BY KARISSA MILLER

During the Iredell-Statesville Schools Board of Education meeting earlier this month, District 5 representative Mike Kubiniec publicly called out the board for what he views as a violation of the state’s open meetings law.

A day after notifying the board of his concerns by email, Kubiniec raised the issue during the August 11 board meeting.

The board’s 2025-2026 meeting schedule, which was listed on the I-SS website, listed 6 p.m. as the official meeting time, Kubiniec said. In reality, the board has been meeting at 4 p.m. in closed session.

“You have to be in an open session to go into a closed session. We meet at 4 p.m. in an open session then go into a closed session. However, the public wasn’t notified that we were doing that,” Kubiniec explained.

The closed session is not open to the public. These sessions are held when the board discusses confidential matters such as legal issues, personnel matters and real estate transactions.

Chairman Doug Knight said that when Kubiniec initially brought up his concerns, he consulted with the school board’s law firm, Campbell Shatley PLLC. Attorneys Dean Shatley and Ashley Leonard typically handle the district’s legal affairs.

“They are trained in educational law, which is their specialty,” Knight said.

The board has followed the law, Knight added.

The I-SS board’s attorneys did advise the board to update its 2025-2026 meeting schedule to reflect an official meeting time of 4 p.m.

Kubiniec, however, argued that the superintendent’s secretary didn’t have the authority to adjust the time without the board voting on the matter. 

Knight disagreed.

“Changing it from 6 to 4 on a document is a minor change. Not enough to make a difference that we have to reapprove a schedule,” the chairman said.

“The motion was only for the days. It didn’t go about and talk about the times. So it’s moot,” he added.

Kubiniec was not convinced and said he disagrees with the attorneys’ views.

“I’m not trying to be a jerk or a trouble maker here. I’m trying to be very precise — with the reading of the law, the code of ethics and my oath of office,” Kubiniec said.

Closed Session Discussion

The board also discussed the early start time of its closed session meetings. 

Kubiniec argued that having an early closed session meeting time is a disservice to members of the public who might want to attend the meeting. He also said that the doors to the meeting room are typically closed, which prevents the public from entering the 4 p.m. meeting.

Vice Chair Cindy Haynes said that when she recently rejoined the board — she was appointed to replace Abby Trent, who resigned — that there was no discussion of the 4 p.m. start time until just recently.

“When I was in the board 2014-2017, I will say that the open meeting did start at 6. Then we went into closed session. There were nights that I didn’t get home until midnight or after. Before I got home before midnight or 1a.m., we had to get back into open session and there was nobody out there,” Haynes said.

To ensure greater public access, the board agreed to keep the meeting room doors open for the public to attend the 4 p.m. Additionally, the district will now livestream the 4 p.m. meeting for those who cannot make it in person.

The public will likely see a stream that shows an empty board room because the board will only momentarily be in an open session before they move to behind closed doors for their closed session.