Governor Clarifies in Executive Order No. 196 that BOE Meetings are Legislative Proceedings NOT Subject to Restrictions on Gatherings

To Our School Board Community: The Governor issued Executive Order 196 on November 16, 2020. The Executive Order tightened up restrictions on indoor and outdoor gatherings. However, notably, after much debate in the legal community, Executive Order 196 clarifies that Local Boards of Education meetings are local legislative proceedings, and are not subject to the capacity limitations of Executive Order 196, and all other Orders. Specifically, the Order provides: 

1. Paragraph 4 of Executive Order No. 183 (2020) is hereby rescinded and the number of individuals at indoor gatherings that are not religious services or celebrations, political activities, wedding ceremonies, funerals, or memorial services shall be limited to 10 persons. The number of individuals at indoor gatherings that are religious services or celebrations, political activities, wedding ceremonies, funerals, or memorial services shall be limited to 25 percent of the capacity of the room in which it takes place, but regardless of the capacity of the room, such limit shall never be larger than 150 persons or smaller than 10 persons. For purposes of this Paragraph, any private residence or residential unit shall be treated as a single “room”. Legislative proceedings of state, county, or local government, including local Boards of Education, and state and local judicial proceedings are not subject to the capacity limits on gatherings in this or any other applicable Executive Order. 

The entire Executive Order can be found here

Our e-mails about recent developments are not intended to substitute for our legal advice to our clients based on your specific needs or requests. In addition, our guidance is subject to, and can be superseded by new laws, rules, regulations, or orders. Moreover, some directives from the Federal and State authorities can appear, and can be, contradictory or in conflict, so please contact us for assistance. 

As always, please contact us with any questions. We will continue to do our best to keep you updated in the coming days and weeks.

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