By Daniel Hartill,Staff Writer

POLAND – A recurring complaint that locally elected school leaders correspond too much in private, sending e-mails rather than talking in a public meeting, ought to be dismissed as grandstanding, says Ike Levine, chairman of the Poland Regional High School Committee.

“Ike’s right,” committee member Dave Griffiths said Thursday, one day after he surprised the group with a two-page statement condemning the e-mail practice.

But rather than dismissing the statement, as Levine suggests, Griffiths hopes people will listen.

“It’s publicity for the issue that really counts,” he said.

Wednesday’s complaint reignited a year-old controversy over the e-mails. Many public boards use e-mails to distribute reminders for upcoming meetings, agendas and other background information.

However, in Poland’s case, e-mail is also being used to answer constituent questions and request reports from administrators.

On Wednesday, Griffiths unexpectedly broached the issue during the public participation segment of a committee meeting. Although he alerted the Sun Journal that he intended to make the statement, members of the committee were not told ahead of time.

When he finished, there was no comment from the committee.

“Our silence was thunderous,” Levine said Thursday. “I was incredulous.”

Levine believes more would have been accomplished if Griffiths had simply asked that the issue be added to a meeting agenda, he said.

“No one has ever been denied an agenda item,” Levine said.

However, Griffiths said he wanted the attention. He worried that his concerns might be ignored. And he believes the practice is illegal, he said.

Use of e-mail by an elected group appears to be delicate legal ground.

Last year, after Griffiths first brought up the issue, the school’s own lawyer called it “a gray area.”

Daniel Stockford, an attorney with Brann & Isaacson in Lewiston, advised the committee last October that its e-mails would be considered public records and that the electronic discussions would possibility be considered a meeting if challenged in court.

It’s an issue that remains, said Jonathan Piper, a Portland attorney who often represents media companies as they try to get access to information.

Piper was unsure Thursday whether the committee broke any laws in its use of e-mail, but it may have if those written discussions include more than two members, he said.

When three or more members talk, in person or electronically, it becomes a meeting and therefore needs to follow any public meeting’s guidelines for official notice.

If that breaks the law, then the committee will change, Levine said.

“Then, we’ll do it better,” he said.

Already, the committee follows an agreed-upon procedure, Levine said. That prevents such things as votes or detailed discussions to occur via e-mail, he said.

“Often, it is developing information so we can get back to our constituents,” Levine said.

Griffiths sees no change, he said.

Nor does he perceive any malice. He believes that neither Levine nor the committee are trying to hide or deceive anyone by the messages, he said.

“There are no bad motives here,” Griffiths said.