Washoe County District Court Judge Kathleen Drakulich on Wednesday ruled in favor of Washoe County School District Trustee Jeff Church in Church’s public records lawsuit against the school district.
Church sued WCSD after placing public records orders with the district, and after school district attorney Neil Rombardo refused to turn over any of the records. Rombardo vigorously defended the records denials even though one of the records sought by Church, a volunteer application, indicated it was a public document. Rombardo declared the document confidential after Church asked for a copy of a volunteer’s application.
“The blanket denial of Mr. Church’s request is unwarranted and fails to comply with Nevada precedent.”
“The District’s process seeks to prevent such harassment, endangerment, risk of mistreatment or similar harm in order to recruit qualified applicants for volunteer positions on public bodies,” WCSD’s paralegal wrote when denying the release of the records. “Releasing said information and treatment of such applicants would negatively impact the District’s ability to recruit and receive applications from qualified volunteers.”
Drakulich disagreed.
“The District’s own volunteer application form provides a disclaimer to the volunteer that their materials provided constitute a ‘public record’ subject to redaction,” Drakulich wrote. “These applicants retain full control over what they provide to the District. Moreover, no witness testified before this Court that they reasonably believed those applications would be private or confidential.”
The opposite occurred. The volunteer who filled out the form testified in court that she understood she was signing a public document.
“While personally identifiable information may be redacted, the blanket denial of Mr. Church’s request is unwarranted and fails to comply with Nevada precedent,” Drakulich ruled. She also said that the “vast majority of emails” requested by Church are not confidential.
Church said he was vindicated by the decision.
“Clearly [WCSD attorney Neil] Rombardo took an all-or-nothing approach,” he told This Is Reno.
School officials said Drakulich’s decision “misconstrued” protections sought by the board of trustees to protect a volunteer applicant’s identity and may appeal.
“It’s unfortunate Trustee Church chose to file a lawsuit without ever reaching out or having discussions with the District other than his request,” WCSD spokesperson Michelle Anderson said. “The District will need time to further review the order and determine whether it will appeal and/or make necessary changes to its processes to protect our volunteer applicants, especially those candidates who are unsuccessful, from disclosure, which is the law.”
Rombardo in March gave a lengthy presentation about why he needed $500,000 to defend litigation by Church and his supporters, citing this case as an example. The school board approved the funding.
“The District’s unwarranted attacks on my integrity and accusations of frivolous and predatory lawsuits are proven wrong,” Church said. “I see this as vindication, and we will seek attorney fees. This all could have been avoided by open negotiation and/or a clear reading of the law.”
According to Drakulich, portions of Church’s requested emails may be redacted, and some documents he requested will be withheld.
Disclosure: Church’s attorney, Luke Busby, represents This Is Reno in public records litigation.
