Vallivue School District trustees cured two open meeting violations from a meeting last week, appointed a trustee to fill one vacancy and asked the Canyon County Board of Commissioners to fill a second vacancy, as required by law if a board fails to fill a vacancy after 120 days.
Trustees appointed Kellie Horrocks at a special meeting Wednesday. The mother of four young children is the new trustee for Zone 4 and replaces Paul Tierney, who resigned in August. Horrocks joined Wednesday’s meeting by phone.
“Truth be told, I don’t know a lot about what goes on on the board,” Horrocks said in her interview.
Two other candidates — Idaho Power attorney Brian Bishop and restaurant assistant manager Esther Ma, who is also running for the State Senate as a Constitution Party candidate in District 11 — attended in person.
“The types of things that the board does are things I do every day in my work,” Bishop said in his interview.
Board Chair Jennifer Cox said she liked that Horrocks has young children, bringing a different perspective to the board, and is willing to learn.
“She was off-the-hip honest,” Cox said.
After conducting the three interviews, trustees deliberated in open session then voted unanimously to appoint Horrocks, which was noticed on the agenda as an action item. Last week, the board handled a vacancy in Zone 3 differently.
Resolving open meeting violations
The board last week interviewed two candidates to fill the vacancy in Zone 3, left by trustee Toni Brinegar, who resigned in June. Trustees then deliberated and came to a “consensus” to appoint naturopathic medical doctor Brett Butterfield, but the meeting’s agenda did not include an action item to make the appointment.
After that meeting, EdNews emailed district leaders to express concerns regarding possible open meeting violations.
“Thank you for your patience and thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention,” Finance Director Dalelyn Allen responded last Thursday.
At the Wednesday special meeting, the board acknowledged and cured two open meeting violations. Cox read two statements, citing Idaho statute.
First, Cox acknowledged that the discussion last week “may have constituted deliberation or decision-making concerning which candidate should be appointed.”
“Those deliberations or decision-making did not comply with the requirements of the Idaho Open Meeting Law, Title 74, Chapter 2 Idaho Code, because the matter was not identified on the agenda as an action item,” Cox stated.
Second, Cox acknowledged that the board entered into an executive session without making a motion in open session and citing the specific subsection of relevant Idaho code. School boards must say if an executive session is needed to discuss, for example, the acquisition of property, pending litigation or the disciplining of an employee.
“I move that the board of trustees of the Vallivue School District acknowledge and self-recognize that its entry into executive session during the October 13, 2026, meeting did not comply with Idaho Code 74-206 because the board entered executive session before completing in open session the motion and roll call vote required by the statute,” Cox said.
The board declared any actions taken during the deliberation and executive session as null and void, curing the two violations.
But the board on Wednesday did not take action to fill that vacancy in Zone 3. Superintendent Lisa Boyd provided a brief update on that process.
As EdNews pointed out in a story last week, Idaho code states if a school board does not fill a vacancy within 120 days, then the appointment “shall be made by the board of county commissioners.”
“We have made contact with the county commissioners’ office,” Boyd said. “They are aware, and we are awaiting their next move.”
