OMA Advisory Opinion - Shining Stars Montessori Academy Public Charter School, #OOG-2025-0057

On December 4, 2025, Director of Open Government Niquelle M. Allen, Esq., issued an Advisory Opinion #OOG-2025-0057, in response to a complaint regarding a meeting held by Shining Stars Montessori Academy Public Charter School Board on September 20, 2025. The Complaint requested that OOG clarify “if public comment has to be allowed per” the OMA, and requested that the Shining Stars Montessori Academy Public Charter School Board “[s]hare the document with the ASPIRE framework with the parents with at least 30 days to review…[t]hen hold another meeting with public comment and public access to the full meeting…[and] [a]llow public participation in the meeting the entire time.” Director Allen concluded that: (1) the delay in being admitted to the virtual meeting was a technical issue and not an OMA violation; (2) revision of the draft agenda, posting the revised agenda within the “48 hours or 2 business days” prior to the meeting, and not treating the draft agenda as a final agenda, are not OMA violations; (3) there was no OMA requirement for a public comment period during this meeting, nor under the OMA generally, but public comment in OMA subject meetings should be both consistent and fair; (4) the DC PCSB provides for the public to submit both written and audio public comment, as well as the ability to register to testify at its public hearings regarding matters before it; (5) the OMA does not require that documents provided to, or acquired by, public body members in advance of a meeting be provided to the public - however, documents shared or considered during an OMA meeting must be included in the meeting minutes as part of the “full record;” (6) OOG advises that Shining Stars Montessori Academy Public Charter School Board immediately implement a registration option that allows registration and joining of its meetings in, or close to, real-time; and that (7) it must add the required governance language to all future draft and final meeting agendas according to the DC Municipal Regulations.