A Carbon County judge has imposed penalties on the Lehighton Area School District for violations of Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law.

The case stems from a request by David Bradley, a former Lehighton school board member who sought financial records from the district and argued that he faced significant delays and improper redactions despite a ruling from the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records mandating access.

Judge Joseph J. Matika issued the ruling on Dec. 10, granting Bradley’s motion for sanctions.

“The District was mandated by the OOR to “make available for inspection” all responsive financial records requested by Bradley that had not already been provided and since the District failed to meet its burden vis-a-vis its claimed exemptions, those records would need to be provided without redactions,” Matika wrote in his ruling. “This was bad faith on the part of the district.”

The district was fined $500, ordered to reimburse Bradley $731.25 for unnecessary copying costs, and required to pay reasonable attorney fees.

Timeline of events

Bradley’s initial request for the records was approved by the OOR on Aug. 15, 2022. The decision gave him the right to inspect the district’s financial records without redactions. Despite this, Bradley said he experienced delays in accessing the records, leading to the current legal proceedings.

On Dec. 12, 2023, Bradley requested to inspect the records during the district’s winter break. The district’s then-superintendent, Dr. Christina Fish, responded on Jan. 2, 2024, stating that only one box of records would be available on Jan. 5. Additionally, Bradley was required to pay $731.25 for photocopying the records, a decision the court later deemed unnecessary.

When Bradley arrived to review the records on Jan. 5, court documents state, he was told to return on Jan. 8 due to an issue with mixed redacted and unredacted copies. At the Jan. 8 meeting, Bradley received 1,816 pages of documents — fewer than the 2,925 pages he had paid for. The records, according to court documents, were also improperly redacted, contrary to the OOR’s directive.

Court findings

The court found that LASD violated the Right-to-Know Law by failing to comply with the OOR’s order to provide unredacted records for inspection.

According to Matika, the district’s actions demonstrated a lack of good faith compliance and warranted penalties under Section 1305 of the RTKL. This section allows courts to impose civil penalties of up to $1,500 for agencies that deny access to public records in bad faith.

“In the RTKL context, ‘bad faith’ does not require a showing of fraud or corruption,” Matika wrote in his ruling. He added that the district’s failure to follow the OOR’s order was sufficient to meet the standard for bad faith.

Penalties imposed

The court ordered LASD to pay $500 to the Carbon County Prothonotary’s Office within 30 days as a civil penalty. Additionally, the district must reimburse Bradley for the $731.25 photocopying fee and cover his attorney fees. Bradley’s attorney has 15 days to file a bill of costs for fees incurred from June 20, 2024, onward.

The court noted that further penalties could be imposed if the district fails to comply with future RTKL requests.

District’s response

The district sought relief through an appeal nunc pro tunc, a procedural allowance for late appeals in extraordinary circumstances. Matika outlined the three criteria required to grant such an appeal:

• The delay must be caused by fraud, a breakdown in court operations, or non-negligent circumstances.

• The notice of appeal must be filed shortly after the deadline.

• The appellee must not be prejudiced by the delay.

Matika determined that the district failed to meet these criteria.

“The district has failed to show any evidence that their delay in filing was due to fraud or a breakdown in the court’s operations,” Matika wrote.

Additionally, the court found no proof of “unforeseeable and unavoidable events” that prevented the district from filing the appeal on time.