Public Records Act requests

MEMBER(S) INVOLVED: All California school districts and county offices of education

The Public Records Act (PRA) is intended to ensure the people of California have a right of access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business. Although the PRA is liberally construed in favor of disclosing public records, it does not apply to personal records that are outside the scope of the public’s business. PRA requests are usually sent to the agency that is the custodian of record for the records being sought. In this case, the court required the disclosure of emails related to a public charter school by way of a PRA request to a public community college. The emails sought belonged to a community college employee who also served in a volunteer role for the charter school. If it stands, the ruling in favor of the requesting party could increase the burden on school districts and COEs to respond to PRA requests simply because they employ someone who has connections to another public entity. The precedent set by this would increase the burden on public schools having to respond to PRA requests.

SUMMARY OF THE CASE:

In January 2021, the Hartnell Community College District (Hartnell) was sued by a community member (Petitioner) who alleged that Hartnell unlawfully withheld public documents from disclosure under the PRA. The lawsuit is comprised of two causes of action, each resting on separate PRA requests submitted by Petitioner. The first cause of action involves a request for copies of the private, personal communications of the Hartnell director of student affairs (Nevarez) related to when he was the board president for Oasis Public Charter School. Neither the charter school nor Nevarez’s role on the charter school board had any relationship to Hartnell. The emails in question were sent by Nevarez through his Hartnell work email account and exclusively related to Nevarez’s volunteer work at a charter elementary school. The second cause of action involved a request for copies of portions of Nevarez’s personnel file regarding unsubstantiated allegations filed against Nevarez by Petitioner.

The Superior Court of Monterey County largely agreed with Petitioner’s contentions, ordering Hartnell to disclose most of the requested records. The court held that the private, personal communications of a public employee indeed qualified as public records because they pertained to a public entity (the Oasis Charter School) and are retained by a public entity (Hartnell), despite the absence of any connection between the two entities. The court also held that the unsubstantiated allegations should be disclosed because the court sees Nevarez as a “relatively” high level employee.

CURRENT STATUS AND/OR OUTCOME:

On March 15, 2022, the ELA filed an amicus brief in support of Hartnell. The brief emphasizes that the requested documents do not fit the definition of a “public record” subject to the Public Records Act within the Government Code because they do not meet the “used” and/or “retained” requirements. Additionally, the brief points out that public schools and community college districts have an obligation to protect the privacy of their employees regarding unfounded complaints. Oral arguments are set to be heard on Dec. 8, 2022.