Constitutional Law

Pa. court tosses union's bid to keep teachers' addresses private

By By The Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. ? A Pennsylvania appeals court has thrown out a lawsuit filed by the state?s largest teachers union that sought to prevent public disclosure of public school employees? home addresses.

Commonwealth Court on Sept. 24 ruled against the Pennsylvania State Education Association, which sued the state Office of Open Records to keep it from ordering the release of the addresses under the state?s Right-to-Know Law.

Five of seven judges joined a majority opinion that said the union did not have the right to sue the agency, but instead would have to sue school districts to pursue the matter. A sixth judge said the addresses should be public, and the seventh would have kept the case alive but wanted additional facts and oral argument.

The ruling can be appealed to the state Supreme Court, but union spokeswoman Barb Brady said that decision had not been made. She said the union was disappointed by the ruling and was studying its options.

Office of Open Records director Terry Mutchler hailed the ruling as a significant step toward open government, and said the Legislature clearly meant to make accessible most government employees? addresses.

?We?re beyond pleased with the court?s ruling and what that means is that the true intent of this legislation is back on the table,? she said.

The Right-to-Know Law bars access to the home addresses of judges, law enforcement and juveniles, but the PSEA argued that the release of the home locations of its members would compromise their safety. Their case did not concern a specific ruling the open-records office had made, but asked the court to declare the addresses exempt.

?It is the school districts, not the Office of Open Records, that are the appropriate defendants to PSEA?s privacy claims,? wrote Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt for the majority. ?Further, the relief sought by PSEA, i.e., a directive to the Office of Open Records on how to adjudicate, places this complaint beyond our jurisdiction.?

Mutchler issued an advisory while the case was before Commonwealth Court that prevented public employees? addresses of any kind from being released. She said Sept. 24 that her office expected to resume processing the roughly 10 cases that have been on hold as a result.

?Any cases pending before the Office of Open Records will be analyzed in light of this court decision, and the information will be ordered to be released,? she said.

In a dissent, Judge Patricia A. McCullough said the fact that most disclosure of home addresses has not resulted in physical harm does not mean that particular groups cannot persuasively argue they face ?reasonable likelihood of harm.?

She noted that the PSEA has asserted that between 1996 and 2000, 559,000 teachers were victims of violent crimes, that 9% of teachers were threatened with injury in 1999-2000, and that in Allegheny County, 621 students assaulted teachers between 2000 and 2006.

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on September 27, 2010 (boomark / email).