Court Opinion

ID: 9848052
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:12:03.506971+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:17:57.805460
License: Public Domain

LOUIS J. CECI, J.
(dissenting). I respectfully disagree with the holding of the majority. Although I agree with the majority’s statement that the general rule is that any party may inspect a public record, I disagree with the majority’s conclusion because I find *405that the plain language of sec. 118.125, Stats., creates an express statutory exception to this rule.
In the seminal case concerning third-party inspection which was denied by a custodian of public records, State ex rel. Youmans v. Owens, 28 Wis. 2d 672, 681, 137 N.W. 2d 470, 139 N.W.2d 241 (1965), this court stated that the third-party’s right to inspect public documents at common law is not absolute. Although the Youmans court recognized the strong public policy favoring the right of inspection of public records and noted that denial could occur only in exceptional cases, the opinion stated that limitations existed at common law and were not extended by the public records statute. Id. at 680-81. See also, International Union v. Gooding, 251 Wis. 362, 29 N.W.2d 730 (1947).1
In Newspapers, Inc. v. Breier, 89 Wis. 2d 417, 279 N.W.2d 179 (1979), this court again addressed the issue of the third-party’s right to inspect public records. The Breier court stated the following:
“Nevertheless, we have concluded, where common-law limitations on the right to examine records and papers have not been limited by express court decision or by statute, that presumptively public records and documents must be open for inspection.” Id. at 426. (Emphasis added.)
The language of sec. 19.21(2), Stats. 1979-80, is consistent with this conclusion. It states that, “Except as expressly provided otherwise,” public records and documents must be subject to examination. Clearly, then, the right to examine documents may be limited by statute.
The majority recognizes that the public’s right to examine records may be limited by statute, but nevertheless states that not all records concerning pupils are to be confidential. Rather, the majority opinion declares *406that only records “relating- to individual pupils,” as set forth in sec. 118.125(1) (a), Stats., are to be maintained confidentially. Because the majority concludes that a list of the names of parents of pupils does not relate to the individual pupils, they hold that it is not a public record.
However, I find this conclusion to be contrary to the plain language of the statute. Section 118.125(1) (a) defines “Pupil records” to mean “all records relating to individual pupils. . . .” (Emphasis added.) Section 118.125(2) further provides that “All pupil records maintained by a public school shall be confidential. . . .” I do not believe that the legislature could have stated it more plainly. Section 118.125 provides for the confidentiality of all pupil records. Simply because this list containing the parents’ names and addresses has been computerized and no longer contains the pupils’ names does not make it separate and distinct from the pupils’ records. The list was derived from and remains a part of the pupil record. Therefore, consistent with the reasoning of the Breier court and sec. 19.21(2), the right to examine this list has been limited by the statute.
I also believe that this interpretation is consistent with the development of the law concerning pupil records. A Wisconsin Law Review which analyzed both sec. 118.125 and its federal corollary, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, stated the following concerning the passage of the two acts:
“In the 1970’s, various studies of school record keeping revealed administrative practices which threatened the privacy interests of students and their parents. . . . Further, the studies revealed that little attention was given to the development of consistent policies by school administrators to balance the family’s privacy interests against the schools’ needs for information and third-party requests for that information.” Comment, Access *407to Student Records in Wisconsin: A Comparative Analysis of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 197U and Wisconsin Statute Section 118.125, 1976 Wis. L. Rev. 975-76.
As a result of these studies, both the federal and Wisconsin statutes were passed in order to protect the privacy interests of the students and their families. Id. I believe that it is virtually impossible to separate a list of parents’ names from the protection intended by the statute, that of the student’s and family’s privacy interests.
Although the requested list appears to be innocuous enough on its face, I believe that providing access to information tabulated from pupil records undercuts the legislative purpose of the statute, which is to protect the privacy interests of the student and the family. What the majority fails to take into account is that by removing the student’s name from information taken from the pupil records, lists assembled by the school for any reason would no longer be protected by the statute. Thus, a list of families of students with special learning disabilities could be examined and copied by third parties. There is the danger that such “stigmatizing” information could be somehow correlated with the individual pupil possessing such a disability, or with the pupil’s family, thus circumventing the privacy rights which the legislature sought to protect. As the Comment notes:
“Students and their parents are interested in ensuring that the school does not intrude upon their privacy by abusing collection data procedures. This interest is protected ... by the implementation of safeguards — such as the provision of parental access to student files and the exertion of control over the release of those files to third parties — designed to protect the student from the collection and dissemination of misleading, stigmatizing information.” Comment, Access to Student Records in Wisconsin: A Comparative Analysis of the Fam*408ily Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 197A and Wisconsin Statute Section 118.125, 1976 Wis. L. Rev. 975, 979.
The language of sec. 118.125 indicates that the definition of pupil records is clearly all-encompassing, because the legislature chose to use the words “all records relating to individual pupils.” The legislature did not restrict the statute’s purview by utilizing words such as “all personal records relating to individual pupils.” There is nothing in the statute indicating that it protects only personal information about the pupils.
Although the majority attempts to construe “behavioral records” and “progress records,” as defined by sec. 118. 125(1) (b) and (c), to relate to the term “records relating to individual pupils,” I believe that the purpose behind the use of these terms is to clarify special circumstances in which parents, students, and third parties may gain access to the pupil records. For example, sec. 118.125(2) (b) provides for adult pupils or parents of minor pupils to be shown behavioral records in the presence of a person qualified to explain and interpret the records. This provision has been explained as representing “a careful balancing of potentially conflicting interests: the parent’s interest in reviewing sensitive, possibly stigmatizing information, and the school’s interest in avoiding misunderstanding and disruption of the parent-school relationship.” Comment, Access to Student Records in Wisconsin: A Comparative Analysis of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 197A and Wisconsin Statute Section 118.125, 1976 Wis. L. Rev. 975, 991. Thus, it appears that the legislature chose to define certain types of pupil records in order that it could clearly set out the circumstances in which the parent, child, or third party could gain access to pupil records, while keeping in mind the competing interests of all the parties involved.
*409What the majority fails to consider is that sec. 118.125 begins by defining pupil records as “all records relating to individual pupils,” and after providing definitions of certain types of records included within this all-encompassing definition, again states that, “All pupil records maintained by a public school shall be confidential, except as provided in pars, (a) to (h).” These subsequent paragraphs delineate the specific circumstances in which parents, children, or other third parties may gain access to the records. Therefore, it is clear to me that the sole purpose behind the utilization of these specific terms is not to restrict the definition of pupil record, but rather to provide for the limited situations in which others may gain access to portions of the pupil record.
I believe that it is error for the court to cut away at the protections intended by sec. 118.125 by so narrowly construing its purview, despite the legislature’s deliberate use of the broadest possible language concerning “all pupil records.” Therefore, I dissent.

 The public records statute was formerly sec. 18.01, Stats.