JIM MAllOX 

Attorney General 

Suprem Court Building 

P. 0. BOX 12548 

Aurtln. TX. 70711- 2548 

512l47%?m 

1d.X 9101874.1367 

lelecoplrr 5lY47502ea 

714 Jackson. Suite 700 

cwllos. TX. 75202.4506 

2W742-8944 

4824 Alberta Ave.. Sulle 100 

El Paso, TX. 799052793 

9lW533.3.484 

- 

1001 T.Yxas. Suite 700 

Houston. TX. 77002-3111 

713/222-5886 

W6 Broadway, Suite 312 

Lubbock. TX. 794014479 

806/747-3238 

4399 N. Tenth. Suits B 

McAllen, TX. 78501.1685 

512/682-4547 

200 Main Plus. Suite 400 

San Antonio. TX. 78205-2797 

512l225-4191 

An Equal Opportunityl 

Attirmative Action Employer 

P 

The Attorney General of Texas 

Aquet 14, 1985 

Eooorable Carl A. Parker 

cheirmall 

Education Committc:e: 

Texas State Senetc! 

P. 0. Box 12068, Cepitol Station 

Austin, Texas 711711 

Dear Senator Parkm: 

opinion No. JM-340 

Re: Whether a grievance hearing 

is open to the public under eertale circumstances and related 

questions 

You ask whether the Open Meetings Law required au Alamo Comunlty 

College District grlwance committee to diacuaa e terminated 

employee’s grievewe in open session. You also ask whether the 

chancellor could order persona to leave the premises of the district 

headquarters. Newspaper clippings which you have submftted describe 

the circumstances Iof the grievance coxmittee hearing. 

On March 29, 1985. a grievance conmlttee met to hear a grievance 

filed by a dlatrfct secretary who had been terminated. The cormnittee 

vae appointed according to the folloving procedure of the Alaeo 

Community College ‘District: 

The three-member grievantie coxmittee shall be ad 

hoc. Its members shall be appointed by the 

President (or Chancellor, as appropriate) from a 

list of six or more employeea agreed upon by (a) 

the appropriate Vice President or Director of 

Buainew Services (for college employees) or Vice 

Chancel.lor (for District exployeea) and (b) the 

elected head of the appropriate employee group or 

(when the grievant is an administrator) an ACCD 

eeployc:r designated by the committee from an 

elected or appointed pool, so long as the pool is 

large enough to ensure that a small number of 

employws are not asked to ~serve repeatedly. 

Persow involved in the grievance process are 

excludartl . 

The grievance po:L:Lcy states as follows: 

4. Within five (5) days after receiving the 

grievfcxe committee’s recommendation. the 

p. 1548 
Honorable Carl A. Parker - PIIS~ 2 (311-340) 

- \ 

-I 

, 

President (or Chancellor, for District office 

employees) must communicate his or her decision in 

vritlng to the involved parties. College 

employees may appeal the Prealdent’ o decision to 

the Chancellor c’s his/her designee. A final 

appeal may be made to the Board of Trustees and 

must be filed vlthin ten (10) days following the 

last level of appeal. At the Board’s discretion, 

such an appeal msy be handled either through a 

review of the griwance record or through a formal 

hearing. The final decision will be cmnicated 

in vriting to the involved parties vlthin five (5) 

days after the Bod%rd completes ite deliberations. 

Alamo District Policy Manua:L, What’s What, Policy No. IV 4-29. 

When the grievance ccmmlttee convened the March 29 hearing at 

9:00 a.m., two reporters from the San Antonio College student 

newspaper were present. The reporters had spoken to the employee 

about attending the hearing and she did not object to their presence. 

The chancellor’s special assistant told the reporters that the hearing 

was closed. They attempted twice more to attend, without success. 

The chancellor ultimately c;alled the campus police who arrived after 

x the students had left the hearing room and were waiting outside the 

building for it to end. Campus police ordered them to leave the 

premises and filed dieordexly conduct complaints against them. 

The Open Meetings Act applies to meetings of a “governmental 

body” defined as follows: 

(c) ‘Governmental body’ means [l] any board, 

commission, department. committee. or agency 

vithin the executive or legislative department of 

the at&e, which Is under the direction of one or 

more elected or appointed members; and (21 every 

CommIssionera Court and ctty council in the state, 

and every dellberatlve body having rule-making or 

quasi-judicial power and clasalfied as a department, agency, or political subdivision of a county 

or city; [3] anli the board of trustees of every 

school district,- and every county board of school 

trustees and countv board of education: [41 and 

the governing boaid of every special- district 

heretofore or hereafter created by law. (Emphasis 

added; numerals [ll. 121. [31. I41 added). 

V.T.C.S. art. 6252-17, )l(c:). This definition is in four parts. See 

generally Attorney General Opinion H-467 (1974). The first part gives 

criteria for determining v’hich state level entities are governmental 

_, 

p. 1549 
gonorable Carl A. Parher - Page 3 (JM-340) 

bodies. See generally Attorney General Opinion8 g-994 (1977); E-772 

(1976); R-450, R-438. H-246 ((1974); R-3 (1973). The remainder of the 

definition liars apecif ic local governmental entitles. See generally 

Attorney General Opinions W-174 (1980) ; B-1281 (1978); g-554. E-496 

(1975); g-450 (1974). 

