TIME TO CALL A SLAP IN THE FACE A 'SLAPP' - PART I

In talking with California friends about Lake Travis ISD's recent lawsuit against two parents for filing too many public records requests (LTISD v. Lovelace) , they told me over the phone, "Oh, that's a SLAPP suit."

Not knowing what a SLAPP was, I assumed they were speaking in the vernacular, as in, "Oh, that's a slap suit," inferring they meant LTISD was trying to deter parents and taxpayers from asking too many questions.

Which indeed the district was. But while I got the general intent and meaning right, it's useful to know that LTISD's suit was meant to be a SLAPP:

A Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation

Why LTISD v. Lovelace qualifies as a SLAPP

Meant to deter public participation

Lake Travis ISD clearly wants no part of transparency. As an example which surfaced just this past week, although the district is paying for the Texas Association of School Board's BoardBook software which enables users to post, among other possibilities, their entire check registers online, LTISD has not chosen to do so. LTISD hasn't even deigned to share its school board agendas with the community, let alone inform them online when it's holding special board meetings. See for yourself: www.laketravis.txed.net/SD/Board%20Meetings.htm

Neither Rocky Kirk, LTISD supe, nor his school board have elected to post any LTISD board minutes online. Instead, there are brief summaries. Here's one recent example:

Discussion and/or Action (Closed Session) - After discussion in Closed Session, Dr. Kirk presented information regarding his proposed plan for re-organization of central administration.

That's it. No details as to how the central administration is being reorganized, how many new (non-teaching) administrators would be hired, what their names or titles were--or how much this proposed plan for reorganization would cost the district. Nothing beyond this scant entry. Aught, zip, nada.

My own experiences this summer further bear this out. First, after local citizens contacted me this past summer, I attended the district's July 25 special board meeting.

Even though the building was deserted except for a handful of people, LTISD paid an armed sheriff's deputy in the neighborhood of $125-$150 to stand guard outside the board's meeting room where they'd gone to confer in executive session with lawyers from Bracewell & Giuliani.

Second, when I asked to see the receipt this past summer for the matching shirts worn by the LTISD so-called "Team of Eight" in its district photo, rather than simply producing the receipt, the district routed it to an attorney, which meant the attorney got to charge LTISD taxpayers for the letter. Another simple question also went to the attorneys who sent it to the Office of the Attorney General as a dodge, at which point I sent the district a cease and desist letter, meaning if they couldn't answer a few simple questions themselves without hiring attorneys, I would withdraw
my request.

A strategic lawsuit

To understand clearly why LTISD v. Lovelace qualifies as a "strategic lawsuit" we must look at the attorney LTISD engaged to file the suit, Bracewell & Giuliani partner J. David Thompson, III.  (Part II tomorrow)

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SLAPP SUIT VITALS

Lake Travis Independent School District, Plaintiff
Attorneys:  
J. David Thompson, III
Susan K. Bohn
Bracewell & Giuliani

vs.

David and Melissa Lovelace, Defendants
Attorneys:
Jennifer S. Riggs
William Aleshire
Riggs & Aleshire

Cause No. D-1-GN-06-003726

In the District Court of Travis County, Texas
126th Judicial District

PETITION AND TEMPORARY INJUNCTION
-----------------------------------

Eanes Independent School District, Friends of the Court
Attorneys:
James R. Raup
McGinnis, Lochridge
& Kilgore

AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF OF EANES INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFF'S PETITION AND TEMPORARY INJUNCTION

====================

 
PHOTO: When a Lake Pointe Elementary School student in Lake Travis ISD near Austin, Texas was assigned a laptop, imagine the 10-year old's surprise to find photos of his principal, Heidi Gudelman. And they weren't just any photos. They were from her Las Vegas vacation. And the student was David and Melissa Lovelace's son.

Copyright 2006 - Peyton Wolcott - All rights reserved