By Attorney Thomas B. Mooney, Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut

The “Legal Question of the Week” is a regular feature of the CAS Weekly NewsBlast. We invite readers to submit short, law-related questions of practical concern to school administrators. Each week, we will select a question and publish an answer. While these answers cannot be considered formal legal advice, they may be of help to you and your colleagues. We may edit your questions, and we will not identify the authors. Please submit your questions to: legalmailbagcasciacorg. _________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Legal Mailbag:

Last spring, a parent complained about one of my problem teachers, and I told her to put it in writing. Shortly thereafter, the parent gave me a letter in an envelope that was marked “CONFIDENTIAL,” and the heading on the letter was “PERSONNEL AND CONFIDENTIAL.” In the letter, the parent told me that she had observed the teacher leaving school early on several occasions. However, she expressed concern that the teacher or the teacher’s friends would retaliate against her child if the teacher learned of her complaint. She admonished me that, while she wanted me to know about her concern, the letter is a confidential communication and that I should absolutely not share it with the teacher.

Unfortunately, I created a problem last week after I saw the teacher leaving early last week. When I confronted her about her early departure and the teacher claimed that she had never left school early before, I lost it and I told her that I had received complaints about her in the past about this very issue. Her eyes widened and then narrowed malevolently, and she demanded to see any and all complaints. Today she followed up with a formal request in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act for “all parent complaints concerning me in whatever form from the beginning of time to the present.” Can I rely on the parent’s designation of this communication and keep the letter confidential?

Signed,
Mum’s the Word

Dear Mum:
Neither you nor the parent can change the legal status of this communication by labels or agreements. Section 1-200(5) of the Freedom of Information Act defines a public record as follows:

“Public records or files” means any recorded data or information relating to the conduct of the public’s business prepared, owned, used, received or retained by a public agency . . . whether such data or information be handwritten, typed, tape-recorded, printed, photostated, photographed or recorded by any other method.”

Here, the complaint from the parent relates to the operation of the school district (at least as to that teacher), and you have received it. Accordingly, when you received the complaint letter, it became a public record, and now it is subject to disclosure under the FOIA.

To be sure, there is provision in the FOIA exempting records from disclosure if they are “personnel or medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute an invasion of personal privacy.” However, the Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled that public records may be exempt from disclosure under this provision only if (1) there is no public interest in the information, and (2) its disclosure would be highly offensive to a reasonable person. There is, of course, interest in whether teachers leave school early, and thus this letter is subject to disclosure. Next time you hear a parent complaining, you may want to think twice before telling the parent to put the concern in writing.