Forest Hills investigation: Where are records?
What's going on at Forest Hills?
A reporter made the first public records request on April 16, asking for documents pertaining to the investigation into Superintendent Dallas Jackson.
It's been eight business days, but the school district has not provided any of the records.
On Friday, the district's attorney, William Deters, told The Enquirer he hoped to provide some of the records that same day.
On Monday, he said everything would be delivered by 10 a.m. Tuesday.
After a marathon board of education executive session Monday night, one that went well past midnight, district spokeswoman Erika Daggett said she would have a statement to release Tuesday morning.
Yet, still nothing.
Daggett said Tuesday she is trying to track down information and will provide it as soon as possible. The records were submitted to Deters to make redactions for issues such as student-privacy concerns, she said, and they haven't been returned.
"I would love to give you guys information. I don't have the information," she said. "We haven't been able to turn anything over, because I don't have anything back from him.
"We're not hiding anything. I just don't have anything."
The underlying issue stretches back to a first-semester pre-calculus exam. At least two dozen Turpin High School teachers signed a letter to the school board, alleging that Jackson pulled scores from the exam after seeing his son's failing grade.
The district hired an outside investigator to look into the issue, but board members have not yet responded to questions about who was hired to conduct the probe and for how much.
Ohio law requires school districts to make public records readily available to the public. The records must be "promptly prepared and made available for inspection to any person at all reasonable times during regular business hours," the law states.
With personnel files in particular, those are typically available the same day a request is made, Ohio Newspaper Association Executive Director Dennis Hetzel said.
"The law is pretty clear in these matters that it shouldn't be more than a few days at the most to respond to that type of request," Hetzel told The Enquirer on Monday. "In the case of a school superintendent being under investigation, there's profound public interest in knowing and understanding what's going on."
This is not the first time The Enquirer and Forest Hills have clashed over the Sunshine Law, Ohio's standard for what meetings and records must be open and available to the public. In 2010, The Enquirer successfully sued after district officials claimed a Superintendent's Facilities Committee was not a public body.
The state requires public-body meetings to be open to the public; the district wanted to hold the facilities meetings in private.
What do you think? Is this a reasonable delay, or is Forest Hills violating public records laws? Share your thoughts on Twitter, @hksparling, @fsellerspress, #ForestHills.
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