The Round Rock Independent School District board of trustees voted 5–2 Feb. 2 to ask the Williamson County Attorney's Office to investigate the actions of trustee Terri Romere concerning a forwarded email that may have violated the Texas Public Information Act.
The board discussed the issue in open session per Romere's request after initially posting the discussion as a closed session.
The email in question was from a parent concerning school boundary changes, which Romere forwarded to another member of the community without redacting the parent's email address. The email was forwarded to Erik Okerholm who publicly opposed current boundary recommendations and proposed a plan supporting vertical alignment at the Jan. 19 meeting.
"I wasn't knowingly or intentionally breaking the law. There was nothing [in the district's policy] that said you can't forward an email," Romere said.
According to the district's legal policy, a person, including a board member, commits a criminal offense if the person distributes information considered confidential under the Public Information Act.