BUTLER COUNTY, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Lakota Local Schools must release records between former superintendent Matt Miller and attorneys, including a "demand letter" in which Miller and the district were apparently negotiating a possible settlement after Miller threatened to sue the district.
Miller resigned from the district in January 2023, citing "the increasingly hostile work environment caused by Ms. (Darbi) Boddy," who was a school board member at the time.
Before that, in 2022, Miller was placed under investigation by the school board, but that investigation found no evidence he "engaged in any act that violated law, district policy or his contract."
According to the Ohio Supreme Court's ruling, however, Lakota Local Schools did not fully comply with a district parent's public records requests in which the parent twice requested documents relating to Miller's communications with the school board during his time as superintendent.
The decision says the parent filed the public records requests in January of 2023, before Miller announced he was resigning from his role as superintendent.
According to the Ohio Supreme Court's decision, it took eight months for the district to fill those requests, by which point the parent had already filed a complaint.
The court did not side with the parent on all aspects of the complaint, but it did decide the school board must release one of the written communications requested by the parent in the public records request.
The parent "argues that, with respect to the records she requested in her first request, the court should grant a writ solely to compel the disclosure of what she calls a 'demand letter,'" reads the court's decision.
The parent claims the letter from Miller threatened to sue the school board and also contained a settlement offer sent by Miller's attorney on his behalf.
Lakota Local Schools argued it didn't have to release the letter because Miller never actually sued the district, so the hypothetical settlement never came to pass — thus making it not a public record.
The court disagreed.
"In sum, we grant a writ of mandamus ordering Lakota to produce the demand letter," reads the Ohio Supreme Court decision.
In addition, the court also ruled the district pay the parent $2,000 in "statutory damages" and attorney fees incurred related to the release of that letter.
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