Opinion ID: 1709729
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Gabrilson case.

Text: This case is another in an ongoing dispute involving the right of Davenport Community School Board members to view records of the Davenport Community School District (school district). We addressed a related issue in Gabrilson v. Flynn, 554 N.W.2d 267 (Iowa 1996). In that case, Carolyn Gabrilson, while a member of the Davenport Community School Board (Board), filed a petition for a writ of mandamus and for injunctive relief, seeking to compel then superintendent, Peter Flynn, to provide her with certain school district records. [1] Specifically, Gabrilson requested copies of a new series of performance assessments that the school district was considering to administer to students in the district. Gabrilson argued that the records were public records under Iowa's open records law and thus were subject to public disclosure. The district court held that the requested documents qualified as confidential documents under Iowa Code section 22.7(19) and thus were excluded from examination by Gabrilson. The court further enjoined Gabrilson from copying or disseminating the documents. On appeal to us, we held that Gabrilson, as a school board member, had a right to inspect the assessment and accompanying documents, but that the district court had authority to enjoin her from copying or disseminating the documents because they qualified as confidential documents under Iowa Code section 22.7(19). Id. at 275. We further held that school board policy no. 101.9, which gave the superintendent the authority to determine whether to allow records requests from other board members, was unreasonable and unenforceable because it restricted the right of school board members to see school district records. [2] Id. at 276.