Stacey Armagost, a former Moniteau School Board member, was right on Monday when she questioned the board about a meeting for which no public notice was given.

The board violated the spirit of the state’s Sunshine Law on Sept. 1 when a group of board members met privately at the administrative building, purportedly to clear up questions with the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association dealing with a student-to-student hazing incident involving the football team.

Armagost said she accidentally walked in on the meeting while looking for Superintendent George Svolos.

Four of the board’s members weren’t present when Armagost walked in on the meeting.

“How do you have an executive meeting when four members didn’t even know about it?” Armagost asked at Monday’s meeting. “Something doesn’t make sense here.”

She said that after being told she had walked in on a board executive session, she got in touch with board members who weren’t at the meeting to determine whether they had been informed about it.

The board members told her they had received an e-mail about “an informal meeting” dealing with the PIAA-related questions.

The fact is that the public was shut out from notice about the meeting, and that was wrong.

By way of its secret session at a time when the board normally doesn’t hold meetings, the school directors in question added another negative element to a situation that already was deplorable. It can be questioned whether what was being discussed at the meeting even qualified for a legal executive session.

The board should resolve not to veil itself in secrecy in the future.

The Sunshine Law is in effect for good reason. The board shouldn’t ignore it.

Cheer It wasn’t their idea — Cranberry Township did it last year — but the neighboring boroughs of Zelienople and Harmony merit praise nevertheless for taking a positive step with the potential for raising a significant sum of money for the Zelienople Public Library.Having received a state grant allowing the two communities to replace all of their street signs, Harmony and Zelienople have donated dozens of signs to the library for sale at a silent auction on Sept. 27.While Don Pepe, Zelienople manager, said he couldn’t guess the number of street signs his town has donated, Harmony Borough Council President Jack Shanks estimated that that borough had donated at least 60 signs.The event at which the signs will be sold has been dubbed Book the Night at Your Library. Other activities besides the sale will be part of the two-hour event between 7 and 9 p.m.Pepe made a good point — that many residents of the boroughs likely will want to snatch up the signs as memorabilia or to give them as gifts.The signs will be a great purchase for the early holiday shopper.The Zelienople Library, like others in Butler County, have experienced major state funding cuts. The sale of the signs, plus the Book the Night event in general, have the potential to make a signficant dent in the challenges posed by the need to operate with a smaller commonwealth funding stream.For the library, this is an example of what some people might regard as junk being turned into gold.

Cheer It’s important that businesses in downtown Butler react to events or changes that could bolster their bottom line. It’s foolhardy for businesses to maintain their usual schedule just because that’s the way they always have operated.Barry Cummings, owner of Cummings Coffee at 147 N. Main St., has demonstrated that he’s a businessman who recognizes an opportunity and is willing to capitalize on it.In reaction to the New Castle Street plaza established this year, Cummings has added an extra shift on Fridays and extended his business’ hours on that evening to accommodate customers, including those spending time at the plaza.Meanwhile, he says, the presence of the plaza has helped his business during lunchtime.Although Cummings, like some other business operators, is concerned about the parking issue that the plaza has created, his willingness to adapt to this new opportunity is noteworthy — and a good example for his downtown business colleagues to reflect upon and possibly emulate.While some businesses might not benefit from plaza-related activities, the presence of the plaza does provide an opportunity for interesting window displays that might attract some of the plaza customers at times during the regular business day.It’s a matter for each business to evaluate independently.But for now, Cummings Coffee is setting the kind of example Butler needs for the downtown to be vibrant not only during the usual workday, but during what for many people is the evening leisure time.If others build upon the Cummings example, perhaps their bottom lines will improve also.