting, which is consistent with state law. When the reporter asked for a draft, staff explained that the minutes were not available at that time.

The reporter then asked a follow-up question about the budget discussion, seeking to clarify whether figures mentioned for the General Administration and Central Support Services budgets were new totals or amounts of change. Within an hour, our staff sent her a link to the meeting's financial reports and all related attachments on the Board's public meeting portal. She replied, "Thank you."

At no point did the reporter ask how any Board member voted. The reporter also attended the September 8 meeting in person, where every vote was taken publicly as the law requires. The error regarding Ms. O'Neal's vote had nothing to do with the availability of minutes, and presenting the Post's statement that it "never received" the minutes alongside that error leaves readers with a misleading impression.

Our commitment to transparency

The Crawford County School System is committed to transparency. Currently, there is no Board policy on posting meeting summaries to the school district's website. I will place this item on the agenda for discussion and a vote at the next Board meeting on October 13. If approved, the district will post summaries of all Board meetings online, in addition to making them available upon request as required by Georgia law.

Video recordings of Board meetings are already available on the district's website at crawfordschools.org, under Board > Minutes > Recordings. Anyone with questions about what took place at a Board meeting this school year is welcome to watch these recordings.

We welcome the Post's coverage, and our staff will continue to respond promptly to reporters' requests. We ask only that Georgia law, our staff's handling of those requests, and the content of our meetings be described accurately.

How Board votes work

Because the original article described a vote as "yes with reservations," I also want to explain how voting works at Board meetings.

On any motion, a Board member has three choices: yes, no, or abstain. "Yes with reservations" or "no with reservations" is not a separate kind of vote. A member may express reservations, but the vote itself is counted and recorded as a plain yes or no.

[The Crawford County Board of Education follows Robert's Rules of Order.] Under Robert's Rules, the time for members to voice concerns is during discussion, before the vote. A member might say, "I have concerns about some of this spending, but I'll support it," or "For those reasons, I can't support this budget." Board members are elected to use their judgment, and explaining their reasoning publicly is good practice that supports transparency. That is exactly what Ms. O'Neal did when she voted no and explained her concerns.

A member may also abstain, most commonly because of a conflict of interest. An abstention does not count as a yes or no vote, although for actions that require a majority of the full Board, an abstention has the same practical effect as a no vote.

Georgia law, O.C.G.A. § 50-14-1(e)(2)(B), requires the minutes to include a record of all votes. On a roll-call vote, each member's name and vote are recorded. On other votes, the action is presumed to have been approved by every member present unless the minutes list the names of those voting against or abstaining. The minutes are not required to record members' reasons, though a board may choose to summarize discussion.

Thank you for your continued interest in and support of our schools.

Sincerely,

Anthony Aikens

Superintendent, Crawford County School System