Wenatchee lawyer files public records request with school district
A public records request has been submitted by Wenatchee attorney John Brangwin for information related to Wenatchee School District administration’s reactions to an Apple Leaf article titled “School district administrators’ salaries increasing dramatically.”
The request was filed on Oct. 20 and specifically targeted reactions to an article about the amount of spending in the district office, according to Brangwin. A follow-up request was made on Oct. 22.
When asked why he filed the request, Brangwin said that he is “interested to see what, if anything, the administration did, specifically to those teachers who were courageous enough to make comments to [The Apple Leaf]. I expect that that article got their attention and there was some commentary, and I expect that that commentary is probably contained in some of the public records that I have requested.”
The district will conduct a search for any emails written, authored, or created by a specific list of administrators, teachers and others during the period of Oct.10-22.
Brangwin expressed doubt that the public records request would result in a lawsuit, but did not entirely dismiss the possibility.
“There are a couple places that a lawsuit is possible. Not likely, but possible. One, if the district fails to adhere to the public records act, that’s actionable. If they don’t respond, or try to hide documents or do something like that; that I suppose could be the basis of a lawsuit,” Brangwin said. “I suppose it’s possible that some document could be turned up that could exposed the district to some liability, but I don’t know what that might be.”
Sophomore Chris Danko, the article’s author, was not surprised by the public records request, explaining that “[The Apple Leaf has] filed a public records request of our own with a very similar nature. It was basically the same thing that [Brangwin filed], except we specifically identified the administration as the people we wanted the emails from.”
Danko said the editors of the paper want to know what the district’s reaction was to the story and to look for any misconduct directed toward teachers or others who commented in the story.
“I think there may be something that the public would be disappointed to see,” Brangwin said. “I’d just like to look at the records as any person is entitled to do, and if there is something that is improper or inappropriate, then perhaps I would bring it to light as a member of the public.”
The Wenatchee School District attorney Danielle Marchant did not say if it was common for an attorney to become involved in a public records request, but said, “I represent multiple government agencies and each has requested my assistance on public records requests.”
Marchant wouldn’t say what her role was in this specific public records request, but said that lawyers often provide general advice, identify when exemptions can be made, and help to determine what is an adequate search under the Freedom of Information Act.
