Wisconsin Supreme Court denies appeal by Mequon-Thiensville on records case

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has denied an appeal by the Mequon-Thiensville School District over an open records lawsuit filed by a former city of Mequon alderman.

Under the ruling, the district will have to turn over a list of parent and guardian email addresses of those who received a link to the webinar "The Talk: A Necessary Conversation on Privilege and Race with Our Children."

The court ruled March 29 in favor of Mark Gierl after the district in January appealed a Dec. 7, 2022, Wisconsin Court of Appeals decision ordering the district to turn over those email addresses.

Here's what to know about the lawsuit and the circumstances surrounding it.

When was the lawsuit filed?

Gierl filed the lawsuit in August 2020 in Ozaukee County Circuit Court, seeking the release of the email addresses. In October 2021, Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Steven Cain ruled in Gierl's favor and ordered the district to provide the records. The school district filed an appeal in December 2021, but the Court of Appeals District II denied that appeal in December 2022. The Supreme Court's decision to not review the district's appeal of the Court of Appeals decision means that court's decision is upheld.

There's another similar case still pending

Gierl's attorney, Tom Kamenick, who represents the Wisconsin Transparency Project, praised the state Supreme Court's decision. The Transparency Project is "dedicated to strict enforcement of the state's Open Records and Open Meetings laws," according to its website.

"We're glad the Supreme Court decided to leave the Court of Appeals decision in place.  We hope the Court of Appeals reaches the same decision in the still-pending second case between my client and Mequon-Thiensville," Kamenick said in an email.

Kamenick was referring to a second lawsuit Gierl filed in February 2022 seeking the release of additional records the district refused to turn over: email distribution lists for alumni, the district's Momentum newsletter and recreation department, as well as emails sent to those lists.

Cain ruled in Gierl's favor in that case in October 2022; the district has appealed the decision to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals District II. Online court records show the case is still being decided.

District stands by earlier decision to withhold the email addresses

After the ruling, the district last month sent an email notice to people whose email addresses were among those to be released to Gierl.

The district said it had "exhausted all efforts" to keep the email addresses from being released.

"We stand firm in our belief that releasing your private email addresses does nothing to shine a light of transparency on our operations or communications, which is the intent and purpose of the Public Records Law," the district said on its website.

The district also said it does not intend to withdraw its appeal of Gierl's second lawsuit.

"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,'" the district said.

Contact Alec Johnson at (262) 875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AlecJohnson12.