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The Portland School Committee must release notes from a closed-door meeting last month.

By ELBERT AULL Staff Writer August 22, 2007

A judge on Tuesday ordered the Portland School Committee to release documents from a closed-door meeting last month, ruling that parts of the executive session were illegal.

Cumberland County Superior Court Justice Roland Cole said the committee must release notes from its attorney and two members, along with a written statement from Superintendent Mary Jo O'Connor that was distributed at the meeting.

Barring an appeal, the ruling ends a dispute between the school committee and the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram over whether a July 25 meeting, held amid concerns about a $2.5 million budget gap, should have been open to the public.

The decision puts other public officials on notice that they must meet specific requirements to hold a private meeting, said Jonathan Piper, the newspaper's lawyer.

"Entities like the paper have to do this from time to time to remind boards and bodies that there is a Freedom of Access law," Piper said.

The dispute centered on whether the school committee violated Maine's Freedom of Access Act during the session by discussing budget matters.

It escalated to a lawsuit days after the meeting, when the committee denied the newspaper's request for records from the session.

School officials argued that the documents were off-limits because the meeting was lawfully private. They said the session dealt with personnel issues, specifically the responsibilities and performance of certain employees, and met state requirements for a closed-door meeting.

Cole, however, ruled that members at times strayed into budget deliberations. He declared those discussions illegal.

The notes and a written statement from the meeting, which outlines O'Connor's leadership philosophy, will be held by the court for 21 days in case of an appeal.

Melissa Hewey, a lawyer who represented the School Committee, said she had not met with school officials to discuss whether they will appeal.

School Committee Chairman John Coyne stood by the committee's decision to hold the meeting in private.

"Everything we did in there was legal," Coyne said.

The court ruled against the School Committee on an additional claim: that records from the meeting would be exempt from the state's access law even if the discussion had been public.

Hewey argued that notes from committee members Ellen Alcorn and Lori Gramlich were personal in nature and beyond the scope of the state's access law, relying on court decisions on the federal Freedom of Information Act and decisions on access laws in Ohio, Utah and New Hampshire.

She also said notes from committee attorney Harry Pringle should be confidential under the work-product doctrine, which allows public agencies to withhold certain documents prepared in anticipation of lawsuits.

Justice Cole said the out-of-state and federal laws are more restrictive than Maine's access law and therefore not applicable to the Portland case. He also ordered the release of the attorney's notes because the lawsuit threat cited by the committee -- the budget gap that sparked the executive session -- was too general to meet exemption requirements.

Cole said sections of the notes from the lawyer are exempt from disclosure, including those that refer to resignation or disciplinary discussions, and will be redacted.

Jeannine Guttman, the newspaper's editor and vice president, hailed the decision as a victory for the public.

"Our newspaper was proud to stand for the public and to fight for the public's right to know what its government is doing," Guttman said in an e-mail Tuesday afternoon.

Staff Writer Elbert Aull can be contacted at 791-6325 or at:

eaull@pressherald.com