Lehighton gives RTK cost details

Lehighton Area School District spent just under $4,000 to fulfill Right To Know requests filed by a board member before he took office in December, according to information provided by the district.

At a November board meeting, Lehighton solicitor William Schwab estimated the district could be out “up to $100,000” if all of the files requested by David Bradley Sr. needed to be reviewed and redactions made to comply with Pennsylvania’s Right-To-Know Law.

Last week, Schwab said several of Bradley’s requests were rejected and others were abandoned.

According to a list provided by Lehighton’s business office, Bradley abandoned requests pertaining to Keystone Exams, PSSA exams, litigation and tax duplicates that would have resulted in 22,259 documents at a cost to him of $5,564.75 for photocopies.

“Had he pursued those documents, my office would have also had to review and redact certain information,” Schwab said.

“The estimate I gave was taking into consideration if every single document he requested had to be reviewed and redactions had to be made.”

Lehighton said the requests that were filled resulted in $625 worth of time spent by its RTK officer and $3,250 of legal review in November and December needed to get the documents to Bradley.

Bradley said last week Schwab’s estimate of $100,000 was “probably just a wild guess.”

“It made for a nice headline, in my opinion,” Bradley said. “The cost driver was apparently redaction requirements unique to the Lehighton district. For instance, the tax roll data I requested from the district included about 5,000 records. Solicitor Schwab alluded to time spent printing and reviewing for redaction many of the pages requested.”

Bradley added, “Contrast this with the response from a more transparent government. Carbon County responded to our countywide tax roll request without making any redactions.

“They charged us a couple pennies per record, $15 to create the report, and $1.50 to place the records on a CD. The complete county tax roll list, 47,850 records, were given without any redaction, as requested, and all without a peep.”

Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel with the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, said a 2017 Commonwealth Court decision ruled that tax lists are public in their entirety, including home addresses.

“Addresses, including those of judges and law enforcement officers, are public when they appear on property tax assessment appeals as well as many other public records,” Melewsky said.

In November, Schwab said “one individual filed 18 requests including all district correspondence with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, all correspondence with the Pennsylvania State Education Association, correspondence between Lehighton and its board members, all documents dealing with the stadium project and more.”

Possible redactions in those documents, he added, would include student names or addresses, teacher addresses or other privileged information.

“Requests such as emails, correspondence and contracts would be reviewed for exemptions before disclosure,” Melewsky said.

Bradley said while many of his requests were denied, he “did receive all the electronic documents, eliminating the costs and saving trees.

“The documents included the Statement of District Indebtedness, illuminating the fact the district is $118,594,936 in the hole,” Bradley added.

“The past 10 years’ audit reports, payments to the Pennsylvania School Board Association and the district check registers were all used to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the district.

“Organizations normally give newly elected directors this information.”