UPPER MARLBORO – The Prince George’s County Board of Education will announce at its next meeting it violated the Open Meetings Act after the Open Meetings Compliance Board (OMCB) ruled the Board’s staff failed to provide copies of minutes to a county resident.

Thea Scarato, an activist who opposes cell phone towers, said she was attempting to track the history of the school system’s cell phone tower policy by making open records requests and looking through minutes of meetings by the school board and its subsidiary committees.

However, when Scarato went to the Board office to look at the minutes, she was told by a staff member she needed to speak to the Board’s counsel. Scarato then called the counsel, according to the OMCB’s opinion, who told her the school system was still processing a previous Maryland Public Information Act for copies of the minutes. Scarato said she had only filed the MPIA request because she had called three days before her visit to see the minutes, but was told by staff she had to file a formal MPIA request in writing.

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