Editorial: Secrecy costs public plenty

Editorial: Secrecy costs public plenty

OUHSD should know better

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Attempting to withhold records by claiming they are not public information — even though taxpayer money is involved — is a common dodge employed by city councils, school districts and other public agencies.

This was the route taken by the Oxnard Union High School District last year when The Star sought to find out how much money the school district had spent on legal fees to fight a wrongful termination lawsuit filed against it in January 2006.

The request was rebuffed by a school district lawyer on the grounds that the legal fees were not public information.

A lawyer should know better. And, on Feb. 5, a Superior Court judge ordered the district to make the records available.

Twenty-one days later, the school district provided the requested information. And no wonder it was trying to hide the facts. It had spent $532,123 to fight the lawsuit. Not surprisingly, shortly after releasing the records, the district announced it had settled the case for $150,000.

Although all the litigation costs, according to the district, are covered by insurance, the time and energy spent on the matter by school administrators and staff over the last two years cannot be recovered.

This dispute should not have lasted this long and, certainly, not cost in excess of half-a-million dollars.

It all began after Becky Romano, a former Rio Mesa High School assistant principal, was let go after returning from a work-related injury. The district, she alleged, maintained she was physically unable to perform her duties.

Over the lawsuit's course, attorneys for the two sides accused each other of dragging out the case. The sharpest comment came from Ms. Romano's attorney, who alleged an outside attorney for the district was refusing to settle in order to drive up his fees.

District officials said the plaintiff was using the media to embarrass the district into settling.

This story highlights two problems — the amount of money school districts spend on litigation, and the Oxnard Union High School District's denial of the public's right to know how it is spending taxpayers' money.

It shouldn't take half-a-million dollars to conclude a lawsuit that is settled for $150,000. And it most certainly shouldn't take a Superior Court judge and more attorney fees to force the school district to turn over records that are clearly public documents.

 
 

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