Photos
Blog
NewslettersSchool district openness on settlements welcome
A small, but important story was published in the newspaper this week.
E-Mail it
Print it
tool name
closeAlso in this section
The story was about $14,000 paid to settle a lawsuit filed by a former Beaufort County School District employee. The district's legal bills brought the total insurance claim paid to $42,914.
The dollar amounts and the particular dispute are not what matters. Far more important is the school board's commitment to openness in such cases.
Not so long ago, we would have had to fight to get the terms of the settlement -- if we could get them at all.
Just a little more than a year ago, a former school district employee offered a tortured reason for not releasing information on a different legal settlement: The S.C.
Freedom of Information Act exempts documents protected by attorney-client privilege. Because the Columbia attorney who handled the settlement for the district provided the district with a copy of the agreement in her role as legal counsel, it is an exempt document.
Thank goodness those legal acrobatics appear to be over. In that particular case, an opinion from the S.C. Attorney General's
Office left no doubt about whether such settlements should be made public. It cited the state's Freedom of Information Act and a state Supreme Court rule dating to 2003. That rule states that settlements involving public entities cannot be kept secret: "Under no circumstances shall a court approve sealing a settlement agreement which involves a public body or institution."
Although the state's open records law suggests some areas where certain information can be withheld, it specifically states that information dealing with the receipt or expenditure of money by a public body must be made public.
The waters sometimes get muddied because lawsuits can end up being handled by the school district's insurance company. The school district might not have direct involvement in any negotiations to settle a claim that the insurance company pays.
But here's where the current school board's commitment to openness is evident. Jennifer Staton, the district's risk manager, said the district would keep terms of settlements or verdicts confidential only if required by law and has instructed its insurance carriers not to offer confidentiality in settlement negotiations.
That's important. The public should know and understand both the dollar amount and the issues involved in a dispute. Settling without going to trial sometimes treats symptoms without treating the underlying problems. A dose of sunshine can help cure some of these ills.
Members of the public deserve to know what's going on, as well as how much it's costing them.
The district's more enlightened approach to such settlements is very welcome.
@Nyx.CommentBody@