TCAPS Holds Meeting Over Release Of Memo Regarding Former Superintendent 9and10news.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from 9and10news.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Jun. 11—TRAVERSE CITY — A letter at the center of the controversy surrounding the departure of a superintendent at northern Michigan's largest school district may soon be released, after a nearly two-year-long legal battle. Traverse City Area Public Schools Board of Education trustees will enter a closed session Monday to hear at least two legal opinions regarding release of a six-page .
A Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled on the side of
The Traverse City Record-Eagle in a case about transparency. The ruling says that Traverse City Area Public Schools cannot use the Open Meetings Act to withhold documents.
In the autumn of 2019, the
Record-Eagle filed a Freedom of Information Act Request to get a document which had complaints on then-TCAPS Superintendent Ann Cardon. The school board declined the request and a subsequent appeal, saying the document was a part of the minutes of a closed session. The lawsuit to get the documents was filed in January 2020.
The Michigan Open Meetings Act says that separate minutes are to be taken for a closed session, and that these minutes. are not available to the public, and shall only be disclosed if required by a civil action filed under section 10, 11, or 13.
Newspaper wins again in dispute over school records
May 14, 2021
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TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) The Traverse City school district must release a document that carried complaints about a superintendent who lasted less than three months and was paid $180,000, the Michigan Court of Appeals said.
The court, 3-0, affirmed a decision by a local judge in a dispute between the district and the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
The district declined to release a document to the newspaper in 2019, saying it was exempt from a public records request because it was attached to minutes from a closed session of the school board.
That position “makes no sense,” appeals court Judge Christopher Murray said during arguments last week, the Record-Eagle reported.
Apparently silence isn’t priceless.
In fact, it costs a few hundred thousand taxpayer dollars and some billable hours from state-funded lawyers.
Or so we learned this week as news broke of cushy separation agreements brokered by Gov. Gretchen WhitmerÃs administration in an effort to help at least a couple of state agency leaders out the door.
Those agreements one with former Michigan Department of Health and Human Services director Robert Gordon, and the other with former director of the state Unemployment Insurance Agency Steve Gray –are the equivalent of a golden parachute paired with a golden muzzle for folks whose job descriptions included serving the people of Michigan, not fleecing them.