September 13, 1983 

Ms. Ardith Van Beek 
Business Manager 
Sioux Valley School District No. 5-5 
Box 268 
Volga, South Dakota 57071

Official Opinion No. 83-29

Call of Special School Board Meetings

Dear Ms. Van Beek:

On behalf of the Sioux Valley School Board you have requested my opinion concerning the interpretation of SDCL 13-8-10 as it relates to special  meetings.  The statute provides in pertinent part: 

Special meetings may be held upon call of the president or in his absence by the vice-president, or a majority of the board members.  Notice of such meeting shall be given by the business manager to the board members either orally or in writing in sufficient time to permit their presence.

Based on the foregoing, you have asked the following question:

QUESTION: 

Who can call a special meeting?  May a majority of the board members call for a special meeting at any time or only in the absence of the president or vice-president?

SDCL 2-14-1 provides: 

Words used are to be understood in their ordinary sense except also that words defined or explained in §  2-14-2 are to be understood as thus defined or explained.

The notion that the ordinary meaning of words as understood in English grammar controls the interpretation of statutes has also been adopted by the South Dakota Supreme Court in numerous cases, including Christopherson v. Reeves, 44 S.D. 64, 184 N.W. 1015 (1921) and Jacobs v. Pyle, 52 S.D. 537, 219 N.W. 247 (1920). 

While somewhat inartfully drawn, in my opinion, the sentence '[s]pecial meetings may be held upon call of the president or in his absence by the vice- president, or a majority of the board members' indicates three circumstances under which special meetings may be held.  First, a special meeting may be held upon call of the president.  Second, in the absence of the president, a special meeting may be held upon call of the vice-president.  Third, a majority of the board members may call a special meeting at any time regardless of the presence or absence of the president or the vice-president.

I have reviewed court opinions in South Dakota and I find that there has been no interpretation of this provision by our Supreme Court.  Review of court opinions in other jurisdictions reveals that there appears to be no other statute with precisely the same wording.  Accordingly, my opinion is based upon the plain words of the statute viewed in light of common English grammar.  The presence of the comma between the words 'vice-president' and 'or' requires that the phrase 'in his absence' modify the grant of authority to the vice-president to call a meeting but does not apply to or restrict the authority of the majority of the board members to call a special meeting.

My answer to your question is that a majority of the board members may call a special meeting at any time assuming there has been compliance with the notice provisions contained in the same paragraph of the statute.

Respectfully submitted,

Mark V. Meierhenry
Attorney General