FAC has called on the Los Angeles Unified School District to comply with the California Public Records Act (CPRA) and respond to a CPRA request by freelance journalist Holly McDede. McDede seeks records related to “complaints specifically alleging sexual harassment or sexual assault by teachers against students” and “all reports to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing regarding formal complaints of misconduct regarding sexual harassment, sexual assault or sexual grooming behavior against teachers or other school employees,” from 2014 to the present.
For 11 months, the District failed to determine whether disclosable records responsive to McDede’s request existed or assert any exemptions. After waiting for all those months, the District then assessed McDede $8,000 in fees simply to “investigate approximately 2,500 potentially responsive personnel files,” in violation of governing law.
In the letter, FAC urges the District to comply with its CPRA obligations, including by searching for responsive records without charging fees, carefully balancing the public’s interest in disclosure of public-employee misconduct records, and promptly disclosing any non-exempt records responsive to McDede’s request.