More charter school corruption: "Lady Liberty" (sic) cited by ACLU for withholding public records

[Hannah Bell]

Since the ACLU-NJ was first contacted in February 2010, we have heard from various sources about the disconcerting open government practices of Lady Liberty, including that requests for public records, such as Board of Trustees (“Board”) meeting minutes or school policies, are routinely ignored or denied for reasons that do not comply with the law. We also understand that Lady Liberty implemented a policy requiring requesters to submit OPRA request forms and that anonymous requests must specifically be submitted in person, thereby preventing the ability of requesters to remain anonymous. The policy appears to have been implemented soley to determine the identity of anonymous requesters. Such actions, if true, are unlawful and antithetical to the practices of open government…

As the weeks have turned into months, we continue to receive complaints about Lady Liberty’s open government practices, and through it all, the simple truth remains: Actions taken to obstruct access to public records and meetings put Lady Liberty at great risk for lawsuits. And frankly, it does not reflect positively on a school that is named after our nation’s foremost symbol for freedom and democracy…

…the ACLU-NJ will continue to monitor its open governance practices indefinitely, and assess whether legal action is appropriate...

http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/

[Hannah Bell]

1. k

[defendandprotect]

2. k

[LWolf]

3. When you exempt them from some public oversight, they assume it's carte blanche. nt