N.J. school district must allow free access to records

By The Associated Press

10.26.01

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CHERRY HILL, N.J. — A Burlington County school district cannot charge the public to look at records related to a $69.5 million school bond for building projects, a Superior Court judge ruled yesterday.

The decision follows a lawsuit filed by theCourier-Post of Cherry Hill after the Lenape Regional High School District tried to charge the newspaper $9,774 to review documents from bond projects to build a new high school.

Superior Court Judge John Sweeney said charging fees would be a violation of the state’s right-to-know laws.

“If I were to accede to the request of the (school) board, and set a fee for the services it seeks to recoup, I would set a dangerous precedent,” Sweeney’s written ruling said.

TheCourier-Post first asked to review bills from Lenape after the district revealed in July that four firms were paid large fees for the work on the new high school. The school, Seneca, is due to open in fall 2003.

Archer & Greiner, a Haddonfield law firm that donated thousands of dollars to help win voters’ approval of the bond referendum, has been paid $1.49 million by Lenape since January 1998, the newspaper reported. The district refused to make public the firm’s itemized bills that describe the work its attorneys performed, saying the act would violate attorney-client privilege, the newspaper reported.

Lenape also denied the newspaper’s request to review the itemized bills of two other law firms that worked on the school bond: Capehart & Scatchard of Mount Laurel and Trenton was paid $383,338, and Parker McKay & Criscuolo of Marlton and Cherry Hill was paid $82,888.

Lenape attorney John Peirano declined to comment on the ruling.

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