Go out and buy Main Line Life and check out the front page! The title of the article by Sam Strike is "Sherry Gets Wright Decision!"

Congratulations Judy Sherry! Way to go for ALL of us on Open Records Law!

In a nutshell, Judy Sherry sued Radnor Township School District on a right to know basis under Open Records Laws and the Judge in Delaware County found in HER favor on June 30th.

Open records is a big deal, and well, Radnor doesn't have a reputation as a municipality in general of being an open book now does it? I will note that this suit was against the school board, but it should be a warning to local government and municipalities everywhere.

The right to know is an important thing, and as everyone knows in most cases, after you fill out the forms when you want something it gets reviewed and can be rejected even if it should not be. What Ms. Sherry of Newtown Square was after was access to what should be public records and documents relating to administators' salaries and benefits. Well hey, the lady is a taxpayer and it's not like school taxes in any of our Main Line communities come cheaply!

Let's start the odds now on how long it will take Radnor Township to file for reconsideration, shall we? And how much will that cost Radnor taxpayers? Makes you wonder now more than ever what school districts are trying to hide from residents and taxpayers, huh?

Here's a brief snippet of what will undoubtedly be online at www.mainlinelife.com tomorrow:

Sherry Gets "Wright" Decision by Sam Strike
More than one year after Newtown Square resident Judy Sherry was denied a request under Pennsylvania's Open Records Law by the Radnor Township School District for documents relating to administrators' slaaries and benefits, a Delaware County judge ordered that she be granted what had been withheld.

The school district has a few weeks to deliver two documents to Sherry, a former school board member and close scrutinizer of the board according to the June 30 order by Delaware County Court of Common Pleas Judge Robert C, Wright, Jr.

If anyone has a scanned copy of the Judge's order can they post it?

A recap of the past:

The PaFOIC: Keeping you informed: Radnor 'right to know' case trudges along
Nov. 29, 2007
By SAM STRIKE
The Suburban & Wayne Times

A hearing scheduled for Nov. 20 in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas in the "right to know" case of a citizen versus the Radnor Township School District was continued by request of the school district.

In July, Newtown Square resident and former Radnor school-board member Judy Sherry filed a petition seeking a court-ordered reversal of the school district's denial to give her certain documents related to the most recent district administrators' agreement and to individual district salary increases.

On Nov. 20 in front of Judge Robert C. Wright, the school district's request to push back the hearing was granted, to the displeasure of Sherry and her attorney, son Parker V. Sherry, who said they don't want the case dragged out.

Wright told school-district special counsel Michael Levin that one of his arguments for continuation of the hearing — that a new open-records law may come out of the Pennsylvania legislature in the near future — was not his "best bet."

.....Outgoing Radnor school-board member Rich Booker was in court that day to testify for Sherry, and in his hands was a Pennsylvania School Boards Association comparative salary study, for which the district paid a little more than $10,000 last year.

That study's findings contributed to increases in salary for four Radnor administrators in May; however, according to the school district, it had no effect on the most recent two-year administrative compensation plan because it was not available, with proper explanation, to the school board until after the plan had been approved in April.

"There was a lot of information the board used in determining the salary increases… the PSBA was one piece of information," said school-board president Kathy Fisher this week. Additionally, a large part of the PSBA study consisted of interviewing Radnor administrators and writing new job descriptions for every position, Fisher said.

.....In the May 14 request-denial letter from then-Superintendent of Schools Gary Cooper, Cooper states that the PSBA study "is not a public record" as defined in the Pennsylvania Right to Know Act.

Another request of Sherry's was for a breakdown of the total cost associated with the school district's filing for taxable exceptions under Act 1. In the denial letter, Cooper stated that such a breakdown does not exist and that "lack of specificity" is a valid reason for denial.

Sherry was given legal bills associated with services performed by special counsel Michael Levin in regards to Act 1, but description of the work was "heavily" redacted, she said.

As for what Sherry refers to an "extensive analysis fundamental to recommending approval" of the administrator's agreement — another requested "document" — the school district argues in its reply to Sherry's petition, "[Kathy Fisher] never stated that the numbers and details reviewed were 'fundamental' to approval of the Administrative Compensation plan." Further, "…there is no document that is an analysis."

Sherry points out that in the two denials by Cooper to her requests, the district never responded that what she requested did not exist.

.....So, does what Sherry seeks exist?

Sherry's legal exhibits include an e-mail exchange between Sherry and Zajac in which Zajac states of significant materials: "It certainly did exist. It was a comparative look at a number of different neighboring school districts as regards compensation of administrators… We did use it internally as a reference point."

He also stated that he could not find the information, having possibly thrown it out.

Board member Booker also said that the in-house "extensive analysis" was simply a compilation of various data that he too believes went out in his trash.

It was "a compilation of various spreadsheets… describing the various disparate salary and benefits levels of several school districts. Apparently this information was developed by making phone calls… to the individual districts and asking them what their packages consisted of," Booker stated in an e-mail.

"I think that in each individual district, all of the information provided is public information, so I don't see why our compilation of that public information would not also be public," he continued.

Sherry said she is curious how Radnor compared with other districts in how administrators are paid.....