Unitary Status & A Closed Meeting Involving the Justice Dept. Illegal?

Background: Locally here in Jackson, TN our city/county schools are under a federal court order which forces local authorities to abdicate their governing authority concerning certain school related issues. This has been going on for over 40 years. Here is more on the background of this lawsuit as well as expressed opinion on the matter by Wesley Cornelious McClure, President of Lane College.

Currently, there is a motion to bring about unitary status and to remove the lawsuit by way of the county commission filing a lawsuit against the school board for the breach of an agreement that was to bring about unitary status. This was to be done after the County Commission funded certain projects that the schoolboard requested: this was never followed through with.

Yesterday a meeting was held in private which consisted of the NAACP, the Justice Department and a representative of the schoolboard who is also a member of the NAACP.

Due to this meeting being closed to the public and issues being discussed that effect every citizen of this county that has children, an issue has come up with this meeting being in violation of the Sunshine Law (see #2. Purpose).

Frank Gibson of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government had this to say about the matter as reported in the Jackson Sun. I don't think a court would find this a violation of the Sunshine Law since they are not deliberating on a decision that is on an upcoming agenda," Gibson said. "It's not good that the federal government is making this demand. For the Department of Justice to insist on these conditions, which is a matter of great public interest to parents and voters in Madison County, is outrageous.

With the above background provided, let's ask some questions. I will ask them in two sets; 1. pertaining to the unitary status issue and 2. pertaining to the closed door meeting.

1.
-What is really at the heart of this issue concerning obtaining unitary status?
-Is it a racially motivated to seek unitary status as implied by Wesley Cornelious McClure?
-What good should come from unitary status?
-What detriment could unitary status do to our county?

2.
-Was holding the private meeting a breach of the sunshine law?
-Was having a member of the schoolboard who is also a member of the NAACP attend the meeting as a voting member a conflict of interest?
-What benefit was it to the Justice Department to demand this meeting be closed?
-What power do we, as citizens, have to ensure public matters stay public?

Here is an Overview of the Unitary Status situation as provided by our local school system.