Davis v. Van Buren School District

Page 467

          APPEAL FROM THE CRAWFORD COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT [NO. 17CV-17-97], HONORABLE MICHAEL MEDLOCK, JUDGE

          Lisa-Marie Norris, for appellant.

         Bequette, Billingsley & Kees, P.A., Little Rock, by: George J. Bequette, Jr., and W. Cody Kees, for appellee.

         OPINION

         KENNETH S. HIXSON, Judge

          Appellant Michelle Davis appeals from a final order dismissing her complaint in favor of appellee Van Buren School District. On appeal, appellant contends that the circuit court erred in ruling that the job-performance records at issue are not subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Arkansas Code Annotated sections 25-19-101 through -110 (Repl. 2015). We affirm.

Page 468

          I. Relevant Facts

          Appellant filed her complaint on March 2, 2017, under FOIA to compel appellee to provide all records of the Van Buren School District pertaining to two investigations involving altercations that occurred between her son and two teachers within the school district. Appellant alleged that the first incident occurred at the Van Buren Freshman Academy on September 14, 2015, and the second incident occurred at Northridge Middle School on September 9, 2016. She further alleged that it was her belief that no action was taken against the teacher involved in the first incident but that the teacher responsible for the second incident had been terminated. Appellant stated that the superintendent of the Van Buren School District, Dr. Harold Jeffcoat, refused her FOIA request in an email stating, "The records you have requested were generated as a result of allegations related to the employee’s job performance. The District does not have any non-exempt records responsive to your request under FOIA." Therefore, in her complaint, appellant prayed for a hearing, for an order requiring appellee to make available the records she requested, and for reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.

          Appellee filed its answer and affirmatively pleaded the following:

14. Defendant affirmatively pleads the records requested by Plaintiff constitute employee evaluation or job performance records, which shall be open for public inspection only upon final administrative resolution of any suspension or termination proceeding at which the records from a basis for the decision to suspend or terminate the employee and if there is a compelling interest in their disclosure. See Ark. Code Ann. § 25-19-105(c)(1).

15. Defendant affirmatively pleads the documents requested by Plaintiff were generated as a result of allegations related to an employee’s job performance, and therefore constitute a job performance record, and they were not used in the final administrative resolution of any suspension or termination proceeding of the employee, and therefore they are exempt from disclosure.

16. Defendant affirmatively states there are other compelling public interest reasons which preclude disclosure of the requested documents, pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 25-19-105(c)(1).

          Thereafter, appellant filed a motion to compel answers to her requests for interrogatories and production of documents. A hearing on appellant’s motion to compel and on her complaint was held on March 13, 2018.^[1] Regarding appellant’s complaint, the parties argued their respective positions at the hearing. At the outset, appellant stated, "I don’t think there’s really any disputed facts here. It’s really just a legal determination for the Court to make whether the exemption that the school district is alleging is valid or not." Appellant argued that the records are not exempt under FOIA. Regarding records from the first incident, appellant argued that any investigative report should not be considered a job-performance or employee-evaluation record because nothing was ultimately done to the employee. Instead, she argued that any report should ...