Prior to today’s hearing on the constitutionality of Governor Nathan’s Deal’s suspension of the DeKalb County School Board, U.S. District Judge Richard Story placed the litigants on notice that he expects  documents filed in the case should, as a general rule, not be sealed.

Story entered a standing order that outlines his policy “not to allow the filing of documents under seal, even if all parties consent to filing under seal; this is because documents filed in Court are presumptively public.”

Story’s order makes an exception for documents containing information protected by law from disclosure, personal information such as Social Security numbers, trade secrets or sensitive security data.

The judge’s order also directs anyone who wants to seal a court filing to submit a motion to file under seal, adding that, “The party or parties presenting the motion shall bear the burden of establishing (in the motion) good cause for sealing.”

A motion to seal would have to explain the reasons why sealing a document is necessary, why less drastic alternatives than sealing are not adequate and “address the factors governing sealing of documents reflected in controlling case law,” Story’s order states.

Story’s order also bars litigants from agreeing to “broad protective orders that would allow counsel to designate as confidential documents that will be filed in court without prior judicial review.”

The judge’s order provided for some documents to be designated as confidential “but only after review of the documents by an attorney who has determined in good faith that the documents contain information protected from disclosure by statute; personal information (such as social security numbers); trade secrets [as defined by Georgia law] or sensitive security data.”

The judge also noted in his order that any confidential designation “is subject to challenge,” and “the burden of proving the necessity of a confidential designation remains with the party asserting confidentiality.”

A federal judge’s emergency order intended to “preserve the status quo” issued Friday night pre-empted Governor Nathan Deal’s decision today to replace six members of the DeKalb County Board of Education.

Judge Richard Story issued his order after Deal announced his intention to take action regarding a likely removal of the majority of the school board in order to salvage the DeKalb County school system’s endangered accreditation.

Story denied a request by lawyers representing the DeKalb County School District and school board chairman Eugene Walker to restrain the governor from suspending or removing any elected member of the school board prior to what had been a hearing on the matter scheduled for Tuesday. The other members of the school board are not listed as parties to the suit.

But Story halted the implementation of Deal’s decisions “to preserve the status quo until after this Court has held a hearing on the matter.”

“Thus, if Governor Deal decides to appoint any new member to the Board, that proposed member shall not be permitted to take office at this time,” Story ordered.  Story  also said in his order that if  the governor attempted to remove any school board member, “that member will remain in office, but shall not be permitted to act on behalf of of the board or take any other official action in his or her capacity as [a] board member.”

Story delayed Tuesday’s scheduled hearing until Friday at 2:30 p.m.

Last week, Story refused to grant an earlier emergency petition  from lawyers representing Walker and the school district. They had sought to bar the State Board of Education from convening a hearing  on whether board members should be removed in order to salvage the school district’s accreditation, which the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools has suspended based on what its representatives have said was threatening and abusive behavior by board members, coupled with chronic financial irresponsibility that has left the system deeply in debt.

DeKalb school board lawyers also sought to bar the state board from making any recommendation to suspend any member of the DeKalb board and prevent the governor from suspending board members or stripping them of their elected office.

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Charter school supporters filed a class action suit today in hopes of stopping what they believe is an illegal use of tax-funded resources by local school districts to oppose an upcoming charter school referendum.

Today’s suit follows up on a letter Atlanta attorney Glenn Delk sent to state school superintendent John Barge and the superintendents of Atlanta Public Schools and the Fulton County School System, threatening them with litigation unless they agreed to stop certain opposition efforts aimed at a constitutional amendment question included on the Nov. 6 ballot. The measure would reestablish a state commission that could approve charter schools even if local districts reject them.

The suit filed today in Fulton County Superior Court names as defendants the Fulton County School System and the Gwinnett County School District individually and as representatives of a class consisting of all public school districts in Georgia, which the complaint frequently refers to as the “Education Empire.”

The plaintiffs—R. Allen Hughes, Rich Thompson, Rae Anne Harkness, Kelley O’Bryan Gary and Kara Martin—contend they are representing a class representing all state taxpayers and voters. Delk said his clients are supported by the Georgia chapter of Americans for Prosperity and the Fulton County Taxpayers Association.
Among the specific allegations included in their suit are that a June meeting of the Georgia School Boards Association in “attended by school board members whose attendance was funded by taxpayers” included instruction about how to conduct a campaign against the amendment. The plaintiffs also allege that several school boards passed official resolutions opposing the amendment, that school districts have allowed union representatives to disseminate anti-amendment literature to teachers and allowed parent-teacher groups to use school resources to print and distribute similar material, and that the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce planned to hold a fundraiser event for opponents.

The suit does not name the state school superintendent as a defendant even though Delk’s September letter accuses him of using state employees and resources to produce and post anti-amendment materials on the state Department of Education’s website. The DOE has since removed the materials and issued a statement saying the department does not take any stance on the amendment, although Barge said he will continue to personally oppose it.

“Given that Supt. Barge took steps to remove anti-Amendment materials from the State DOE website, instructed the State DOE to publicly state the DOE was neutral on the Amendment, and asked the [state] Attorney General [Sam Olens] to investigate the activities of the local districts, we decided not to sue Mr. Barge or the State Board of Education,” Delk said in a written statement.

Olens’ issued a letter last week stating that neither public school districts nor publicly-funded charter schools could use taxpayer resources to campaign for or against any ballot initiative.

“That letter did not break new legal ground,” Olens said last week during a news conference call. “It simply restated what the Georgia Supreme Court made very clear more than 30 years ago: Local governments cannot expend taxpayer resources to tell taxpayers how to vote.”

However, Olens would not say whether he believed any local districts broke the law.

The suit is seeking declaratory judgment that the school districts’ alleged political actions were unconstitutional and that the court grant injunctive relief stopping the districts from any further advocacy meetings, campaign organizing and material distribution related to the charter school amendment. The suit also seeks monetary damages requiring the defendants to “personally reimburse the taxpayers of each school district.”

A hearing on the case has been scheduled for Wednesday afternoon before Superior Court Judge Wendy Shoob .

A representative from the Gwinnett school system said she had not seen the suit yet.

Fulton schools spokeswoman Samantha Evans said the district has not taken a position on the charter school amendment but has tried to offer information about it.

“The district felt an obligation to share information with stakeholders. They’ve asked about Amendment 1 and looked to us as an education force on this issue,” Evans said.

In a case involving school bullying that is being watched nationwide, a federal judge in Rome has determined that a 17-year-old who hanged himself in 2009 likely was subjected to severe and pervasive bullying throughout his high school career but that the school system had responded effectively every time school administrators were alerted that the teen had been bullied.

In an order handed down Monday, U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy granted summary judgment to the Murphy County School System, finding that school administrators had not demonstrated deliberate indifference to the plight of 17-year-old Tyler Long and had not violated his civil rights by failing to shield him from school bullies.

Tyler’s parents, Tina and David Long, sued the school system and Murray County High School’s principal  in 2010, claiming that the school system was liable for their son’s Oct. 17, 2009 suicide because he was bullied to death.

School district attorneys had countered that Tyler’s psychiatric records, multiple mental health issues and a suicide note
that referred to his personal anguish over his relationship with his parents – not bullying – drove Tyler to suicide.

In his order, Murphy did not rule on the ultimate cause of Tyler’s suicide. Instead, citing multiple rulings by the U.S. Eleventh
Circuit Court of Appeals, the judge found that the school district did not have a constitutional duty to protect Tyler from harm by private individuals – primarily other students who allegedly bullied him – even though Tyler’s harassment was “sufficiently severe and pervasive” that it created “an abusive educational environment.”