WTHR v Hamilton Southeastern
A local news channel and school district battle for transparency Laura Masoni
A
Fishers High School incident that began as an employee suspension may soon set a state precedent in the Indiana Supreme Court. On Dec. 14, 2016, the Hamilton Southeastern School Board quietly voted to suspend “Employee #10042” for five days. However, the identity of the employee and reasoning behind the suspension was never made public by the district until an anonymous tip pointed WTHR to former Fishers High School football head coach Rick Wimmer. “The tip proved to be accurate as the school district eventually admitted to 13News that the suspension listed on the school board’s consent agenda for ‘Employee 10042’ was indeed for Rick Wimmer,” said WTHR’s Senior Investigative Reporter Bob Segall. Indiana Code 5-14-3, The Access to Public Records Act
(APRA), states “a person has the right to access information regarding the government and the official acts of public officials and employees.” This act includes public school districts such as HSE. “The law says a factual basis needed,” junior Brayden Dack said. “They needed to legally put his name in there.” However, after WTHR’s request for details was denied, they filed a complaint with the Public Access Counselor multiple times. HSE refused to comply, and was met with a lawsuit filed by WTHR on June 8, 2018. “After school district officials acknowledged that Mr. Wimmer was suspended, we asked a very simple question to school administration,” Seagall said. “‘Was Mr. Wimmer’s unpaid week-long suspension related to the same classroom altercation that the school district had investigated
masonlau000@hsestudents.org
three months earlier, or was it for a separate incident involving the coach?’” Wimmer was previously placed on paid administrative leave in September of 2016 after an altercation with a student during class. The unpaid suspension in December of 2016 was not revealed to be the same incident until Wimmer later confirmed the connection. “Several years after our initial report, the coach finally acknowledged in a text that his unpaid suspension was related to the initial classroom altercation that was investigated by HSE and Fishers Police and reported by WTHR in September 2016.” Seagall said. The district refused to provide the ‘factual basis’ for the Dec. 2016 suspension, but stated it was “due to not implementing instructions
for classroom management strategies” and provided a list of possible violations of school policy. While many have been siding with WTHR on this issue, some see this as a matter that deserves more discretion. “I think that it was ok, because it was a private matter,” said senior Sreya Myneni. The Big Question The fate of this issue for public record access is now in the hands of the Indiana Supreme court. “At issue is what is meant by the term 'factual basis’ and just how much information must be provided by a public agency when it takes disciplinary action against a public employee,” Segall said. Never before has the court defined ‘factual basis.’ Meaning whatever the justices decide constitutes as “factual” will likely have a state-wide impact for years to come.
Indiana Statehouse located downtown Indianapolis. Home to the Indiana Supreme Court. Photo courtesy of Massimo Catarinell.
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Tiger Times
November 2021
