Vestavia Hills schools and city face a lawsuit for allegedly withholding public information
Parents in Vestavia Hills, Hoover, and Trussville shared some of their COVID-19 concerns this school year.
It was mid-February when Brian Malcom and Watts Ueltschey Jr. finally said enough was enough. Each has kids in the Vestavia HiIlls City Schools, and Malcom said he was initially just curious about how the board of education made decisions about mask requirements in schools at the beginning of the school year. But five months in, after multiple emails and what Malcom called unsatisfactory responses from the board, he said he felt stonewalled by the school district.
Last month, the pair filed a lawsuit against the school district, its superintendent, and the city alleging they’re improperly withholding public information on COVID-19 masking and safety protocols.
“I want to be clear. This particular lawsuit is not about COVID,” Malcom said. “This lawsuit is actually about the obligations of a public agency to disclose public writings to the public. In other words, this lawsuit is about transparency in government.”
Malcom said it’s frustrating and concerning that after all this time he feels the board is ignoring his request. But according to Dennis Bailey, an expert in media law and general counsel to the Alabama Press Association, that’s typical for Alabama’s Open Records Act — a law that allows citizens the right to view state or local public records.
“The problem is that the statute that we’re talking about … doesn’t have any time frames in response,” Bailey said. “It doesn’t have any cost estimates. It doesn’t have any procedures that have to be followed. It doesn’t have any penalties if you don’t follow.”
Basically, the agencies Malcom filed his public records requests with can take as long as they want, charge as much as they want, and often don’t face consequences when requests go unfulfilled. They can also reject those requests if there is another statute that says these records are not public.
According to Bailey, the city of Vestavia Hills and the school board will have to prove that the records Malcom and Ueltschey requested are not public. Documents requested in the complaint include: data the board members used to make their decisions, records of communication with the Alabama Department of Public Health and other communications between board members, city council members, and Superintendent Todd Freeman regarding COVID-19.
There is a federal statute that protects school records related to students from public records requests, but none that would protect something like the research school board members did to reach a decision about masking. Malcom said he felt he had no choice but to file a lawsuit if only to force the board of education to comply with the law.
“This lawsuit is designed to change how the board of education deals with these types of requests and to seek more transparency from the board of education to the stakeholders, which are parents of the kids of Vestavia Hills City Schools,” Malcom said.
In a statement, the Vestavia Hills Board of Education said “we are confident that we have been and continue to be in full compliance with the law, and we look forward to the court affirming our position.”
The district has until late March to respond to the complaint but could request an extension that may delay court proceedings.
Malcom and Ueltschey Compla… by WBHM News
Kyra Miles is a Report for America corps member reporting on education for WBHM.
Colombia’s lone Amazon port faces drying river and rising tensions with Peru
Colombia's only Amazon port town could soon be cut off from the river that keeps it alive. As drought and a shifting river spark a tense border dispute with Peru, locals are scrambling to adapt—and politicians are raising flags, literally.
Sunday Puzzle: Common denominator
NPR's Ayesha Rascoe plays the puzzle with Weekend Edition puzzlemaster Will Shortz along with listener Cynthia Rose of Littleton, Colorado.
South Korea says it has reached a deal with the US for the release of workers in a Georgia plant
More than 300 South Korean workers were detained in an immigration raid on Thursday. Presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik said South Korea plans to send a charter plane to bring the workers home.
The silent killer increases your risk of stroke and dementia. Here’s how to control it
New recommendations for early treatment for hypertension to prevent strokes, heart attacks and dementia come as an experimental medication is shown to lower blood pressure in hard to treat patients.
Are you a grandparent-to-be? Here’s some advice from those who came before you
Sept. 7 is National Grandparents Day. NPR readers shared the joys of becoming grandparents and offered some sage advice.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to resign
Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has expressed his intention on Sunday to step down following growing calls from his party to take responsibility for a historic defeat in July's parliamentary election.
