Unlike many newspapers across the country, the Observer made no mention of Sunshine Week last month. The annual observance bolsters the public’s right to know through practices of open government.

It was a good week in Washington, D.C, with Congress passing four laws to strengthen public access to government records, countering actions from recent years for the federal government to operate in secret and avoid public scrutiny.

Unfortunately, just a month after Sunshine Week passed, the Gorham Fayette Board of Education met in a closed session that pushed up against practices of open government.

When it came time to choose a replacement for board member Kim Winzeler who resigned, the board went into a closed session.

We’re not concerned about whether or not this is illegal in the state of Ohio, it’s just the very act of closing out the public that we find troubling.

We were told that the interview would be in a closed session, then the board would come out to discuss the issue and vote. In actuality, the board came out of the closed session and voted. There was no discussion for the public to hear.

Perhaps it isn’t a “big deal” to interview a pair of school board candidates in private— there are certainly worse actions that could be taken to cover over the sunshine—but how does it serve the public at all to operate in this manner?

We hope all local government bodies think about the issue of openness, not just during Sunshine Week but at every meeting.