A comnity college district la a political subdivision. 

Attorney General Opinion M-707 (1970). The legislature has named such 

Institutions “conxsunity colleges” because they “seme their communities not only through university-parallel programs but also by 

means of occupational programs and other programs of community 

interest and need.” Educ: . Code Il30.005. A community college 

district board of trustees is governed by the law pertaining to 

independent school districts, Insofar as it is applicable. Educ. Code 

1130.084. Noreover , comrunity college districts are “school 

districts” within article 1’1.1, section 3 of the Texas Constitution, 

which authorizes school d:lstricta to levy and collect ad valorem 

taxes. Shepherd v. San Ja$nto Junior College District. 363 S.W.2d 

742 (Tex. 1963); see Educ. 

community colleges). 

Code 0130.005 (junior colleges renamed 

In c,ur opinion. the trustees of a community 

college district are truatoea of a “school district” within section 

1 (c) of the Open Meetings Act. See also V.T.C.S. art. 6252-17. 

Q3A(b), (e) (notice provisj,ona) . Thus, the board of trustees of the 

Alamo Community College District is a governmental body within the 

act. 

Prior opinions eatablkh that an entity will be covered by the 

Open Meetings Act if it is a “governmental body” which holds 

“meetings.” as those tenw are defined in the act. See Attorney 

General Opinions H-994 (1’3’17); H-772 (1976); R-438 (1974). These 

opinions consider vhether the entity in question is described by the 

express language of the definitions. Thus, a state-level entity will 

be a governmental body within the act if it is “vithin the executive 

or legislative department 3:E the state” and “under the direction of 

one or more elected or ,q?pointed members.” See, e.g., Attorney 

General Opinions E-994 (1!)?7) ; E-772 (1976); E-438 (1974). For a 

local level entity to be a “governmental body” within the act, it must 

be expressly included in the list of governmental bodies which 

comprises the second branch of the definition. V.T.C.S. art. 6252-17, 

51(c). That list names several specific governmental bodies. It also 

establishes criteria for identifying deliberative bodies “classified 

as a department, agency, or political 

city.” 

subdivision of a county or 

See, e.g., Attorney General Opinions JM-4 (1983); D-467 

(1974). The definition ,x[ governmental body does not, however. 

inr.lude committees subordinate to the governing body of a school 

district or junior college district such as the grievance committee. 

Since the Alamo Comnunitf College grievance committee is not a 

governmental body within th,e statutory definition, it is not subject 

p. 1550 
. 

Bouorable Carl A. Parker - P1g8 b (JM-340) 

to the Open Meeting8 Act. Tba March 29 hearing vas therefore not a 

meeting subject to the Opeu Ileetings Act. 

You next ask vhcther the chaucellor could order persons to leave 

the premises of district headquarters. Since the grievance comittae 

hearing was not subject to the Open Meetings Act, student reporters 

had no right under that act to attend. Whether the chancellor could 

properly order persons to 1t:ave the preuisea of district headquarters 

depends upon all the facts and circumstances. The trustees of a 

conmmity college "have the exclusive power to manage and govero" the 

schools of the district. Eiuc. Code 123.26(b). They msy adopt "such 

rules, regulations, and by-,lavs as they may deem proper." College 

officials may enforce rules and regulations to deter disruption of the 

educational environment. tansdale v. Tyler Junior College, 318 P. 

Supp. 529 (D.C. 1970); l&l::8 v. Board of Trustees, Tarraat County 

Junior College District, 480 S.W.2d 289 (Tex. Clv. App. - Fort Worth 

1972, writ ref'd n.r.e.). d.ssuming the chancellor vas acting pursuant 

to authority validly delegated by the trustees, he vas empowered to 

order persons to leave district headquarters. See also Penal Code 

942.05 (disrupting a meetiaf,). 

SUMMARY 

A grievance committee of the Alamo Conrrwnlty 

College District is not a "governmental body" 

within the Open Eleetiags Act, article 6252-17, 

V.T.C.S. 

Very truly your , J A k 

JIM MATTOX 

Attoruey General of Texas 

TOM GREBN 

First Assistant Attorney General 

DAVID R. RICHARDS 

Executive Assistant Attorney General 

ROBERT GRAY 

Special Assistant Attorney General 

RICK GILPIN 

Chairman, Opinion Coxanittet! 

Prepared by Susan L. Garriricln 

Assistant Attorney General 

? 

p. 1551 
. . . 

, ,. 

Ronorablo Carl A. Parkor - Page S (311-340) 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMIITTIZE 

Rick Gilpin, Chairman 

Susm Garrison 

Tony Guillory 

Jim Moellinger 

Jennifer Riggs 

Nancy Sutton 

Sarah Woelk 

Bruce Youngblood 

p. 1552