Article is very long so I only posted part of it.Refer to link for full story.


http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/article/4506


March 10, 2010
The Goldwater Institute Watchdog Report is a periodic publication intended to identify government corruption and waste and to hold politicians and public agencies accountable to taxpayers.

A handful of taxpayers in a small community north of Wickenburg, Arizona are being targeted by the local school district in a lawsuit that asks a judge to declare they have no right to request public records, sue the district, or complain to outside agencies.

The Congress Elementary School District claims that past efforts by these residents to obtain documents such as minutes of board meetings and spending reports amount to harassment that should not have to be tolerated.

But Jean Warren, one of the four defendants named in the lawsuit filed January 28, 2010, said the complaint is an illegal attempt to silence citizens who have questioned the district’s policies and spending practices.

“The whole thing is based on trying to shut us down so that nobody has any rights,” Warren said. “Just because you live in a small area does not mean you don’t have rights. Everything I believe about the Constitution and what it means to be a citizen of the USA is being shot down.”

The school district has a history of violating state laws mandating government transparency, according to investigations dating to 2002 done by the Arizona attorney general and state ombudsman. In 2002 and again in 2007, the district was found to be in violation of the state’s open meeting law by the Attorney General’s Office. In June 2009, the state ombudsman’s office admonished the district for its slow response to public records requests.

Liz Hill, the assistant state ombudsman for public access, told the Goldwater Institute she is not aware of any other instance in which a government agency has filed a court action seeking to block citizens from even requesting public records that should otherwise be available. It is something that frustrated government officials have talked about, but to her knowledge none has ever followed through, said Hill, who did not want to comment on whether the district’s lawsuit is justified.

“There’s a lot of talk about entities going and getting injunctions or other kinds of protective orders not to have to respond to certain individuals or certain requests,” Hill said. “But I haven’t actually been aware of any specific case, just more the theory of it. This is the first time I’ve actually seen someone go and attempt to do it.”

Using courts to turn away requests

The district’s lawsuit acknowledges the documents that have been requested are not privileged or confidential, which means they are public records that normally should be disclosed. For the most part, the records sought were agendas and minutes of governing board meetings, spending reports, and records related to the defendants’ own children.

However, the district’s lawyer, Franklin Hoover, argues the repeated public records demands and requests for investigation filed with outside agencies are a costly nuisance and the district should not be forced to respond.

“Defendants have abused both the public records request and the administrative complaint system in order to harass the Plaintiff,” Hoover wrote in court motions. “Defendants’ requests and complaints were unduly burdensome due to the sheer volume of the records requiring preparation by the Plaintiff in response.”

The lawsuit asks a Yavapai County Superior Court judge to block Warren, Cyndi Regis, Barbara Rejon and Jennifer Hoge from filing any more public records requests. The district also wants a ruling that it does not have to comply with previous requests for public records, and an order restricting the right of Warren and others to file a lawsuit or complain to any outside agency, including the ombudsman and the attorney general.

All of the defendants are being represented by the Goldwater Institute Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation, which learned of the complaint shortly after it was filed.

Carrie Ann Sitren, a Goldwater Institute attorney, said the lawsuit is a clear attempt to silence people in the community who have been critical of the board’s actions, and have made good-faith attempts to ensure the district is spending taxpayer money wisely. The district’s actions go beyond violating government transparency laws; they amount to an affront on the First Amendment rights of citizens to free speech and to petition their government, Sitren said.

“In this case, the citizens in this community were exercising their rights,” Sitren said. “The board’s response was to try to threaten them into shutting up, and that is not what our system of government is supposed to be allowed to do.

“There is a good-faith intent by each of these people and in all of their actions to make the school better, to make it more efficient and to make the education of their children better. They never asked for a single document they didn’t have good reason to ask for. Under the law you don’t even need a good reason. These people had great reasons every time.”

Beyond defending the claim, Sitren said she will do whatever is necessary to ensure the district follows the state's public records law in the future.

“They’re obviously not following the law on their own,” she said.

School district officials refused to comment for this story, citing the Goldwater Institute’s decision to represent the defendants

This just goes along with all the other stupid decisions the schools are making now days , like not allowing the kids to take there perscribed meds for them . Somebody should tell these brain dead people to get away from our kids there doing more damage than good .

This 'school' has obviously learned how to deal with unpleasant inquiries 'The Chicago Way' ...

I don't have kids and will never have kids

my puppy is as close as I will ever get to knowing what it feels like to have kids

BUT

if I had kids

I would say that the school system and the kids in it are NOT a life support system for school administrators and unions. I am so disgusted with their attitudes towards the children and parents that I would refuse to allow my children in their schools. I would either home school or spend the extra money to put them in private school

I would have no problem at all seeing the public school systems go bankrupt for everyone pulling their kids out of public schools