TEXAS — The legal dispute continues in a case that started
with an act of censorship and turned into an open-meetings lawsuit as an
attorney for the Danbury Independent School District is seeking parental
permission to release student statements for use in the case.
The Facts, a Brazoria County newspaper
that alleges the school board broke the law when it went into a closed-door
session May 28, asked the district for copies of the complaint forms that
students submitted calling for the redistribution of the December 2006 issue of
the Danbury High School newspaper that the principal had withheld because of its
content.
The district denied the newspaper's request, citing the Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a federal statute that regulates schools'
release of records with identifying information about students.
But
Charles Daughtry, attorney for
The Facts, said the students' identities
are not a secret.
"Everybody in town knows who these students are," he
said.
The district claims FERPA prohibits it from releasing the documents
unless the parents give permission.
Philip Fraissinet, an attorney
representing Danbury schools, said the district is contacting the families to
ask for consent to release the records. He said he expects the three families
involved to make a decision within the "next couple of weeks."
Daughtry
said
The Facts is seeking the documents to use in its lawsuit against the
district. The newspaper filed the suit Wednesday, claiming the May 28 executive
session in which the students met with board members in a closed-door meeting
was not legal.
Fraissinet said the district followed its regular
complaint procedure. The open-meetings law in Texas allows government officials
to go into an executive session to hear complaints regarding personnel and to
discuss whether personnel are fulfilling the duties of their jobs, he
said.
"Those were the two exceptions at issue here," he
said.
Fraissinet also said the students were told before the meeting that
they would speak during a closed session. He added that although the students
entered the meeting alone, they could have had adult representation, including
family members, if they wanted.
Daughtry said the personnel exemption is
intended to allow the board members to discuss specific employees and their
actions.
"They would have needed to be considering whether or not to
punish the principal or the superintendent," Daughtry said. "That wasn't talked
about for a moment, I'm sure."
Daughtry said he suspects the students and
the board members were discussing whether the newspaper content in question,
including articles about teenage sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases and
students with children, should have been distributed to high school
students.
"And that needed to be debated out in the public," he
said.
By Jenny Redden, SPLC staff writer
For More Information: Local newspaper sues Danbury School District over closed meeting News Flash, 3/27/2007
Danbury High School editor files complaint with principal News Flash, 1/26/2007
High school principal halts distribution of newspaper News Flash, 1/21/2007
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