In Frank Curry and FOIABuddy v. South Western School District, AP 2024-1311, a school district (“District”) received a request for records related to IT operations, contracts, staff, and IT budget from Frank Curry and...more
In Pa. Office of the Governor v. Brelje, 2024 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 65, at *1 (Commw. Ct. Feb. 23, 2024), the Office of Open Records (“OOR”) concluded that requests for all incoming and outgoing email for two agency employees over...more
In Coleman v. Parkland Sch. Dist., 2023 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 187, at *10 (Commw. Ct. Nov. 8, 2023), a divided Commonwealth Court concluded that the recently enacted Section 712.1 of the Sunshine Act does not permit local...more
Foster v. Pennridge School District, AP 2023-0931 (July 5, 2023). The Office of Open Records determined that a school district properly redacted and withheld certain email chains discussing the school district’s investigation...more
In Forrest v. Erie City, AP 2023-1701 (Sept. 28, 2023), Erie City responded to a request for a list of all rental properties registered and licensed in the City in an Excel spreadsheet by providing a PDF conversion of the...more
Penncrest School District. v. Cagle, 293 A.3d 783 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2023). The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania establishes a three-part test that must be used to determine if an individual’s social media post is a record of an...more
In the summer of 2022, the Office of Open Records (“OOR”) announced that it was moving forward with an E-File Appeal Portal. The goal was to provide a one-stop location for all records involving appeals. ...more
In Seman v. Baldwin Borough, AP 2023-00778, the Requester sought legal invoices related to a specific project. In responding to the Request, the Borough completely redacted entries in the legal invoices that were not related...more
Vallecorsa v. Allegheny Cty., No. 2:19-CV-1495-NR, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 206720, at *2 (W.D. Pa. Nov. 15, 2022). United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania holds that Allegheny County (“County”) did...more
In Beckes v. North East School District, AP 2022-2826, the OOR determined that the attachments to two emails from the District Solicitor to the District were protected from disclosure under the attorney-client privilege and...more
In recent years, the legal rights of transgender students have been litigated in courts around the country. While court decisions have provided some guidance for school districts, many questions remain. This article addresses...more
12/8/2022
/ Equal Protection ,
Gender Dysphoria ,
Gender Identity ,
Parental Rights ,
Public Schools ,
School Districts ,
School Restrooms ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Student Athletes ,
Students ,
Title IX ,
Transgender
C.G. by and through P.G. v. Saucon Valley Sch. Dist., 5:21-CV-03956, 2021 WL 5399920, at *1 (E.D. Pa. Nov. 18, 2021). The District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania grants student’s request for preliminary...more
Methacton Sch. Dist. v. Off. of Open Records of Cmmw., 250 C.D. 2021, 2021 WL 6122163, at *1 (Pa. Cmmw. Dec. 28, 2021). The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania holds that a request for the emails of four individuals over a...more
Chester Water Authority v. Pennsylvania Dept. of Community and Economic Development, 249 A.3d 1106, 1108 (Pa. 2021), reargument denied (June 17, 2021). Pennsylvania Supreme Court holds that communications between an agency...more
Geerlings v. Tredyffrin/Easttown Sch. Dist., 21-CV-4024, 2021 WL 4399672, at *1 (E.D. Pa. Sept. 27, 2021). United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania declines to enjoin school district masking...more
Section 708(b)(10)(i)(A) of the Law, which excepts from the general requirement for disclosure of public records:
A record that reflects:
The internal, predecisional deliberations of an agency, its members,...more
Mahanoy Area Sch. Dist. v. B. L. by and through Levy, 141 S. Ct. 2038 (2021). The United States Supreme Court holds that while schools can sometimes regulate student speech that takes place off-campus, the school district...more
10/11/2021
/ Educational Institutions ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Mahanoy Area School District v B.L. ,
Online Platforms ,
Public Schools ,
School Districts ,
Snapchat ,
Student Speech ,
Students ,
Tinker v Des Moines Independent Community School Dist.
Highlands School District v. Rittmeyer, — A.3d –, 2020 WL 7061810, 163 C.D. 2020 (Pa. Commw. Dec. 3, 2020). Commonwealth Court holds that school districts are not required to disclose the names of employees when issuing a...more
As an elected school board member, you are looked to as a community leader and are expected to take a leadership role in representing your school district’s interests. In fulfilling this role, many school board members...more
Easton Area Sch. Dist. v. Miller, 232 A.3d 716 (Pa. 2020). Pennsylvania Supreme Court holds that images of students in a school bus surveillance video are “educational records” under FERPA and must be redacted before...more
In Allegheny County, tax appeal season has begun for 2021. Every year, County property owners have the opportunity to file an assessment appeal, and as always, an appeal may provide an opportunity for a reduction in your...more
In Highlands School District v. Rittmeyer, - A.3d -, 2020 WL 7061810, 163 C.D. 2020 (Pa. Commw. Dec. 3, 2020), the Requester submitted two RTKL requests seeking information about employees who were placed on unpaid leave,...more
On December 27, 2020, President Trump signed the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits, and Venues Act (the Economic Aid Act) (Pub. L. 116-260) into law to provide continued assistance to individuals and...more
1/18/2021
/ CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Economic Aid Act ,
Federal Loans ,
Financial Stimulus ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
Lenders ,
Loan Forgiveness ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Relief Measures ,
SBA ,
SBA Lending Programs ,
Small Business
In Scott v West Chester Borough Police Department, AP 2020-1987, the Department denied a request for records identifying the weapons and other equipment possessed by the Department. The request sought documentation that...more
Section 1307 of the Right-To-Know Law requires the Office of Open Records (“OOR”) to establish a fee schedule for Commonwealth agencies and local agencies like municipalities and school districts. On December 22, 2020, the...more