(AP) — The Nebraska attorney general’s office says in an opinion that the Beatrice school board violated the state open meetings laws when it searched for a new superintendent last year.

The opinion was formulated after a complaint was filed by former school board member Terry Cossel.

The attorney general’s office says the board erred in holding a nonpublic, executive session on Dec. 4, 2012, to narrow its list of 12 superintendent candidates to four.

The school board had argued that other state statutes let public bodies withhold job applications of those other than the finalists in an effort to “protect the public interest and avoid injury to the nonfinalists.”

The board hired Pat Nauroth for the job later in December 2012.