Bangor Area Education Association v. Ronald Angle, Lisa Sandt, Robert Wilson, Richard Ott, Joseph Boyle, Charles Cole, Joseph Diorio, Mary T. Ensslin, J. Peter Turtzo, Dr. Wilford Ottey, Dr. John Barilla, and the Bangor Area School District, Appellants.

720 A. 2d 198 (Cmwlth., 1998)

Facts of the Case

Robert Angle, a school board member of the Bangor Area school district, asked the administration if he could examine teacher personnel files to check on professional evaluations and teacher performance. The school board's policy stated that board members could inspect personnel files in the performance of their official duties, but "official duties" was not defined in the policy. Also, the policy directed the superintendent to develop procedures to implement the policy, which the superintendent never developed.

The Bangor Area Education Association discovered that Angle was examining teacher personnel files and advised the superintendent that such activity by a single board member was illegal. Meanwhile, Angle examined 30 of 180 files. The Association then advised the district that this activity was illegal, but again, Angle refused to cease his review of files. At this point, the Association filed a complaint in the court of common pleas requesting a declaratory judgement that an individual member of the board did not have the authority to review teacher personnel files.

The court found that an individual board member did not have the authority to review personnel files. The board filed an exception to this ruling, the trial court denied the exception and both the board and the association appealed the case to the Commonwealth Court, contending that individual board members have the same authority as the Board as a whole to review personnel files.

Decision of the Court

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania affirmed the ruling of the court of common pleas of Northampton County denying the exception filed by the Board and upholding the decision that individual board members lack the authority to review teacher personnel files.

The court stated that a constitutional right to privacy protects teachers and their personnel files, but that this right is restricted somewhat by the Pennsylvania Right to Know Law and the Personnel Files Act. The court disagreed with the board's claim that there is no limitation created by the Law or the Act, which restricts government officials from examining public records of government employees. Further, the court held that teachers' personnel files are not public records under the Right to Know Law and thus are not open to individuals for examination.

Finally, the Commonwealth Court upheld the ruling of the trial court which stated that since an individual board member must be part of hearings involving personnel matters, this restricts the individual from inspecting records outside of the hearings and that this restriction applies to this case.

Basis for the Decision

The court stated according to Sections 101-2702 of the Code (Act of March 10, 1949, P.L. 30),

"The Code confers no authority upon individual school board members to act unilaterally under the guise of carrying out the responsibility of the board as a whole. The law is clear that actions by a school board are taken by collective authority… Section 510 of the Code (Act of March 10, 1949, P.L. 30) provides that a school board may adopt and enforce reasonable rules and regulations it deems necessary and proper regarding the management of its school affairs. In the instant case, However, the record is devoid of any indication that the policy enacted by the Board…thus, there were no procedures in existence that conferred upon individual Board members the authority to inspect teacher files without prior approval by the Board as a whole. Furthermore, neither the Code nor any regulation enacted pursuant there to conferred upon Angle the authority to individually inspect teachers' personnel files (201).

While the court recognized that at reasonable times citizens might examine public records, it maintained that teacher personnel files are not public records under the law. The court based its decision on West Shore School District v. Michael Homick and West Shore Education Association, 23 Pa Cmwlth. 615, 353 A.2d 93 (Pa.Cmwlth 1976).

Abstract prepared by Christopher Ulrich and Terrence Yoder, July 13 1999