Father wins long FOIA fight with school board

He's been battling for more than two years. Now Woodbridge resident Mark Hjelm will soon get to see high school visitor lists kept from him by the Prince William County School Board.

During a Wednesday writ of mandamus hearing, Prince William County District Court Judge Wenda Travers ruled the school board must release visitor information from Gar-Field High School, Woodbridge High School and Freedom High School from Dec. 3, 2007 to Dec. 7, 2007.

A writ of mandamus is a court ruling ordering court and government officers to correctly perform mandatory duties correctly.

Travers also ruled that the school division's initial denial for a copy of the agreement between Visitor Identification System company Raptor and Prince William County Public Schools was in violation of the Freedom of Information Act.

The school division will also have to reimburse legal fees for Hjelm’s latest request, which he estimated at $3,500. Hjelm said he has spent more than $15,000 in his previous FOIA attempts, part of which were two failed writ of mandamus requests thrown out on technicalities.

Hjelm withdrew his request for a civil penalty against schools Superintendent Steven L. Walts because Walts wasn’t named in the case.

Travers also ruled that the school division doesn't have to pay Helm's request for attorney fees in his December 2007 FOIA request.

Throughout her argument Wednesday, school board attorney Petula C. Metzler pointed out numerous exceptions to FOIA law as reasons for denial of Helm's initial request for visitor information. Those exceptions included everything from proprietary software information, school security plans and the Family Education Rights & Privacy Act, which essentially keeps student records confidential.

If the school redacts students names because of the family education privacy act, so be it, said Hjelm. A construction worker whose children attended Prince William County Public Schools, Hjelm said he wasn’t concerned with the parents or students visiting a particular school but individuals like guest speakers.

And he remains concerned that the school division is not being forthcoming with how it’s spending taxpayer money – citing his FOIA request for attorney’s fees in 2008 as an example.

In the school’s initial denial to his FOIA request, the law firm stated that it only does block billing for its client. During Wednesday’s hearing, Metzler said the request for those records was too specific to itemize and that every attorney does their billing differently.

The firm eventually provided the amount of money billed to the school division for a two-month period after a second and broader FOIA request by Hjelm asking them to do so. In the invoices provided to Hjelm, there was some breakdown of how the division was billed, specifically a coded section concerning the school’s real estate matters.

Hjelm said he’s considering another FOIA request regarding attorney fees.

“This is not about me, it’s about how the taxpayer money is being spent,” Hjelm said after the two-hour hearing.

After the order is drafted and signed by the judge, the school division will have 10 days to appeal, said Metzler. The decision to appeal is being considered by the school board, said schools spokesman Keith Imon.

In an e-mail Thursday, Imon said the school system is custodian to "sensitive personal information that is protected by privacy laws."

"The potential release of this type of information raises serious issues of security, parent and student confidentiality, and could work against the public interest,” he wrote.

The Raptor system was installed in 2007 after a school security audit and is in place at every county school. Visitors must present a driver’s license or other valid form of identification such as a government identification card.

The card is then scanned into the system, notifying the school employee whether the visitor is on the sex offender registry or whether there is a custody issue that would prevent a parent or guardian from picking up the child.

According to Imon, the Raptor system has identified 14 individuals on the sex offender registry.

Staff writer Kipp Hanley can be reached at 703-530-3904.