CHARLESTON – A non-profit legal services group says the Kanawha County Board of Education has ignored repeated requests for public records.
Mountain State Justice Inc. filed its complaint January 19 in Kanawha Circuit Court against the KCBOE.
Mountain State Justice says it has been trying to obtain public records for months to understand the number of expulsion hearings held by the board and to investigate whether such hearings have had a disproportionate impact on students of color and students with disabilities.
“Instead of complying with this request as required by law, the Board has ignored plaintiff’s request month after month and provide no responsive information,” the complaint states. “Plaintiff seeks documents related to the number of expulsion hearings held by the Board from 2014 to the present, the outcomes of said hearings, the placement of students as a result of those hearings, including placements at Chandler Academy, and whether such students had 504 or IEP plans.”
MSJ says it sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the Board on April 7, 2022, and the BOE acknowledged receipt of the request on April 19 and said a response would be returned within 30 days. More than a month later, the board sent MSJ an email saying it needed until the end of June to respond.
When the information wasn’t received June 30, MSJ asked for an update but received no response. It did the same at the end of August. Again, KCBOE did not respond at all.
“Nearly eight months have passed since defendant received the FOIA request, and it has provided no responsive documents to plaintiff nor cited any reason for its continued lack of response,” the complaint states.
MSJ asks the court to declare the board’s refusal to disclose the records requested as unlawful and to enjoin the board from withholding records without justification and communication. It also asks the court to order the production of the records improperly withheld within a specified time. It also seeks attorney fees and court costs.
Mountain State Justice is being represented by Blaire Malkin of Mountain State Justice. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Kenneth Ballard.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 23-C-45