Wow, Radnor Township School District sure needs some good P.R. about now...here is yet another story. So Mr. McMeekin, maybe this will be your Waterloo? Remember, Waterloo might make a nice Main Line overpriced garden center, but it wasn't exactly a positive experience for Napoleon.

Posted on Wed, Jul. 23, 2008
Ex-school board member wins ruling on data
By Dan Hardy
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Salary studies used by the Radnor school board when it granted raises for administrators are public records, a Delaware County Court judge has ruled.

The decision by Robert C. Wright is the latest round in a dispute that began last year when former Radnor school board member Judy Sherry asked for the data.

In a sharp rebuke to the board, which contended that the documents were not public records, Wright, in a June 30 decision, also ordered the board to pay $26,070 for Sherry's attorneys' fees and $2,901 in other costs.

The board must pay, the judge said, because in withholding one salary study that was clearly covered by Pennsylvania's Right to Know Act, it "willfully or with wanton disregard deprived [Sherry] of access to a public record" and "asserted exemptions, exclusions or defenses that were not based on a reasonable interpretation of the law."

The Radnor School District, which has spent $13,258 for its own attorney's fees and costs with more yet to come, has asked Wright to reconsider both his verdict and awarding of the fees, saying he made several factual and legal errors.

The documents' release is on hold until the judge decides. The district can appeal his ruling.

Sherry, who has clashed with the Radnor board on many issues and has long pushed for open records, said the decision will encourage the public to get involved in district affairs.

"We want to be able to hold people accountable" for their actions, she said.

....John McMeekin II, the current board president, defended the board's decision to withhold the information because it was prepared for determining labor compensation. As for Fisher's motivation, McMeekin said: "The suggestion that personality disputes had anything to do with it is unwarranted and inappropriate. . . . I can't imagine she injected personal feelings into how she acted."