San Diego Unified stonewalls Sally Smith

Citizen on a mission sues district for violating state public records act
By Dorian Hargrove
San Diego Reader
May 27, 2016

San Diego Unified School District is discriminating against a student advocate in her quest to obtain public records, says a newly filed lawsuit filed on behalf of San Diego resident Sally Smith.

Over the past six years, Smith has been dogged in her quest to end illegal school fees and raise awareness of poor investigations into sexual assaults and other abuses within the country's eighth-largest school district. To help in her quest, Smith regularly submits public records requests to the district.

Oftentimes, those requests are met with resistance from school officials. In November 2014, Smith sued the San Diego Unified School District after she was denied access to log on to district computers to view public documents that are only offered on those certain computers.

While that case continues to make its way through court, Smith has filed a new lawsuit. On May 24, attorney Paul Boylan, who specializes in public records law, filed a lawsuit on Smith's behalf after the district refused to hand over legal bills that the district paid to outside counsel who were advising school-board members on the controversy surrounding former trustee Marne Foster.

...In response, the district hired legal firm DLA Piper to look into the alleged abuses of power. But a short time later, trustees voted to suspend the legal contract after the San Diego County district attorney announced that a criminal investigation had been launched. On March 8, trustees approved paying DLA Piper $34,000 for work leading up to the D.A.’s investigation.

Smith wanted to see the invoices for legal work, documents that are typically available under California's public records law. Nine days after filing her request, the district responded by stating there were "no non-privileged documents responsive to your request."

Days later, Smith responded, "This is not a legal document. It is a standard request for payment detailing what taxpayers paid for. I made the request...just a few days after the San Diego Unified School Board approved paying the bill." Again, the district refused: "...[T]here are no non-privileged documents responsive to your request. More specifically Government Code 6276.04 protects attorney client communications, in addition to Section 6068 of the Business and Professions Code and Sections 952 and 954 of the Evidence Code." Smith once again contacted attorney Boylan to file a lawsuit...