SF school board refuses to release public records
The South Fayette School Board president has twice denied media requests for public records on potential costs of high school expansion options.
Leonard Fornella, an attorney, most recently denied the records to a Tribune-Review reporter at a July 1 meeting, saying he wouldn’t give “incomplete, indecipherable financial information to a novice who won’t understand it.” The paper filed a Right to Know request the next day for the financial data. A Pennsylvania News Media Association attorney said that shouldn’t be required, and that Fornella’s reasoning to exempt the records from public access does not apply because board members were given construction design information during the special meeting.
Media law counsel Melissa Melewsky said Fornella’s reasoning was not acceptable for denying an open records request.
“The Right to Know law requires access to documents referenced or displayed at public meetings … there’s no interest in keeping (that data) private. He may be saying it’s a draft, or incomplete, but that doesn’t apply either.
“The threshold for public access is if the documents were presented for consideration at a public meeting … and the school has no way of knowing whether the public would be able to understand the documents or not, not that that should even be the issue.”
District Solicitor Fred Wolfe was not at the meeting but said he’ll review the Right to Know request when he receives it.
“We’ll take it under advisement and review it. If it’s determined it needs to be provided, we will provide it but we have to see exactly what they’re requesting.”