AH!!! The Brown Act is rearing its ugly head at a PTO meeting. The Brown Act requires the governing boards of local agencies to hold their meetings in public except under specified, limited circumstances where closed sessions are authorized and also holds special rules pertaining to school boards.
Even in the broadest interpertation, the Brown Act should not apply to your group in a legal capacity. It governs the way LOCAL LEGISLATIVE bodies (such as a town board, city council)conduct their meetings. As a PTO, you are defined more as a club, than a public entity, meaning there is a criteria for membership ie dues, child in school, live in school boundaries.
Either the person that brought this to light is trying to intimidate your board or they simply didn't realize how to apply the ruling. The intention of the Brown Act is to keep publicly elected officials "honest" (HAHAHAHA) As a voter, you have the right to know how the people you elected vote on certain issues. When dealing with a PTO group, ballot or voice votes should be acceptable.
I'm wondering if maybe it was a controversial agenda item that the person who brought up the Brown Act had a stake in, or if maybe this person just truly thought they were being helpful.
In either case, the Brown Act does not apply. For more reference check here
www.kern.org/legal/brown.html#localagen
