Opinion ID: 1248766
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Hoke's May 30, 1997 press release comments

Text: Hoke's statements in his press release were not presented by respondent in her response to appellant's summary judgment motion or as part of respondent's own summary judgment motion. Instead, these statements were introduced during the trial, where appellant did not object to a copy of the press release being received as evidence. After the evidence portion of the trial was complete, the district court concluded that three different comments in Hoke's press release violated the MGDPA. These comments were: (1) The allegations are serious enough and substantiated enough that we took the action of suspending the teacher and testing the students; (2) We first heard concerns about the situation last fall, when parents called to report that their children were having difficulty learning the communications curriculum. We immediately followed up by investigating these concerns; and (3) This spring the concerns shifted from concern about student performance to concern about the teacher's teaching methods. These concerns were investigated by the principal at the time and the investigation continues. The court of appeals held that the district court correctly concluded that Hoke's first statement and the first sentence of his third statement violated the MGDPA, implicitly holding that Hoke's second statement and the second sentence of his third statement did not violate the MGDPA. Navarre, 633 N.W.2d at 52. Appellant offers no argument as to why Hoke's statement did not violate the MGDPA. Instead, appellant argues that the district court should not have ruled on these statements because they were not brought at summary judgment. Respondent argues that it did not seek summary judgment on Hoke's press release because appellant disputed that it had made releases to the media, making alleged violations arising out of press releases not appropriate for summary judgment because of disputed factual issues. As respondent points out, in appellant's answers to respondent's interrogatories, appellant claimed that it was unaware of any discussions between its employees and members of the media other than requests that members of the media leave the school premises and statements declining to engage in interviews. This factual dispute adequately explains why Hoke's May 30, 1997 press release was appropriately not a part of respondent's summary judgment motion. Turning to the content of the press release, it is readily apparent that portions of Hoke's press release violated the MGDPA. Hoke's first statement describes the severity of the complaints, whether they had been substantiated, the action taken against respondent during the investigation, and the basis for such action. The first sentence of Hoke's second statement discloses the nature of the parents' complaints, concerns regarding their children's difficulty in learning the communications curriculum. The first sentence of Hoke's third statement goes on to describe the specific nature of appellant's concerns by expression of its opinion about the shift in concerns rather than merely identifying the existence and status of either the parents' or students' concerns. All of these statements went beyond identifying the existence and status of the complaints and were made before there was a final disposition of any disciplinary action. Therefore, these statements disclosed personnel data on respondent that does not fit any of the public data exceptions under Minn.Stat. § 13.43, subd. 2. As for the second sentence in Hoke's second statement, it is public personnel data because it goes to the status of the complaints; the complaints were investigated. See id., subd. 2(a)(4). Similarly, the second sentence of Hoke's third statement also disclosed the status of the complaints; the complaints were investigated at the time and the investigation continues. Accordingly, these two statements are public personnel data and do not violate the MGDPA.