Gainesville school board members refused to disclose the contents of a May 19 memo from Superintendent Steven Ballowe presented during a public meeting tonight.

Board members passed the memo among themselves talking in hushed tones, then voted to approve referring the letter to legal counsel to form a response to Ballowe.

The actions prompted an immediate response from some audience members.

"Have we not had enough secrets?" said Renee Gerrell. "I don’t understand why we can’t know what it is (in the memo). ... I have a huge problem with this."

Another audience member, Floyd Baldwin, chimed in, "I don’t understand why you’re mumbling amongst each other up there."

The board, already under fire because of a projected $7 million budget shortfall, continued to refuse disclosing the document to board members.

David Syfan said that residents, if they choose, could filed a request for the documents under the Georgia Open Records Act. The law gives governments three business days to furnish the records.