In a landmark ruling that will increase government transparency in Indiana, the state’s Supreme Court held last week that agencies must provide specific facts explaining why a public employee is suspended, fired or otherwise disciplined.
The unanimous Supreme Court decision means that school districts, police departments and other public agencies across the state can no longer get away with making vague assertions when responding to records requests about an employee whose misconduct resulted in punishment. Instead, Indiana’s highest court concluded, government officials “must provide some facts about the employee’s actions.”
The ruling is the culmination of a three-and-a-half-year legal battle Reporters Committee attorneys successfully waged on behalf of Indiana’s WTHR-TV, which sued a local school district for information about the suspension of a high school teacher and football coach.
“This isn’t just a win for WTHR,” Reporters Committee Senior Staff Attorney Adam Marshall told WTHR after the ruling. “This is a win for everyone who lives in the state of Indiana.”
The origins of the legal dispute date back to 2017. That’s when Bob Segall, an investigative reporter at WTHR, began requesting records under the Indiana Access to Public Records Act that would explain why the Hamilton Southeastern School District suspended Rick Wimmer, then-head football coach at Fishers High School. Segall sought the records as part of the station’s investigation into incidents of Indiana...
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