AG: Teachers’ complaints are public documents

SAN ANTONIO — Teachers at West Avenue Elementary School who made what they thought were confidential complaints about their principal and assistant principal have found themselves unmasked thanks to the Texas open records law, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

Principal Nathalie Hall and assistant principal Kim Berlin have made it their mission to obtain copies of written statements the teachers agreed to submit to the North East Independent School District’s human resources department earlier this year for an investigation into complaints of heavy-handed tactics by the administrators, the newspaper reported.

The teachers were told the statements would be kept confidential, but state Attorney General Greg Abbott recently found that the statements must be disclosed upon request under the Texas Public Information Act.

Official says school board violated meetings act

DONNA — A judge granted a temporary restraining order against the Donna school district, preventing administrators from taking further action against the suspended chief financial officer, The Monitor in McAllen reported.

Chris Thanedar filed the application April 20 claiming the board violated the Open Meetings Act by discussing his suspension in executive session without notice and failing to list the specific subject on the agenda, the newspaper reported.

Judge Aida Salinas Flores of the 398th state District Court granted the order.

The financial officer’s chief complaint is that the descriptions on the agenda are too vague and that each item must have a clear and identifiable subject. He eventually returned to work but left that same day saying he encountered a hostile work environment. His contact was set to expire June 30.

District opts to release records, withdraw challenge

MANOR — The Manor school district withdrew a petition asking a Travis County district court to keep sealed an internal district memorandum regarding a district employee’s allegation of sexual harassment by a school board member, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

The American-Statesman filed a request Nov. 17 for documents pertaining to claims of sexual harassment against the school board member under the Texas Public Information Act.

The district sought permission from the Texas attorney general’s office to withhold the information. On Feb. 6, the office ruled that a memorandum written by district human resources director Cathy Jones about the complaint should be released with information, such as the name of the accuser, withheld. The case was scheduled to go to court two days after the district withdrew the petition.

The district released documents, requested by the American-Statesman on Feb. 15, relating to a claim of sexual harassment against Superintendent Mark Diaz. The attorney general ruled May 5 that Jones’ report on the complaint should be released.

Candidate sues to view city’s utility report

DENTON — Mayoral candidate Bob Clifton sued a city official in an open-records dispute regarding the city’s electric utility, the Denton Record Chronicle reported.

Clifton, one of three candidates who ran in the May 13 election to succeed Mayor Euline Brock, filed an open-records request March 30 seeking to view Denton Municipal Electric’s most recent annual report.

But a city attorney says he can’t produce the report because it doesn’t exist, and the utility no longer files the report.