School districts sometimes receive requests for public records citing the federal Freedom of Information Act, or "FOIA."
Are school districts in Ohio, political subdivisions of the State, subject to the Freedom of Information Act? The answer is no.
The Supreme Court of Ohio recently ruled on a public records case between Columbus State Community College and a former employee. The ruling may assist school districts dealing with overbroad public records requests.
In the case, State ex Rel. Zidonis v. Columbus State Cmty. Coll., 2012-Ohio-4228, Sunday Zidonis was terminated from her employment with Columbus State. Following her termination, Zidonis made several public records requests to the college for certain emails as well as complaint and litigation files over a six-year period.
The OSBA Legal Assistance Fund (LAF) recently participated in an Ohio Supreme Court case between The Ohio State University (Ohio State) and ESPN. The LAF joined the Ohio Legal Rights Service, Community Legal Aid Services, and Northeast Ohio Legal Services, and submitted an amici curiae brief arguing that Ohio State was prohibited from disclosing the records requested by ESPN pursuant to Ohio's Public Records Act and the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
What is a public record?
RC 149.43(A)(1) defines a public record as "records kept by any public office including any state, county, city, village, township, and school district units, and records pertaining to the delivery of educational services by an alternative school in this state kept by the nonprofit or for-profit entity operating the alternative school." A record is defined in RC 149.011 (G) to include "any document, device, or item, regardless of physical form or characteristic, including electronic records."
I recently listened to a webinar conducted by the Ohio Historical Society (OHS) that was designed to review best practices for managing and retaining public records in Ohio. The host of the webinar mentioned a change that HB 153 made to record retention practices. It has the potential to lessen the burden on school districts with regard to the disposal of records, so it's worth repeating.
No. In advisory opinion 2011-038 (2011 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 038), the Ohio Attorney General (OAG) concluded that a public body (in this instance the State Board of Education) may not vote in an open meeting by secret ballot. The OAG determined that voting by secret ballot would violate Ohio's open meetings law in much the same way as a violation occurs when public officials whisper or pass documents among themselves during meetings or when a vote would improperly be taken during executive session.
A number of districts have received public records requests asking for specific information relating to the curriculum that is being provided in the district. Please keep the following points in mind when complying with these requests:
In the case of Lowery v. Jefferson County Bd. of Educ., a high school football coach from Jefferson County High School in Tennessee dismissed three students from the football team for challenging his leadership. After the students parents were unsuccessful with their complaints to school officials, they addressed their concerns to the Jefferson County Board of Education.
Ohio Supreme Court expounds on statutory damages, attorneys fees and costs in post-HB 9 public records mandamus case. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled on a recent public records case against a police department, and the ruling has implications for all public entities. The case, State ex rel. Doe v. Smith, 123 Ohio St.3d 44, concerned the availability of a sealed juvenile record. A citizen had made a public records request in late November 2007 for records to the Pierce Township Police Dept.
State ex rel. Perrea v. Cincinnati Pub. Sch., Ohio St.3d , 2009-Ohio-4762 Perrea, a teacher at Hughes High School in the Cincinnati Public School District (CPS), filed repeated public records requests seeking copies of the standardized tests that are administered to all of the districts ninth grade students at the end of each semester. Perrea stated that he was concerned about the design, implementation and scoring of the examinations, which were developed by WestEd at a cost of $270,000, and claimed that he did not intend to use the copies for any commercial purpose.
