Newspaper wins again in dispute over school records

TRAVERSE CITY (AP) - The Traverse City school district must release a document that carried complaints about a superintendent who lasted less than three months and was paid $180,000, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled.

The court, 3-0, affirmed a decision by a local judge in a dispute between the district and the Traverse City Record-Eagle.

The district declined to release a document to the newspaper in 2019, saying it was exempt from a public records request because it was attached to minutes from a closed session of the school board.

That position "makes no sense," appeals court Judge Christopher Murray said during arguments last week, the Record-Eagle reported.

Only three of the seven people who were on the school board when Ann Cardon resigned still are on the board.

"This case is just the latest battle in a decades-long war waged in our state by public officials who incorrectly believe taxpayers don't have a right to access decisions made on their behalf," Nate Payne, executive editor of the Record-Eagle.