Public Records Litigation

As public school educators, we believe strongly in the partnership we have with parents and families to support our students' successes. As you may recall, in the summer of 2020, amidst a global health pandemic, students enrolled in the District generated attention from parents across the community following the dissemination of a video in which they reenacted George Floyd’s murder. Numerous parents inquired about our next steps as a school community and requested we take action to address the matter.

The Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB) supports increasing the efforts of all levels of government, private organizations, businesses, and families in providing prevention, early intervention or other programs to solve the problems that are being manifested in our communities, including those of racism and injustice. The WASB believes such preventive measures would then enable schools to focus on academic endeavors. In alignment with this stance, and in partnership with our parents, the District made an optional, informational session on the topic of race available virtually to school district parents/guardians that same summer. The invitation to this event, shared via email with parents and guardians, was the subject of Mr. Mark Gierl’s public records request. While the District provided Mr. Gierl, a local public official himself, with the actual email sent by the District, school officials withheld the personal, private email addresses of parents/guardians, after conducting the balancing test as required by the law. Mr. Gierl’s stated purpose for requesting the private email addresses was to “organize a resistance,” the details of which he has not yet revealed.

As a public school district, we are held accountable to every resident and taxpayer of Mequon and Thiensville. Our Board of Education and administration prioritizes community outreach in Goal 5 of our Strategic Plan and recognizes our responsibilities as public school officials for representing the whole community. Community outreach, partnering with our school parents/guardians, and being responsive leaders to our community, must be part of public education if our students are to be successful academically, socially, and emotionally. We expressed this position at each level of the litigation process to no avail. 

In the future, the Mequon-Thiensville School District will remain diligent in upholding our obligations under the law when responding to requests for public information. This includes the responsibility of our records custodian to decide whether a requested item is a public “record” and whether any statutory or common law exceptions to disclosure apply. Additionally, and as was done in this instance, we will conduct a balancing test, to “weigh the competing interests involved and determine whether permitting public inspection would result in harm to the public interest."

We know Mequon-Thiensville School District parents and community members have very high expectations for how we, as a public school district, engage with the stakeholders we serve. School District leaders are often the first point of contact when conflict exists within and across the community, and especially when our children are involved. We will continue to be responsive, collaborative partners with parents, educators, and community members to support our students in becoming independent, confident self-advocates.

December 7, 2022 - On Wednesday, December 7, 2022, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s November 2021 ruling that the Mequon-Thiensville School District (MTSD) must release parents’ and guardians’ personal email addresses to a third-party requester, Mequon alderman Mark Gierl.

Since the summer of 2020, MTSD has been engaged in litigation in an effort to protect from disclosure the private email addresses of MTSD parents/guardians. In November 2021, the circuit court ruled against MTSD’s efforts to keep this contact information private, and the District made a decision to appeal the court’s decision in December 2021. To be clear, MTSD has not refused to provide copies of the actual communications sent to individuals, only to provide their personal email addresses.

MTSD will continue to work with legal counsel regarding the possibility of an appeal to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. 

November 8, 2022 - The Board of Education convened in Closed Session on November 7 for the purpose of  conferring with legal counsel for the governmental body who is rendering oral or written advice concerning strategy to be adopted by the body with respect to litigation in which it is or is likely to become involved (Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(g)).

In December of 2021, the District appealed the trial court’s decision to release the personal, private email addresses of individuals included in an email list used by the school district in June 2020. In this previous case, the email list consisted of private email addresses of parents with students in the District. Since that time, a second lawsuit has been filed by the same individual who brought forth the first lawsuit regarding the private email addresses of school district parents, alumni and community members. Similar to the first case, the District refused to disclose these private email addresses on the basis Wisconsin privacy laws protect such information from disclosure. For similar reasons, the District will be appealing the trial court’s decision to release said personal, private email addresses. 

It is our belief that if left unchallenged, the trial court’s decision would significantly impact the District’s ability to protect the privacy interests of alums, community members, and other interested parties who provide us with personal information. Like the prior case, this is a case of statewide importance as there is no case law or authority providing guidance to school districts when deciding whether to release private, personal information to a public records requestor. The result of this case could influence the application of the public records law in our state moving forward.

