State office again says Highlands must name disciplined employees

For a second time, the state Office of Open Records has found that the Highlands School District must identify an employee the school board voted to place on unpaid leave.

In a decision issued Thursday, the office granted the Tribune-Review’s appeal of the school district’s refusal to identify an employee the school board approved a statement of charges against and placed on unpaid leave April 15.

Statements of charges are formal notices issued by school officials detailing proposed reasons for firing an employee.

The district failed to show that the employee’s name is exempt from public access, the decision states. The district has 30 days to release the employee’s name or it can appeal the decision to Allegheny County Court.

On May 23, the district released the teacher’s job title, length of employment and annual salary, but withheld his or her name. The district argued that the employee’s name was exempt from public access because it related to discipline, demotion or discharge.

The employee is a middle school English teacher who has worked for the district since Aug. 27, 1997. He or she was being paid $85,475 in the 2018-19 school year.

The district said it opted to reference the employee by a number instead of name to protect his or her confidentiality.

But while the district argued the name was sought in the context of a disciplinary file, and therefore exempt, the newspaper sought the name of a specific district employee, not a record contained in the employee’s personnel file, the office’s decision states.

“The name of an employee is not a record listed as exempt” under the law, the decision states. “Moreover, the names of public employees have long been considered public.”

In April, the Office of Open Records found that the school district should not have kept secret the name of an employee the school board voted to suspend in February.

The office cited that decision, in a nearly identical context, that an employee’s name is not exempt from disclosure under the state’s Right-to-Know Law.

That employee was later identified as former special education teacher Andrew B. Kotyk. The school board approved a $31,202 settlement agreement with him in March and released it in April.

Rather than release Kotyk’s name in response to the Office of Open Records decision, the district has appealed to Allegheny County Court.

In a publicly released statement, the district has argued it is protecting its employees’ rights.

The school board “believes that fundamental fairness dictates that the right of employees to confidentiality during the discipline process before a final decision is made,” the statement says. “Employees are entitled to confidentiality until such time as the process is over. Therefore, the public agenda should not include the name of the employee at issue until a final disposition is proposed.”