Attorneys for Gay Adelmann and Kentucky PTA met in Jefferson Circuit Court on September 16. The hearing was conducted on Kentucky PTA's motion that the court stay enforcement of its order directing the Jefferson County Public Schools to release PTA financial reports —maintained by the school district under a state requirement — to Adelmann.
Adelmann requested the financial reports earlier this summer. JCPS agreed to disclose them as it has done in the past. Kentucky PTA, a private nonprofit corporation, learned of Adelmann's request when it was contacted by member PTAs alarmed by JCPS's efforts to compile the reports in order to honor Adelmann's request.
Kentucky PTA offered to provide Adelmann with copies of the PTA financial reports in *its* possession, but objected to her use of the open records law to obtain them from JCPS and the dangerous precedent this might set.
(Unfortunately, neither Adelmann nor the public can rely on such "generosity" from Kentucky PTA in responding to future requests, and no enforcement mechanism — like the open records appeal process —exists for compelling a private corporation to honor future requests.)
(What's more, the precedent has already *been* set by JCPS's disclosure of the financial reports to the Courier Journal on three occasions.)
Kentucky PTA subsequently filed suit in Jefferson Circuit Court to block JCPS from releasing the financial reports. It argued that the reports contain proprietary information and that disclosure will give an unfair commercial advantage to competitors.
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Judge Charles Cunningham rejected these arguments in an opinion Issued on August 27, finding no support for the argument that unidentified competitors would gain a commercial advantage from disclosure. He ordered JCPS to release the PTA financial reports to Adelmann by September 16.
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Shortly thereafter, Kentucky PTA announced that it would appeal the Jefferson Circuit Court's opinion to the Kentucky Court of Appeals.
https://www.facebook.com/419650175248377/posts/508696749677052?sfns=mo
At the September 16 hearing Kentucky PTA attorney Coy Travis asked that the court stay enforcement of its order to KCPS to release the financial reports while his client's appeal proceeds.
Judge Cunningham declined Kentucky PTA's request but agreed to stay enforcement until Kentucky PTA can asked the Court of Appeals to enjoin release.
The Courier Journal reports that — in a statement addressed to Adelmann's attorney, Anna Whites, — the Judge expressed confidence that her client "is going to eventually end up with these records," suggesting that the "only question is when."
Given the legal authority supporting Adelmann's position, the absence of proof supporting Kentucky PTA's position that it will suffer competitive harm if the reports are disclosed, and the fact that JCPS concluded that no legally defensible argument could be made that the reports should be withheld, we share Judge Cunningham's confidence that its not a matter of *if* Adelmann will obtain the records but *when* she will obtain the records.
