Killeen Residents Locked Out of ISD Meeting Raise Transparency Concerns

KILLEEN, Texas — Community members expressed frustration Tuesday after finding the doors to a Killeen Independent School District (KISD) board meeting locked, raising significant questions about the district’s commitment to transparency during public meetings.

Melissa Davis, who attended the meeting to celebrate her son’s athletic accomplishments, was taken aback when she arrived only to discover she and other members of the public were denied entry. “When we got here, the doors are locked for nobody to go in, so that was a big shocker, because, you know, it is a public school building,” Davis said. “Being told that you could come in at a certain time, and then the doors being locked, is kind of shocking.”

This incident has led some to question whether KISD violated open meeting laws. Bill Aleshire, a former Travis County Judge and expert in government transparency, pointed out that locking the public out could constitute a violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act. “If they locked the public out, it is the most fundamental kind of violation to the Open Meetings Act,” Aleshire stated.

Details from the agenda outline that the board meeting was set to start at 4:30 p.m. and included scheduled executive session breaks for three items, but did not mention an extended recess. Aleshire emphasized that any decision to lock the doors must be publicly disclosed, especially if the board was transitioning to an executive session. “The president of the school board must publicly announce what they’re going to meet about and the legal provisions they’re relying on to meet,” he explained.

KISD spokesperson Karen Rudolph provided clarification via email regarding the board’s schedule that evening. She noted, “The meeting was formally recessed at 4:45 p.m. with the announcement that it would reconvene at 6 p.m.”

Rudolph continued to explain that locking the doors was a standard procedure during routine board meetings. “During the recess, at 5 p.m., a staff member locked the front entrance doors as part of our typical routine for standard board meeting start times. No board business or discussion took place while the doors were secured,” she stated.

Still, Aleshire described the practice of locking doors as “very unusual” and criticized the district for not providing clear reasoning for the recess or confirming whether a quorum was present during that time. “They did not explain why they recessed the meeting or what they were doing during the lockdown time,” he said.

The experience has left Davis with worries about the district’s overall transparency. “The doors are always wide open. They usually have them propped wide open so that people can walk straight in,” she said. “Now, it feels different. There’s a sense of distrust that didn’t exist before.”

As community members continue to discuss KISD’s governance, the call for enhanced public accountability is growing stronger. Many are left wondering if further measures should be taken to ensure that transparency is maintained in future meetings.