Board Members continue to focus on two main goals: compliance and support with the law providing access to public records, and honoring our promise to protect this information from public access for reasons not related to the educational mission of the District.

We want to ensure the public that this decision also represents our responsibility to taxpayers, who support the mission of the District financially. To that end, we are moving forward with the support of our Insurer. Apart from our original deductible, which has been met, the District will not spend or incur expenses in pursuing this appeal.

We will continue to update the public with future developments regarding this issue.

October 18, 2022 - The Wisconsin Public Records Law recognizes public entities often possess private, confidential information over which they have an obligation to safeguard. This is why the Public Records Law requires public entities to weigh those privacy interests against the public’s interest in disclosure when deciding whether to release certain records. In a second lawsuit against the Mequon-Thiensville School District, Mr. Mark Gierl is seeking the private, personal email addresses of anyone associated with the District's alumni, Momentum newsletter, and M-T Recreation Department distribution lists for the stated purpose of spreading messages supporting his political agenda. In applying the balancing test, the District believes the privacy interests of those individuals who have entrusted the District with their personal email addresses outweighs Mr. Gierl’s stated interest. Because we have given reasonable assurances to those individuals that the District will not provide their private email addresses to any outside entity, the Mequon-Thiensville School District has been fighting for over 10 months to protect this personal information of our community members—just like we did for our families in the first lawsuit. 

Unfortunately, on the morning of Tuesday, October 18, the Judge presiding over Mr. Gierl’s second lawsuit ruled against the District. The District is working with our legal counsel to determine what impact this ruling will have on the information provided by those who have entrusted their private, personal email addresses with us. As soon as a written decision is produced by the Judge and details are finalized among counsel on both sides of the case, the District will provide an update on the direction of any further action by either side.

December 21, 2021 - The Board of Education convened in Closed Session on December 6 for the purpose of conferring with legal counsel for the governmental body who is rendering oral or written advice concerning strategy to be adopted by the body with respect to litigation in which it is or is likely to become involved (Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(g)).

After giving careful consideration to the feedback provided in response to the survey, and in consultation with our legal counsel, the District will be appealing the trial court’s decision to release the personal, private email addresses of individuals included in an email list used by the school district in June 2020. It is our belief that if left unchallenged, the trial court’s decision would significantly impact the District’s ability to protect the privacy interests of parents and interested parties who provide us with personal information for the sole purpose of supporting the academic interests of their students. In addition, this is a case of statewide importance as there is no case law or authority providing guidance to school districts when deciding whether to release private, personal information to a public records requestor. The result of this case could influence the application of the public records law in our state moving forward.

In considering the issue, Board Members focused on two main goals: compliance and support with the law providing access to public records, and honoring our promise to families to protect this information from public access for reasons not related to the educational mission of the District.

We want to ensure the public that this decision also represents our responsibility to taxpayers, who support the mission of the District financially. To that end, we are moving forward with the support of our Insurer. Apart from our original deductible, which has been met, the District will not spend or incur expenses in pursuing this appeal.

We will continue to update the public with future developments regarding this issue.

November 19, 2021 - The District is working actively with its legal counsel to determine what options are available moving forward pursuant to a judge’s recent order to release parents’ and guardians’ personal email addresses to a third party requester. The District is interested in protecting the privacy of individuals who entrust their child’s school with their personal information, as well as providing transparency in our operations and interactions with the general public and academic community. Balancing these two, often competing interests, sometimes puts the District in a difficult position; however, MTSD continues to act with respect to both the rule of law, and our school community. The District has a high-quality insurance carrier who is assisting with the costs of this litigation such that MTSD is not incurring any additional costs at taxpayer expense.

An email message and survey were sent to all individuals on the requested "Distribution List" on Friday, November 19. The purpose of the survey is to gain a better understanding of the stance of those directly impacted by the ruling and ensure their perspectives and interests are heard. The results of that survey, below, were shared with the MTSD Board of Education and the District's legal counsel.