Cook accuses Kent School Board of Open Public Meetings Act violations
Published 12:10 pm Friday, May 8, 2026
Kent School Board director Donald Cook has accused his fellow board members of violating the state Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA).
Cook claims in a May 7 Facebook post that the Kent School District board violated the OPMA during each of its executive sessions on May 6.
“I won’t speak to specifically what was discussed during either meeting; but the violations I am referring to revolved around two things,” Cook said.
He said those are:
“1. There is no such thing as evaluation of a public officer as a topic for discussion during executive session (see RCW 42.30.110). The board doesn’t have the authority to evaluate public officers, that’s the voters’ job at the ballot box. Including that language misleads our community, in my opinion.
“2. The discussion held during the second executive session did not match the noticed purpose in its entirety. I brought this up during the meeting and was told all issues discussed were appropriate for the noticed meeting; after review of the noticed purposes yesterday (May 6), I realized some topics of discussion during our second executive session were not noticed to our community.”
The public notices about each executive session stated the purpose was “to discuss potential litigation, and the legal or financial risks of a course of action.”
A board can “receive and evaluate complaints or charges brought against a public officer or employee,” according to RCW 42.30.110, but says nothing about an actual evaluation of a public officer. In addition, “upon the request of such officer or employee, a public hearing or a meeting open to the public shall be conducted upon such complaint or charge.”
Cook wishes the board made a better effort to understand the OPMA and what can be discussed.
“In the past, I’ve suggested other board members contact legal experts at WSSDA (Washington State School Directors Association), the Attorney General’s office, or OSPI (Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction) to get a second opinion on these sorts of issues like I have previously,” Cook said. “Maybe one of our newer directors will take that advice, I guess we’ll see.”
The Kent Reporter has reached out to the Kent School District communications team for comment but has not received a response.
Previous violations
A King County Superior Court judge ruled in July 2025 that the Kent School Board twice violated the state’s OPMA during an executive session in June 2023 and again in May 2024, as previously reported by the Kent Reporter.
Joseph and Allison Riley, residents of the Kent School District, filed a civil suit Sept. 23, 2024 against the district and the board for the violations.
According to court documents, the Kent School Board on May 15, 2024 held a closed executive session meeting that discussed the process and criteria for a performance review of Superintendent Israel Vela. The judge noted a board can hold a closed session for a performance review of a public employee but not to discuss the process and criteria for a review.
A judge ruled that violated state law. Members of the board during May 2024 were Meghin Margel, Tim Clark, Awale Farah, Cook and Andy Song. Margel, the current board president, and Cook are still on the board.
The second violation occurred June 28, 2023 when the board failed to announce the purpose of a closed meeting, which is required by law, according to court documents. The announced purpose was to discuss the evaluation of a public officer or employee. But the board also discussed potential litigation and the legal or financial risks of a course of action (a resolution against a proposed Battery Energy Storage System near Mattson Middle School) with legal counsel.
School board members in June 2023 were Margel, Clark, Farah, Joe Bento and Leslie Hamada.
