Live tweeting Deborah Gist’s contract debate

I’m not entirely certain if this was either ethical or legal to do, but I live tweeted the contract negotiations between the Board of Education and Deborah Gist last night. Well, just the body language of it actually.

The Board and Gist had a very animated hour-and-a-half debate last night in executive session, which can be closed to the public. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be. And the two parties had this highly scrutinized and politicized debate with a room full of reporters on the other side of a glass wall. It’s hard to see how they could have a reasonable expectation of privacy behind a glass wall. Could I also not report on it if they put it on TV?

Plus, the public bodies don’t have to discuss contractual issues in private. I believe the employee can request that they happen in public session. The parties may have even wanted this debate to be a little bit public – that would explain all the exaggerated body language!